Metro Detroiters were astonished to learn in August that radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project was headed to a landfill in Van Buren Township. The news, first reported by the Detroit Free Press, revealed that waste from the Niagara Falls Storage Site near Lewiston, New York, was being shipped to Wayne Disposal, taking many elected officials by surprise.
Subsequent reports, including those from Planet Detroit, show that over 300,000 cubic yards of radioactive waste from at least 10 other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sites had already been sent to the same landfill, with two other locations and the Niagara site due to send more material.
These shipments of radioactive material to Michigan’s most heavily populated county led to a public outcry and questions about the risks the material could pose…