Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂;
russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic,
tectonically
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...
unstable and uninhabited
island in the
Rat Islands
The Rat Islands ( ale, Qax̂um tanangis, russian: Крысьи острова) are a group of American High islands, volcanic islands in the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, between Buldir Island and the Near Islands group to its west, ...
group of the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
in southwest
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. It is part of the
Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (often shortened to Alaska Maritime or AMNWR) is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of whic ...
. The island, with a land area of roughly , is about long and wide.
The area has a
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
, with many storms, and mostly overcast skies.
Amchitka was populated for more than 2,500 years by the
Aleut people
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
, but has had no permanent population since 1832. The island has been part of the United States since the
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase (russian: Продажа Аляски, Prodazha Alyaski, Sale of Alaska) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a ...
of 1867. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, it was used as an airfield by US forces in the
Aleutian Islands Campaign.
Amchitka was selected by the
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President H ...
to be the site for underground
detonations
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...
of
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
. Three such tests were carried out: ''
Long Shot
In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surrou ...
'', an blast in 1965; ''Milrow'', a blast in 1969; and ''
Cannikin
Cannikin was an underground nuclear weapons test performed on November 6, 1971, on Amchitka island, Alaska, by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The experiment, part of the Operation Grommet nuclear test series, tested the unique W71 ...
'' in 1971 – at , the largest
underground test ever conducted by the United States.
The tests were highly controversial, with
environmental groups
An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the Conservation movement, conservation or environmental movements
that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or environmental degradation, degradation ...
fearing that the ''Cannikin'' explosion, in particular, would cause severe
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
s and
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
s. Amchitka is no longer used for nuclear testing. It is still monitored for the
leakage of radioactive materials.
Geography
![Amchitka Island, Harlequin Beach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Amchitka_Island%2C_Harlequin_Beach.jpg)
Amchitka is the southernmost of the Rat Islands group in the Aleutian Chain,
located between and .
It is bounded by the
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
to the north and east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south and west.
The eastern part of the island is a lowland plateau, with isolated ponds
and gently rolling hills.
There is low but abundant vegetation,
consisting of mosses, lichens, liverworts, ferns, grasses, sedges, and
crowberry
''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...
.
The center of the island is mountainous, and the western end is barren and vegetation is sparse.
Amchitka has a
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
, often foggy and windswept, with cloud cover 98 percent of the time.
While temperatures are moderated by the ocean, storms are frequent.
Geologically, the island is volcanic, being a part of a small crustal block on the
Aleutian Arc
The Aleutian Arc is a large volcanic arc in the U.S. state of Alaska. It consists of a number of active and dormant volcanoes that have formed as a result of subduction along the Aleutian Trench. Although taking its name from the Aleutian Islands ...
that is being torn apart by oblique
subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
. It is "one of the least stable tectonic environments in the United States."
Early history
The human history of Amchitka dates back at least 2,500 years, with the
Aleut people
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
.
Human remains, thought to be of an Aleut dating from about 1000 AD, were discovered in 1980.
Amchitka is said to have been seen and named St. Makarius by
Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...
in 1741, was sighted by
Joseph Billings
Joseph Billings (17581806) was an English navigator, hydrographer and explorer who spent the most significant part of his life in Russian service.
Life
Early life
Joseph Billings was likely born in Yarmouth, the son of a fisherman of the same na ...
in 1790, and visited by
Shishmaref
Shishmaref ( ; ik, Qigiqtaq, ; rus, Шишмарёв, p=ʂɨʂmɐˈrʲɵf) is a City (Alaska), city
in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of ...
in 1820.
In 1783,
Daikokuya Kōdayū
(1751 – 28 May 1828) was a Japanese castaway who spent nine years in Russia. His ship landed at Amchitka, in the Aleutian Islands. The crew managed to travel to the Russian mainland and Catherine the Great allowed them to go back to Japan. T ...
and 15 Japanese castaways landed on Amchitka after drifting for seven months. The castaways were taken care of by Russian employees of Zhigarev and hunted with indigenous people. Six of the castaways died in three years.
