[en] An extensive material screening and selection process is underway in the construction of the 'Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC' (NEXT), intended to investigate neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure xenon gas TPC filled with 100 kg of Xe enriched in ¹³⁶Xe. Determination of the radiopurity levels of the materials is based on gamma-ray spectroscopy using ultra-low background germanium detectors at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (Spain) and also on Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry. Materials to be used in the shielding, pressure vessel, electroluminescence and high voltage components and energy and tracking readout planes have been already taken into consideration. The measurements carried out are presented, describing the techniques and equipment used, and the results obtained are shown, discussing their implications for the NEXT experiment

[en] Conceived to host 5 kg of xenon at a pressure of 15 bar in the fiducial volume, the NEXT-White apparatus is currently the largest high pressure xenon gas TPC using electroluminescent amplification in the world. It is also a 1:2 scale model of the NEXT-100 detector for ¹³⁶Xe ββ0ν decay searches, scheduled to start operations in 2019. Both detectors measure the energy of the event using a plane of photomultipliers located behind a transparent cathode. They can also reconstruct the trajectories of charged tracks in the dense gas of the TPC with the help of a plane of silicon photomultipliers located behind the anode. A sophisticated gas system, common to both detectors, allows the high gas purity needed to guarantee a long electron lifetime. NEXT-White has been operating since October 2016 at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), in Spain. This paper describes the detector and associated infrastructures, as well as the main aspects of its initial operation.