The giant neutrino oscillation experiment being built north of Orr has received its final approval from the federal government. That may come as a surprise, given that the project has been under construction since the spring, but Project Manager Bill Miller explains that large federal projects are typically approved in phases.

The project had already received approval to begin design, road work, and building construction, but some of the final project components required one final layer of approvals, known as CD3b, for Critical Decision 3b, which came through from Washington late last week.

“This is the final approval of the experiment,” said Miller, “so we’ve got 100 percent approval for the entire $270 million project.”

The massive physics experiment, known as NOvA, is designed to help scientists learn more about the properties of neutrinos. The giant neutrino detector that will be built in an underground pit at the site, will enable researchers to study a neutrino beam emanating from Fermilab, near Chicago. That beam is currently being observed by the MINOS detector in the Soudan Mine, but the new detector will enable researchers to learn even more about the changes, or oscillations, that neutrinos undergo.

Work on the project got underway this spring and has provided steady employment for 40-50 full-time workers for the past several months. Construction has gone a bit slower than expected, said Miller, largely due to wet weather this summer that made accessing the site difficult. “The weather definitely did not help at all,” said Miller.

But most work has proceeded more or less on track. Crews continue to work to blast a subterranean chamber and the steel framework for the surface building is currently being erected. Work at the site will be winding down soon for the winter. According to Miller, construction will largely cease from November through March.

Work will continue over the winter on design and construction of the modules that will make up the detector. Those modules are being designed and will eventually be built at a University of Minnesota facility in the Twin Cities and then shipped to the NOvA site for installation.