Abstract

The motivation, present status, and future plans of the search for the neutrinoless double beta decay are reviewed. It is argued that, motivated by the recent observations of neutrino oscillations, there is a reasonable hope that neutrinoless double beta decay corresponding to the neutrino mass scale suggested by oscillations, of about 50 meV, actually exists. The challenges to achieve the sensitivity corresponding to this mass scale, and plans to overcome them, are described.