[Yamashita, Tsuneo ''Daikokuya Kodayu''(Japanese) 2004. Iwanami, Japan ]
World War II and after
In June 1942, the Japanese occupied some of the western Aleutian islands, and hoped to occupy Amchitka.
Eager to remove the Japanese, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
agreed to move quickly to regain the territory. American planners decided to build a series of airfields to the west of
Umnak
Umnak ( ale, Unmax, Umnax; russian: Умнак) is one of the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands. With of land area, it is the third largest island in the Aleutian archipelago and the 19th largest island in the United States. The island is home ...
, from which bombers could attack the invading forces.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
established bases at
Adak and 13 other locations.
At the War Department's suggestion, an initial reconnaissance of Amchitka was carried out in September 1942, finding that it would be difficult to build an airstrip on the island.
Nevertheless, planners decided on December 13 that the airfield "had to be built" to prevent the Japanese from doing the same.
A further reconnaissance mission visited Amchitka from 17 to 19 December, and reported that a fighter strip could be built in two to three weeks, and a main airfield in three to four months.
The plan was approved and began in 1942.
American forces made an unopposed landing on Amchitka on January 12, 1943. Despite facing difficult weather conditions and bombing from the Japanese, the airfield was usable by February 16.
The Alaska Command was now away from their target,
Kiska
Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required ...
.
The military eventually built numerous buildings, roads, and a total of three airstrips on the island,
one of which would later be rebuilt and used by the
Atomic Energy Commission in the late 1960s.
At its peak, the occupancy of Amchitka reached 15,000 troops.
The
Aleutian Islands campaign was successfully completed on August 24, 1943.
In that month, a strategic intercept station was established on the island, remaining until February 1945.
On 31 December 1949 the Air Force base was closed due to insufficient personnel and staff. The Army closed its communications facility at Amchitka in August 1950.
On 31 December 1950 the Air Force
2107th Air Weather Group withdrew the last of its personnel from Amchitka and the facility was abandoned.
The site later hosted an Air Force
White Alice Communications System
The White Alice Communications System (WACS, "White Alice" colloquially) was a United States Air Force telecommunication network with 80 radio stations constructed in Alaska during the Cold War. It used tropospheric scatter for over-the-horizon li ...
from 1959 to 1961, and a temporary relay station in the 1960s and 1970s.
A prototype
Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar system existed on Amchitka between 1991 and 1993 to conduct surveillance on Russia.
Demographics
Amchitka first appeared as a census-designated place (CDP) on the 1990 U.S. Census with a population of 25. This was the only time it appeared on the census, and the CDP was abolished in 2000.
Nuclear testing
Plans for nuclear testing
![AmchitkaTestSites](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/AmchitkaTestSites.svg)
With the pullout of military forces from Amchitka in 1950, the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
(DoD) initially considered the island for nuclear testing planned for 1951. Requiring information about the cratering potential of
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s, plans were made to detonate two devices.
After approximately 34 test holes had been drilled, the site was deemed unsuitable,
and the project was moved to the
Nevada test site
The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of th ...
.
In the late 1950s, scientists realized that improved
seismological knowledge was necessary for the detection of
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
underground nuclear explosions.
The ''Rainier'' test (part of
Operation Plumbbob
Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests that were conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following ''Project 57'', and preceding '' Project 58/58A''.
Background
The operation consisted of 29 explosions ...
, performed in Nevada) produced strong seismic signals, but looked much like an ordinary earthquake. In 1959,
Dr. James R. Killian, the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, formed the Panel on Seismic Improvement (which subsequently recommended the program that came to be known as
Vela Uniform
Vela Uniform was an element of Project Vela conducted jointly by the United States Department of Energy and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its purpose was to develop seismic methods for detecting underground nuclear testing, and it involved ...
), with the twin goals of improving seismic instruments and deploying them globally, and researching in more depth the seismic effects of nuclear explosions.
The project was subsequently initiated by the
Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
administration.
