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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - FEB/MAR 2013
Cryopit
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Sudbury is known as a mining community in Canada,
but in recent years, has also become a world-renown locale for
science innovation. One of the most important aspects of SNO-
LAB’s existence in Sudbury is the past, current, and future po-
tential for positive economic outcomes in the local and broader
Canadian communities. In 2007, there had already been over
$150 million spent on construction of the facility—much of
this expenditure was on capital construction, something that
companies in Canada were able to see benefit from. There have
been some important key players, including Hatch, the lead en-
gineering company for the project, and several local companies
involved in the project.
Over 50 people work under and above-ground at SNO-
LAB and the facility is always hiring. These are knowledge-
based positions, requiring a great level of skill and experience,
and SNOLAB is showing the world that Canada is the place to
be for scientists and engineers.
The future operating budget is approximately $10 million
per year, and the facility is expected to host experiments for at
least 20 years—bringing more people, and economic benefits,
to the Sudbury area.
The construction of the surface facilities and underground
laboratories of SNOLAB were funded by the International Joint
Venture program of the Canada Foundation for Innovation
(
CFI), the Ontario Innovation trust, the Northern Ontario Heri-
tage Fund corporation and FEDNOR. According to SNOLAB,
“
operating costs have been supported by the Ontario Research
Fund’s Research Excellence Program, the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council (NSERC), CFI and member in-
stitutions,” and the City of Sudbury has provided a five-year
grant for public education at SNOLAB. Moreover, with projects
coming into SNOLAB from all over the world put Sudbury on
the map—meaning that international visitors, and those from
other parts of Canada, inject the local economy when they
come to SNOLAB.
SNOLAB
Located near the Cube Hall, the Cryopit is a
cylindrical cavity 15 m in diameter and 20 m
high. It is intended to house a large spherical
or cylindrical detector immersed in a water
shield. Because such a detector may contain a
large volume of cryogen, the Cryopit is de-
signed to be isolated from the main part of the
laboratory. Pressure bulkheads placed around
the hall isolate it from the habited areas of the
laboratory while a ventilation system would
duct boil off gas into the mine return air sys-
tem.
