{"id":182046,"date":"2026-01-16T12:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta-ukri.msappproxy.net\/?p=182046"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:13:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:13:47","slug":"the-uk-facility-powering-a-global-neutrino-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/blog\/the-uk-facility-powering-a-global-neutrino-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK facility powering a global neutrino experiment\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yet tucked away on the Science and Technology Facilities Council\u2019s (STFC)\u202fDaresbury\u202fLaboratory site,\u202fwork is well underway that will\u202fensure a major international\u202fscience project\u202fcan\u202fopen up\u202fnew understanding of\u202fthe Universe.<\/p>\n<p>To understand why this anonymous facility is so important, we first need to head over to the US.<\/p>\n<h2>Deep\u202funderground\u202fwith DUNE<\/h2>\n<p>The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international scientific experiment\u202fcurrently under construction at\u202fFermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)\u202fin the US.\u202fTwo neutrino detectors are being built underground and 1,300km\u202fapart: one\u202fat\u202f\u202fFermilab\u202fin Illinois and\u202fanother\u202fat Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota,\u202fhome of\u202fthe Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF).<\/p>\n<p>The\u202fplan\u202fis that a neutrino beam will be produced at\u202fFermilab. The\u202fdetector\u202fthere will measure the particles. The particles will travel\u202fin a straight line\u202fthrough the\u202fEarth\u2019s crust\u202fbeneath the curvature of the surface\u202fto South Dakota. The particles will then be measured again. There is no\u202faccelerator tunnel here.<\/p>\n<p>To measure those differences, the\u202fLBNF\u202fneutrino detectors will\u202fcontain\u202f17,000 tonnes of liquid argon.\u202fAny neutrino interactions will create\u202fboth light and\u202felectrical signals\u202fthat\u202fare imperceptible to humans.<\/p>\n<p>In order to\u202fread these signals,\u202fpieces of equipment called anode plane assemblies, or APAs, are needed.\u202fSTFC and the UK are\u202fplaying a key role in delivering them.<\/p>\n<h2>Anode Plane Assemblies<\/h2>\n<p>The APAs needed for the DUNE project are big in size\u202fand in numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Each APA measures 6.3m\u202ftall\u202fby 2.3m\u202fwide. They are\u202fhuge\u202frectangular frames,\u202fon to which\u202f24 km of\u202fcopper-beryllium wires, about the width of a human hair, are wound.<\/p>\n<p>DUNE needs\u202f150\u202fAPAs to function,\u202fof which\u202fSTFC is building and shipping 137.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_182049\" style=\"width: 1510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-182049\" class=\"wp-image-182049 size-full\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post.jpg\" alt=\"Engineer working on the DUNE project. Soldering the delicate wire is a\u202fprecision\u202fjob, done by hand.\u202f\u202f\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post-735x490.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/STFC-160126-DUNE-update-blog-post-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 735px, (min-width: 769px) calc((((100vw - 30px) \/ 3) * 2) - 45px), calc(100vw - 30px)\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-182049\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Soldering the delicate wire is a\u202fprecision\u202fjob, done by hand.\u202f\u202f<br \/>Credit: STFC<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Deep in Daresbury with DUNE<\/h2>\n<p>Back in Daresbury Laboratory, the DUNE factory\u202fisn&#8217;t\u202fimmediately\u202fobvious. But\u202fwhen you walk in, it\u202fis\u202fimmediately\u202fobvious\u202fthat this bespoke facility\u202fmeans business.<\/p>\n<p>The main area is covered in huge winders,\u202ffive of these giant machines are\u202fweaving\u202f24km\u202fof the valuable\u202fwire\u202ftightly\u202facross four different directions, expertly designed to keep it at\u202fan optimum\u202ftension.\u202fOnce the wire is wound and tension has been tested, 13,000 solder points are added. By hand.\u202fHand soldering ensures that the APAs enter their final underground home with precision at their heart.<\/p>\n<p>This workflow has been optimised over the past 12 months, with the team learning from earlier\u202fproduction runs and\u202fmaking improvements so that the process is as fast and efficient as possible.<\/p>\n<p>There is now a team of approximately 19 working in the\u202ffacility, including technicians,\u202fengineers\u202fand project managers.\u202fMuch of the team has been\u202femployed locally, bringing new skills\u202femployment to the area.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of 2025, around 50 of these UK-produced detectors\u202fwill\u202fhave\u202fbeen completed.<\/p>\n<h2>Bespoke elements<\/h2>\n<div class=\"videoholder\" title=\"Embedded video\">\n<p><span class=\"videowrapper embed-youtube-nocookie aspect_ratio_562\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Radosav Pantelic Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/U-wCGbVJ1PA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span> <!-- \/.videowrapper --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"video-caption\">Video credit: STFC<br \/>\nVideo transcript and on-screen captions are available by watching on YouTube<\/p>\n<p>Once complete, the APAs are loaded into shipping crates, another bespoke element of the work which will be used to lift the frames into their final positions as they\u202fcannot\u202fbe removed deep in the disused gold\u202fmine\u202fthey will call home.<\/p>\n<p>This project will see the UK produce over 90% of the\u202fcrucial\u202fAPAs, but our contribution to\u202fDUNE and\u202fthe\u202fLBNF\u202fdoesn\u2019t\u202fstop there.<\/p>\n<p>STFC engineers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.technology.stfc.ac.uk\/Pages\/Highlights\/Article-Designing-resilient-targets-for-high-energy-particle-accelerators.aspx\">creating the target which will produce the neutrinos for LBNF<\/a>. Another\u202fengineering\u202fteam at Daresbury will construct three cryomodules, each housing six superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. Before installing into the cryomodules, each cavity will be thoroughly tested using the Superconducting RF Lab (SuRFLab) facility.\u202fWith another bespoke facility now complete,\u202fa\u202fstone&#8217;s\u202fthrow from the\u202fDUNE factory,\u202fthe first cryomodule build is underway.<\/p>\n<h2>Why\u202fDUNE will\u202fmeasure neutrinos<\/h2>\n<p>Neutrinos are fundamental particles, with\u202fvery little\u202fmass \u2013\u202fwhich\u202fis\u202fwhy they\u202frequire\u202fsuch a big detector to measure them.<\/p>\n<p>We can learn a lot from neutrinos,\u202fso there are\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/lbnf-dune.fnal.gov\/about\/science-goals\/\">three major\u202fscience\u202fgoals for the DUNE experiment<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to search for the origin of matter<\/li>\n<li>to learn more about neutron stars and black holes<\/li>\n<li>to shed light on the unification of nature\u2019s forces<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the UK experts working in the DUNE APA facility and across the other DUNE-related workstreams, it is a tantalising prospect that they could be part of making such huge discoveries possible. In addition the project is enabling\u202f STFC\u202fto\u202fdevelop\u202fin the\u202fNorth West\u202fa team of engineers and apprentices with high level technical skill\u202fthat will be\u202fa continued resource\u202fin the local technology economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yet tucked away on the Science and Technology Facilities Council\u2019s (STFC)\u202fDaresbury\u202fLaboratory site,\u202fwork is well underway that will\u202fensure a major international\u202fscience project\u202fcan\u202fopen up\u202fnew understanding of\u202fthe Universe. To understand why this anonymous facility is so important, we first need to head over to the US. Deep\u202funderground\u202fwith DUNE The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international scientific [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":182049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-182046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stfc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182046"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182056,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182046\/revisions\/182056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182046"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=182046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}