The Army Corps of Engineers wrapped up the last of seven trench investigations at three new locations on campus Thursday morning, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Military Response Program Manager Dan Noble said Thursday.
Workers found nothing in the Ward Circle parking lot, behind the Beeghly Chemistry building or near the campus radio tower that was related to the disposal of chemical munitions or laboratory glassware from AU’s 1917-1918 stint as a large-scale chemical warfare research center.
The only suspicious items were two glass milk bottles and a fragment of a 55-gallon steel drum, which might have been used as an incinerator for discarded laboratory materials, found near the radio tower.
Army Corps analyses, however, revealed no traces of chemical warfare agents, thereby debunking any suspicions that the items could be dangerous.
Three trenches in the Ward Circle lot revealed only gravel and untainted soil.
“Basically we cut through the asphalt and there was gravel underneath,” Noble told The Eagle. “Right underneath the gravel was this undisturbed, native soil.”
In two trenches, the Corps struck bedrock.
“[There was] no staining, no debris - really absolutely nothing,” Noble said.
The Corps encountered similar results behind the Beeghly Chemistry building, where the only hindrance was the amount of underground utilities, which had to be painstakingly circumvented during excavation.
The trench investigations were based on 1922 aerial photographs that depicted “ground scars,” or disturbed earth features, in the Nebraska lot and around campus, The Eagle previously reported.
In addition, tests on a suspicious silver powder uncovered several weeks ago behind the Public Safety building, or Lot 18, came back positive for traces of various metals, Noble said.
The powder contained 12 percent aluminum and lesser levels of magnesium and iron. The analysis also revealed minute traces of arsenic.
The Corps also determined that the powder contained traces of PAHs, or Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, suggesting that the area was once used to burn laboratory debris.
You can reach this staff writer at ccottrell@theeagleonline.com.
