The Deep Underground and Ultra-low Radiation Background Facility for Frontier Physics Experiments (DURF) is located beneath Jinping Mountain in Sichuan’s Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture.

The DURF, with a total area of 330,000 cubic meters, is the second phase of the giant China Jinping Underground Laboratory. It started construction in December 2020 and was jointly built by Tsinghua University and Yalong River Hydropower Development Company.

Scientists infer that visible matter accounts for only about 5 percent of the universe, while some 95 percent of the universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy.

Thanks to its location, the DURF is exposed to only a tiny flux of cosmic rays that are one hundred millionth that on the Earth’s surface. It boasts advantages including extremely low environmental radiation, extremely low radon concentration and an ultra-clean space, which will boost dark matter detection.

Scientists believe the laboratory provides a “clean” space for them to pursue the invisible substance known as dark matter. They said the extreme depth helps block most cosmic rays that mess with the observation.

The DURF will become a world-class interdisciplinary deep underground scientific research center integrating multiple disciplines including particle physics, nuclear astrophysics and life sciences, to facilitate the development of China’s research in relevant frontier fields.

According to the Internet