The Gallium Neutrino Observatory (GNO) is the price that Italy’s underground lab is paying to get back on its feet after a small chemical spill nearly two years ago.
The spill—about 50 liters of scintillator from a test facility for Borexino, an experiment that will study neutrinos from beryllium-7 interactions in the Sun—opened the door to broad safety investigations at Gran Sasso National Laboratory. The investigation found that leaks could contaminate local drinking water. An ensuing precautionary ban on liquids crippled the lab (see Physics Today, Physics Today 0031-9228 56 8 2003 25 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1611346 August 2003, page 25 ).
Early this year, the ban on water and cryogenic fluids was lifted. But before authorizing the use of toxic chemicals, a government-appointed investigator is requiring that the water system be repaired and the lab’s experimental halls be sealed and outfitted with their own drainage systems. “This is an extreme extra...
