In 1960 workmen put the finishing touches to the $61,000 Nuclear Engineering Laboratory on the Cherokee Trail. Away from heavily populated or thickly traveled areas, the Cherokee Farm had been chosen in consultation with representatives of the Atomic Energy Commission because of potential radiation danger.
The outstanding feature of the building was the large windowless reactor room, with one-foot-thick concrete reinforced walls and a six-inch layer of water on the roof to keep radiation from going upward and reflecting in the clouds as “skyshine.” A special underground disposal tank was provided for storage of liquid waste materials from the lab. An adjacent building, replaced in 2011 by the William M. Bass Building, housed office and seminar space. A machine shop and a room for monitoring radioactive materials were also part of the complex. The building became the location of the Radiological Safety Program of the university when that program was established in 1961. Atomic Energy Commission grants in 1957 and 1961 were used to purchase equipment.