Together with the Atomic Energy Commission, the DoD began assessing Amchitka for use as part of the ''
Vela Uniform
Vela Uniform was an element of Project Vela conducted jointly by the United States Department of Energy and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its purpose was to develop seismic methods for detecting underground nuclear testing, and it involved ...
'' nuclear tests.
Long Shot test
![Long Shot film still](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Long_Shot_film_still.jpg)
To conduct the Vela Uniform test ''Long Shot'',
the Department of Defense occupied Amchitka from 1964 to 1966, with the AEC providing the device, measuring instruments, and scientific support.
The goal was "to determine the behavior and characteristics of seismic signals generated by nuclear detonations and to differentiate them from seismic signals generated by naturally occurring earthquakes."
Although it would not be publicly announced until March 18, 1965, senior Alaskan officials were notified the previous February.
After the devastating
Great Alaska earthquake of March 27, 1964, the governor expressed concern about the psychological effects of the test on the populace. He was quickly reassured.
''Long Shot'' was detonated on October 29, 1965, and the yield was . It was the first underground test in a remote area, and the first test managed by the DoD.
While there was no surface collapse,
tritium
Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus o ...
and
krypton
Krypton (from grc, κρυπτός, translit=kryptos 'the hidden one') is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and is often ...
were found at the surface following the test;
this was not made public until 1969.
Milrow and Cannikin tests
Though performed as part of the Nuclear Weapons Testing Program,
"
hepurpose of the ''Milrow'' test was to test an island, not a weapon."
It was a "calibration shot", intended to produce data from which the impact of larger explosions could be predicted, and specifically, to determine whether the planned ''Cannikin'' detonation could be performed safely. ''Milrow'' was detonated on October 2, 1969
, with an approximate
yield of .
The shockwave reached the surface with an acceleration of over 35 g (340 m/s
2), causing a dome of the Earth's surface, approximately in radius, to rise about .
The blast "turned the surrounding sea to froth" and "forced geysers of mud and water from local streams and lakes into the air".
A "surface collapse feature", also known as a
subsidence crater
__NOTOC__
A subsidence crater is a hole or depression left on the surface of an area which has had an underground (usually nuclear) explosion. Many such craters are commonly present at bomb testing areas; one notable example is the Nevada Test S ...
, was formed by material collapsing into the cavity formed by the explosion.
''Cannikin'' was intended to test the design of the
Spartan
Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...
anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear weapon, nuclear, Chemical weapon, chemical, Bioagent, biological, or conventiona ...
(ABM) interceptor – a high-yield warhead that "produced copious amounts of x-rays and minimized fission output and debris to prevent blackout of ABM radar systems."
The test would "measure the yield of the device, measure the x-ray flux and spectrum, and assure deployment of a reliable design."
Controversy
A few days after the ''Milrow'' test, the
Don't Make A Wave Committee
The Don't Make a Wave Committee was the name of the anti-nuclear organization which later evolved into Greenpeace, a global environmental organization. The Don't Make a Wave Committee was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to protest ...
was organized at a meeting in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada. The committee's name referred to predictions made by a Vancouver journalist named
Bob Hunter, later to become a member of
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
. He wrote that the test would cause earthquakes and a tsunami.
On the agenda was whether to fight another blast at the island, or whether to expand their efforts to fight all perceived threats against the environment. As he was leaving, one man gave the traditional farewell of the peace-activist movement "Peace" – to which another member replied "Make it a green peace". The committee would later become Greenpeace.
[The Greenpeace Story in: ]
The AEC considered the likelihood of the test triggering a severe earthquake "very unlikely", unless one was already imminent on a nearby fault, and considered a tsunami "even more unlikely".
Others disagreed.
Russell Train, then Chairman of the
Council on Environmental Quality
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the developmen ...
, argued that "experience with ''Milrow'' ... does not provide a sure basis for extrapolation. In the highly nonlinear phenomena involved in earthquake generation, there may be a threshold value of the strain that must be exceeded prior to initiation of a large earthquake. ... The underground explosion could serve as the first domino of the row of dominoes leading to a major earthquake. ... as in the case of earthquakes it is not possible at this time to assess quantitatively the probability of a tsunami following the explosion."
