Decades After Trinity Nuclear Test in New Mexico, U.S. Studies Cancer Fallout

The study will invariably explore the darker side of the Manhattan Project, which has played a storied role in New Mexico's economy and history. It also potentially could lead to residents' receiving compensation under a federal program for people who became ill after being exposed to radiation from nuclear testing, which currently doesn't include individuals who lived near the Trinity site.

"It's pretty clear that if you are downwind of a release of radioactive material, you have the potential to be exposed. And it's pretty clear that if you are exposed, you are at some increased risk," said Steve Simon, a government physicist who is leading the study and specializes in radiation dosages. "But to quantify it, I'm not there yet."

It is still unclear how much radiation was absorbed by New Mexicans due to fallout from the explosion, which coated backyards with ash and singed cattle. Earlier studies didn't fully consider the entire spectrum of exposure from the Trinity test.