Excavation complete at Hyper-Kamiokande

Excavation of the cavern where Hyper-Kamiokande will be built has been completed and the next phase of the construction has begun.

Centre CI Phillip Urquijo is closely involved with the project as keader of the development of the precalibration system and a member of the Steering and Resources Board and Outer Detector Leadership Group.

The $1 billion experiment is being built in Japan and its scale is daunthing.

The cavern is one the world’s largest excavated in bedrock at 80m high and 70m wide. It will contain 300,000 tonnes of ultra-pure water and 40,000 high sensitivity photosensors.

The construction of the experiment’s water tank and photo multiplier tube will begin this month, and the detector is expected to start operation in 2028.