An underground landfill fire in St. Louis, is rapidly approaching a nuclear waste dump site.
The nuclear waste is leftover waste from the Manhattan Project that was illegally dumped into the landfill during 1973, according to the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. The fire has been burning for five years and currently resides 1,000 feet away from the 9,000 tons of nuclear waste.
Many citizens in the area were unaware the fire existed, according to NPR.org. The Environmental Protection Agency said it will announce plans to build a firebreak before the end of the year and decide whether to dig up the radioactive waste during 2017.