LOS ALAMOS, N.M. | A U.S. senator says those who lived near the site of the first atomic bomb test in the New Mexico desert and later developed cancer and other health problems need to be compensated.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said Thursday that the federal government neglected residents of the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa near the Trinity Site, where the weapon was detonated July 16, 1945.
Udall made his remarks on the Senate floor on the 70th anniversary of the test that took place as part of the Manhattan Project, the secretive World War II program that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb.
Tularosa residents say many of those living in the area weren’t told about the dangers and suffered rare forms of cancer. They say they want acknowledgement and compensation from the U.S. government.