A Seoul National University physics professor will begin a large-scale experiment in September on a mysterious particle could unravel the mystery of the universe's creation.

Kim Soo-bong on Wednesday announced a plan to install an underground detector near a nuclear plant in Younggwang, South Jeolla Province.

The project aims to study the unknown attribute of the neutrino, a fundamental building block of the universe.

Neutrino research has a big presence in world physics, producing three Nobel Prize laureates.

Kim said the estimated cost of the project is 15 billion won ten billion for manufacturing the detector and five billion for construction of the underground facility and predicted the detector should begin operations in 2008.

He said that if things go according to plan, his study's results will come earlier than rivals in the United States and Japan, both of which are building accelerators.