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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - FEB/MAR 2013
Ladder Labs
and develop quality delivery systems
of internationally recognized standard.
SNOLAB enables Canadian and
international scientists to make dis-
coveries not possible before in particle
physics, and there really is a whole
world underground that makes SNO-
LAB viable.
FACILITIES
One of the most important as-
pects of SNOLAB is that it is clean
space. Exactly how it sounds, clean
space is something that is very difficult
to achieve, when it comes to science:
a space that is virtually void of dust,
microbes, and other airborne particles.
SNOLAB operates as a Class2000 clean
room, and as CIO learned, the process
to keep SNOLAB clean is extensive.
CIO had the privilege of explor-
ing the awe-inspiring SNOLAB, and
the editorial team was given a world-
class tour by SNOLAB Communica-
tions Manager Samantha Kuula. You
have to see the facility to believe it, but
first, you have to get there.
The SNOLAB tour begins on
surface, at the SNOLAB headquarters
on the Creighton mine site. Several
organizations have been critical to the
development of SNOLAB, including
nearby Laurentian University, Queens
University, Carleton University, Uni-
versite de Montreal and University of
Alberta. Laurentian houses a facility
for radio-isotope measurements and
water analysis which complements
the SNOLAB facility. Construction on
SNOLAB was completed in 2008, and
there are several unique components
to the underground lab.
In order to get to the facility, one
cannot be a tourist. Unlike other tour-
ist-friendly sites in Sudbury, SNOLAB
exists to advance science, not entertain
SNOLAB
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The Ladder Labs is a network of drifts
ranging from 15ft (4.5m) to 25 ft
(7.6
m) in width intended to house two
medium scale experiments where the
detectors are of order 5m in size
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located north of the laboratory entrance
and south of the Cube Hall
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southern “rail” of the ladder is intended
as an access way with the rungs being
used for ancillary spaces for the experi-
ments.
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services for the Ladder Labs (HVAC,
power, water) are located to the west of
the Ladder Labs in an access drift run-
ning from the lab entrance to the Cube
Hall
