Presented by Prof Virginia Kilborn, Chief Scientist, Swinburne University of Technology.

Australian Nuclear Association ANA2023 Conference, held Friday 6 October 2023 at the Aerial UTS Function Centre, Ultimo, NSW.

Introduced by Michelle Durant, Managing Director at The Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering - AINSE Limited.

Abstract: The Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) is the only underground laboratory in the southern hemisphere and was constructed for the purposes of conducting high sensitivity and innovative long-term physics and other scientific experiments that require an ultra-low background radiation environment. Located 1025m under solid rock within the Stawell Gold Mine (SGM) in Stawell, Victoria, SUPL is an exciting, publicly funded scientific collaboration between government bodies, research bodies and institutions, with strong linkages to and support from the local community.

The initiative to establish SUPL was driven by scientists seeking to confirm the existence and characteristics of dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), undetectable at the surface but theoretically detectable deep underground beyond the penetration reaches of cosmic radiation. The foundation experiment within SUPL is SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection Experiment), which complements a partner northern hemisphere experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, with the goal of disentangling any potential seasonal influences in the measurements and confirming the elusive nature of dark matter. SABRE South is being designed and built by research teams from the Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM), and installation and initial experimentation is expected to commence before the end of 2023.

The potential for experimentation within SUPL extends well beyond dark matter and include any potential research experiments that require a well-monitored radiation-quiet environment and/or or the high geological stability of being under a very solid basalt dome. Opportunities include quantum sensing, biological and cancer research, subsurface imaging and sensing, geosciences and construction engineering.