A low background facility inside the LVD detector at Gran Sasso

The Large Volume Detector (LVD) in the Gran Sasso Laboratory of INFN is an observatory mainly devoted to the search of neutrinos from core collapse supernovae. In this letter we present the possibility for LVD to work both as a passive shield and moderator for the low energy gamma and neutron background and as an active veto for muons and higher energy neutrons. An inner region inside the LVD structure (''VD Core Facility'') can be identified, with a volume of about 30m ³, with the neutron background typical of an underground laboratory placed at a much deeper site. This region can be realized with a negligible impact on LVD operation and sensitive mass. The LVD Core Facility could be effectively exploited by a compact experiment for the search of rare events, such as double beta decay or dark matter.