Impactful Partnership: How Illinois-based Company’s Deep Underground Neutrino Detector Boosts South Dakota Economy

A deep underground neutrino detector located in the Northern Hills of South Dakota has a significant impact on the state, thanks to the efforts of a company based in Illinois. This detector catches particles fired from almost a thousand miles away from Fermilab in Illinois, and the work done on the neutrino experiment in 2022 alone generated more than $270 million in economic impact.

The project involved dozens of individuals who created a space large enough to house the equipment in South Dakota. For example, 800,000 tons of rock had to be moved from a mile underground to the surface and disposed of in the open cut. This required at least 40 people working on-site in Lead, leading to increased tax dollars collected in the city and revenue for local businesses.

A study on Fermilab’s impact on South Dakota only included data from 2022, but this impact is expected to continue growing in the future. The LBNF DUNE US project is projected to have an economic impact of about $4.3 billion through fiscal year 2030, sustaining around 2,750 jobs per year on average. These numbers are for both states combined, but a significant portion of that impact will apply to South Dakota.

Andrew Hime, Head of Business Transformation at Fermilab anticipates that this collaboration between South Dakota and Illinois will have a lasting and substantial economic impact on the region throughout 2030 and beyond.