World-Class Science 1km Beneath East Cleveland

7 March 2025

Luke Myer, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, and neighbouring Scarborough & Whitby MP Alison Hume recently visited the Boulby Underground Laboratory – the UK’s only deep underground science facility, based in East Cleveland – to meet researchers and see first-hand the cutting-edge projects taking place more than a kilometre beneath the North Sea.

The visit began at Boulby Mine on the edge of the North York Moors, where Luke and Alison met with the team at ICL Boulby before descending 1,100 metres underground. Guided by Professor Sean Paling and members of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) team, they toured the 4,000m³ laboratory space and surrounding caverns that make Boulby one of the most unusual and important science facilities in the country.

With over a kilometre of rock overhead and very low natural radioactivity in the surrounding salt, Boulby is effectively shielded from cosmic rays by a factor of a million compared to the surface. That makes it a “quiet place in the universe” – the perfect environment for ultra-sensitive experiments.

During their visit, Luke and Alison met scientists and engineers involved in a range of projects, including:

• Astrophysics and dark matter searches – building on decades of work at Boulby, where UK and international teams have pioneered detector technologies now used in some of the world’s leading dark matter experiments.
• Ultra-low background material screening – through the Boulby UnderGround Screening (BUGS) facility, which tests materials for tiny traces of radioactivity so they can be used in the most sensitive physics experiments.
• Geology and geophysics – using the unique underground environment and more than 1,000km of tunnels to study the Earth’s structure and behaviour.
• Climate and environmental science – investigating long-term environmental change using the mine’s geology and stable conditions.
• Life in extreme environments and planetary exploration – studying how life adapts in harsh underground conditions and testing technologies that could one day be used on other planets.

Luke and Alison were also briefed on plans for XLZD – the proposed next-generation dark matter experiment. Following an £8 million UKRI Infrastructure Fund award in 2024, a consortium of UK universities has been working with Boulby to design what would become the world’s largest and most advanced dark matter detector, using up to 100 tonnes of liquid xenon to search for particles that make up more than 85% of the matter in the universe.

Speaking after the visit, Luke said:

“To step out of the lift a kilometre underground into rock caverns, and suddenly find yourself in a pristine, world-class science lab is genuinely astonishing. From dark matter to climate and planetary science, the work here is at the frontier of human knowledge – and it’s happening under our feet, right here in East Cleveland.

“Alison and I were struck not just by the facility, but by the passion and expertise of the Boulby team. This is exactly the sort of high-skill, high-impact science our region should be known for.”

Alison praised the “exciting” lab and its “cornucopia of elite physics experiments from the world’s finest universities grappling to find the answers to the universe”.

The MPs have pledged to continue working together to support Boulby’s development as a major national and international science hub, and to ensure that the benefits – from local apprenticeships to global research breakthroughs – are felt across East Cleveland and North Yorkshire.