LANL excavates WWII-era landfill

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Workers have begun excavating a northern New Mexico landfill dating from the era of the secret World War II Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is excavating a six-acre landfill that lab legend says could even contain an entire truck used at the world's first test of an atomic bomb at southern New Mexico's Trinity Site in July 1945.

Program manager Andy Baumer says it's possible the project might uncover something that could go to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos.

The landfill contains trenches used from 1944 to 1948.

Crews will scoop out 22,000 cubic yards of trash and dirt — enough to cover a football field about 11 feet deep.

Then they'll fill the area with clean soil.