From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Sept. 24, 1987:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had recently given Kansas University permission to use its nuclear reactor center to temporarily store hazardous waste. The center, located on West 15th Street across from the Jayhawker Towers apartments, was licensed by the NRC as a “possession only” site, meaning that KU was authorized to possess the small, inactive research reactor inside, but not to operate it as a reactor, according to Harold Rosson, associate dean of undergraduate studies at KU’s School of Engineering and director of the reactor. Rosson went on to explain that the center would be used for “transient storage of waste materials prior to shipment to a disposal site.” Most of the hazardous waste generated by the university, including solvents and chemicals from KU laboratories, had been finding temporary storage in a semi-trailer on West Campus. About two years earlier, the NRC had ordered 25 universities, including KU, and six corporations to either remove excess nuclear weapons grade fuel from their reactors or explain why the fuel should remain.