High radiation levels have prompted officials to contact hundreds of residents near Buffalo and driven four families out of their homes — and state and federal environmental regulators say the source of the mysterious contamination could be tied to the Manhattan Project.
Niagara and Erie counties played a vital role in the development of the United States’ first nuclear weapon during World War II. The state Department of Environmental Conservation began testing the area for potentially hazardous radioactivity three years ago and began informing residents in March 2025, according to locals.
Lifelong Niagara resident Kellie Motyka said readings by state environmental officials found radiation in her home was 10 times above normal. She’s begun a process to relocate while additional sampling and evaluations continue.
“Honestly, it feels like a very weird, strange movie,” Motyka said. “It feels like a loss, like somebody died.”
State environmental regulators have also distributed letters to residents across the region in order to gain access to their properties for testing. So far, nearly 400 residents have submitted requests for testing. The agency previously collected readings from roadways and parking lots. Over the weekend, officials deployed specialized teams to work in the area.
The DEC has not yet determined the exact source and types of radiation in the area, but the agency said it could be linked to the top-secret 1940s project that produced the pair of atom bombs dropped on Japan.
Erie County was a busy hub for uranium enrichment for the Manhattan Project. And 7,500 acres in Niagara County between the towns of Porter and Lewistown were used to store 37 million gallons of radioactive waste and chemicals. In 1986, the U.S. Department of Energy remediated the site and contained the radioactive materials on site.
“This area should be added to the state superfund for a full cleanup. That's the least that should be done. You have to get these people out of their homes,” said Joseph Romm, an energy expert and senior researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. “During the Manhattan Project, everything was top secret, so the exposure levels, what people were exposed to and what the levels were, was never widely known.”
Romm called the radiation a “public health emergency.”
The region was also a global center for metallurgy during the 20th century, producing specialized steel products used for space exploration that made the first moon landing possible. Edwin Lyman, nuclear power safety director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the contamination could also be caused by radioactive sludge from those manufacturing facilities.
The sludge “could have just migrated off-site into groundwater; could have blown, by the wind, into adjacent areas,” Lyman said.
State officials have set up a dedicated hotline and email address for residents in the area to call for more information or to request a radiation test.
“Agencies are fully committed to getting results for all impacted residents by screening outside and inside homes whenever warranted and taking necessary action, including offering temporary housing,” DEC spokesperson Jeff Wernick wrote in a statement. “We are deeply sensitive to the community concerns and are resolute in our mission to protect people’s health and the environment.”
Community members formed a group called Save Our Backyards Niagara that has held informational meetings for residents and rallies. They are pushing for widespread radiation testing in the region, not just the properties identified by the DEC.
One of the group’s founders, Lexi Hawk, said the home she shares with her fiancé and 3-year-old daughter had high levels of thorium, a material used for producing metals for the aerospace industry as well as camera and telescope lenses. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, thorium is naturally occurring and poses little hazard to human health. But experts warn if thorium dust is inhaled, the contaminant can increase the chance of lung and bone cancer.
Hawk said the first letter she received from the DEC included a waiver to sign away any rights to claims, which many residents distrusted. The waiver portion was removed in the recent letters that were mailed out.
“When you have to choose between knowing if your yard is contaminated to protect your family, but you have to sign your rights away, it’s not a fair choice,” Hawk said. “I felt it was coercive.”
