Contractors, Ops Dept. busy over holidays

Some projects slow down during the Christmas-New Year?s holidays, but not construction of the Davis Campus at the 4850 Level.

Last week and this week, Ainsworth Benning Construction crews and subcontractors shifted their four-day work week from Monday through Thursday to Tuesday through Friday. Working four-day weeks and 10-hour days makes sense for a project that?s nearly a mile underground, partly because of travel time. Getting to work at the Davis Campus requires a 10-minute ride down the Ross Shaft service cage. then a 10-minute ride on our underground railroad from the Ross Shaft to the Yates Shaft. Reverse the process at the end of the day. Add up that travel time for 45 to 50 personnel over the course of a nine-month project, and the cost and efficiency benefits of the four-day week are significant.

That?s also one reason we ended 2011 with a productive week. It included the placement of large structural steel beams in the Davis Cavern (photo at right), continued construction of block walls in the chiller cutout, the preparation and painting of walls in the Transition Area and the continued installation of duct work (photo below).

In addition, power panels were installed in the Davis Campus electrical room, and the three large air-handling units that will be installed underground were delivered.

We should note, too, that our own Operations Department keeps the Sanford Underground Laboratory running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Christmas and New Year?s Day. Our 24/7 crews, working 12-hour shifts, include hoist operators, infrastructure and facilities technicians, security personnel and water treatment plant operators. The water level this morning, by the way, was 5,837 feet underground and dropping. ?We?re still going great guns,? Operations Director Greg King said. 

That?s good. With funding secure for fiscal year 2012, two experiments nearly ready for installation and planning under way for the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, 2012 promises to be every bit as busy as 2011.