Small town erupts in fury as landfill owners reveal it'll be processing radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project that led to Japan A-bombs

A small Michigan town has erupted with fury after a nearby landfill revealed it will process radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project. 

The Wayne Disposal facility in Van Buren Township will be processing low-radiation atomic bomb byproducts from the 1940s Manhattan Project, which developed the bombs used in WWII and whose lead scientist inspired the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Oppenheimer.

The same facility also processed some of the waste from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, which released toxic chemicals into the air during the fire. 

Residents are unhappy with the new developments, saying it's 'scary' and they worry about the health and safety of their families and neighbors, they told WXYZ.  

'I don't like it,' Bonnie Coughlin, who has lived in the township for 70 years, told the outlet. 'I got my kids living next door, grandkids, and our neighbors. It's always been scary with that dump there.' 

The Wayne Disposal facility (pictured) in Van Buren Township will be processing low-radiation atomic bomb byproducts from the 1940s Manhattan Project

'I don't like it,' Bonnie Coughlin (left), who has lived in the township for 70 years, told the outlet. 'I got my kids living next door, grandkids, and our neighbors. It's always been scary with that dump there.' Anthony Pauldebias (right), who has lived in the area for nearly 40 years, said he's worried about his health and the smell.

Coughlin lives roughly a mile away from the facility but doesn't plan on moving anytime soon. 

Although the Wayne facility, which is run by Republic Services, is federally approved, it doesn't make Coughlin feel any better as there's no 'guarantee something is not going to harm us.' 

Anthony Pauldebias, who has lived in the area for nearly 40 years, is equally concerned.

'I'm just worried about my health, the health of others, and the value of our houses,' he told the local outlet. 'I have to shut my windows at night, it's so terrible, you can smell the smell.' 

'Why don't they drive it somewhere else?' Coughlin said. '"I ain't moving, this my home, I've been here for 71 years, I ain't going nowhere. But we do need to try and stop it.'

The waste will be coming from the Niagara Falls Storage Site - located in Lewiston, New York - which became the primary location for uranium ore byproducts related to the Manhattan Project. 

The same facility also processed some of the waste from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment (pictured), which released toxic chemicals into the air during the fire

Last year, more than 218,000 gallons of toxic liquid waste was delivered to the Wayne facility from the East Palestine derailment (pictured) 

The transportation plan says 25 vessels of waste will be dropped off each week in lined trucks between July and January. Each truck will have to be decontaminated before it can leave the facility, according to US Army Corps of Engineers. 

Roughly 6,000 cubic yards of soil and concrete and 4,000 gallons of groundwater with elevated radiation levels will be disposed at the facility.  

Republic Services said in a statement to WXYZ that the 'material will be accepted' from the site as it 'falls within the permit guidelines and will be managed safely, responsibly, and in compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations.' 

It also insisted the facility is 'highly engineered with multiple safety measures in place and frequent inspections and systems tests to ensure everything is operating as it should.' 

In 2018, the US Army Corps of Engineers dumped 124,000 tons of radioactive soil and materials from Luckey, Ohio at the Michigan facility. 

Then last year, more than 218,000 gallons of toxic liquid waste was delivered to the site. 

What was the Manhattan Project? 

The world's first atomic bomb was detonated in New Mexico in July 1945. Two more would be dropped by the US on Japan (pictured: mushroom cloud over Nagasaki) 

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret WWII government project to develop and deploy the first atomic weapon. 

The project developed the A-bombs that were dropped on Japan in August 1945. 

The Manhattan Project largely remained secret, even though it employed thousands of people. 

The bombs were built in Los Alamos, New Mexico, with J. Robert Oppenheimer leading the scientists. 

In the second afterwards, Oppenheimer (pictured)  said: 'I am become death, destroyer of worlds,' as he quoted from the Hindu scriptures 

Oppenheimer and his crew built and tested the bomb at Trinity in July 1945, creating the first human-caused nuclear explosion. 

In the second afterwards, Oppenheimer said: 'I am become death, destroyer of worlds,' as he quoted from the Hindu scriptures.  

The project started after the US caught wind that the Germans and the British were developing a similar experiment in 1940. 

By 1943, Canadian and British scientists moved to the US to join the project in a cooperative effort.

Source: Britannica, NPS