NUCLEAR ENGINEERING LABORATORY
Agricultural By-Products Laboratory, West Chemical Engineering Building
Built: 1934
Architect: A.H. Kimball
Contractor: Buildings and Grounds Dept.
The earliest reference to this building appears in the Minutes of November 3-4, 1933, where the following quotation from a letter of October 4, 1933, to members of the Board is cited:
I have already informed the Board about the prospects of securing a federal building, entirely independent of college and state, from the government for the use of the Department of Agriculture in studying the utilization of agricultural wastes. It seems that we have good prospects of securing this building which, with equipment, would cost about $300,000.00.
Transfer of title to the land on which the building was to be constructed from the State to the federal government was then authorized. Although funds were provided through the Department of Agriculture and the Public Works Administration, the actual design and construction was left in the hands of the College.1
No references have been found to determine the exact dates of the beginning and completion of construction, but the Iowa State Student on April 26, 1934, reported that the date of June 1 for completion would be delayed about a month because of lack of materials.
In 1946 title to the land and building was re-conveyed, at no cost, to the State.2 The building then became known as West Chemical Engineering and was used by that department until 1958-59 when the nuclear reactor was installed and the name Nuclear Engineering Laboratory was adopted.