![Cannikin test stills](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Cannikin_test_stills.jpg)
In July 1971, a group called the ''Committee for Nuclear Responsibility'' filed suit against the AEC, asking the court to stop the test.
The suit was unsuccessful, with the Supreme Court denying the injunction by 4 votes to 3,
and
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
personally authorized the $200 million test, in spite of objections from Japan, Peru, and Sweden.
The ''Don't Make A Wave Committee'' chartered a boat, in which they had intended to sail to the island in protest, but due to postponement of the test and interference from the U.S. Coast Guard, they were unable to observe the test.
Cannikin tested
''Cannikin'' was detonated on November 6, 1971
, as the thirteenth test of the
Operation Grommet
The United States's Grommet nuclear test series was a group of 34 nuclear tests conducted in 1971–1972. These testsA bomb test may be a salvo test, defined as two or more explosions "where a period of time between successive individual explos ...
(1971–1972) underground nuclear test series. The announced yield was 5 megatons (21 PJ) – the largest underground nuclear test in U.S. history.
(Estimates for the precise yield range from 4.4 to 5.2 megatons or 18 to 22 PJ). The ground lifted , caused by an explosive force almost 400 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb
"Little Boy" was the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 during World War II, making it the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. The bomb was dropped by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ''Enola Gay'' p ...
. Subsidence and faulting at the site created a new lake, several hundred meters wide. The explosion caused a seismic shock of 7.0 on the Richter scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
, causing rockfalls and turf slides of a total of . Though earthquakes and tsunamis predicted by environmentalists did not occur, a number of small tectonic events did occur in the following weeks, (some registering as high as 4.0 on the richter scale) thought to be due to the interaction of the explosion with local tectonic stresses.
1973 and beyond
The AEC withdrew from the island in 1973, though scientists continue to visit the island for monitoring purposes. In 2001, the DoE returned to the site to remove environmental contamination. Drilling mud pits were stabilized by mixing with clean soil, covering with a polyester membrane, topped with soil and re-seeded.
Concerns have been expressed that new fissures may be opening underground, allowing radioactive materials to leak into the ocean. A 1996 Greenpeace study found that ''Cannikin'' was leaking both plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
and americium
Americium is a synthetic radioactive chemical element with the symbol Am and atomic number 95. It is a transuranic member of the actinide series, in the periodic table located under the lanthanide element europium, and thus by analogy was na ...
into the environment. In 2004, scientific divers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks collected shallow subtidal
The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth.
From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...
organisms and reported that "There were no indications of any radioactive leakage, and all that was really wonderful news." Similar findings are reported by a 2006 study, which found that levels of plutonium "were very small and not significant biologically".
The Department of Energy continues to monitor the site as part of their remediation program. This is expected to continue until 2025, after which the site is intended to become a restricted access wildlife preserve.
References
Further reading
* Hunter, Robert. ''The Greenpeace to Amchitka An Environmental Odyssey''. Vancouver, B.C.: Arsenal Pulp Press
Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...
, 2004.
* Sense, Richard G., and Roger J. Desautels. ''Amchitka Archaeology Progress Reports''. Las Vegas, Nev: Holmes & Narver, Inc. 1970.
External links
Home page of USS Worden (DD 352)
A U.S. Navy destroyer that sank during the landing at Amchitka, January 12, 1943. Contains eyewitness accounts of the landings.
* ''The following links are to Department of Energy films about the Amitchka test facility. The videos include footage of the tests.''
*
The Amchitka Program
()
*
Project Long Shot
()
*
The Milrow Test
()
*
Project Cannikin Review
()
*
Amchitka Island Remediation Activities
* ''The following links are to current articles from the Anchorage Daily News about the Cannikin test.''
*
Why a bomb test in the Aleutians still strikes fear in workers 46 years later
*
Veterans pay the cost for U.S. nuclear tests
{{authority control
Aleutian Islands campaign
American nuclear weapons testing
American nuclear test sites
Rat Islands
Former populated places in Alaska
Nuclear test sites
Uninhabited islands of Alaska
Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska
Islands of Alaska