![Castle Bravo Blast](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Castle_Bravo_Blast.jpg)
Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll consisted of the detonation of 23
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 ...
by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
between 1946 and 1958 on
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Second ...
in the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
. Tests occurred at 7 test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air, and underwater.
The test weapons produced a combined fission yield of 42.2
Mt of TNT in explosive power.
The United States and its allies were engaged in a
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
nuclear arms race with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
to build more advanced bombs from 1947 until 1991.
The first series of tests over Bikini Atoll in July 1946 was codenamed
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
. ''Able'' was dropped from an aircraft and detonated above the target fleet. The second, ''Baker'', was suspended under a barge. It produced a large
Wilson cloud and contaminated all of the target ships. Chemist
Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn Theodore Seaborg (; April 19, 1912February 25, 1999) was an American chemist whose involvement in the synthesis, discovery and investigation of ten transuranium elements earned him a share of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His work in ...
, the longest-serving chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, called the second test "the world's first nuclear disaster."
The second series of tests in 1954 was codenamed
Operation Castle
Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield (high-energy) nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7) at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954. It followed ''Operation Upshot–Knothole'' and preceded ''Operation Teapot''.
Condu ...
. The first detonation was
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...
, which tested a new design utilizing a dry-fuel
thermonuclear
Thermonuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining or “fusing” using high temperatures to drive them close enough together for this to become possible. There are two forms of thermonuclear fusion: ''uncontrolled'', in which the re ...
bomb. It was detonated at dawn on March 1, 1954. Scientists miscalculated: the 15
Mt of TNT nuclear explosion far exceeded the expected yield of 4–8 Mt of TNT (6 predicted).
This was about 1,000 times more powerful than either of the atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
during World War II. The scientists and military authorities were shocked by the size of the explosion, and many of the instruments that they had put in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the weapon were destroyed.
[
Authorities had promised the Bikini Atoll's residents that they would be able to return home after the nuclear tests. A majority of the island's family heads agreed to leave the island, and most of the residents were moved to the ]Rongerik Atoll
Rongerik Atoll or Rongdrik Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 17 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and is located in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, approximately east of Bikini Atoll. Its total land area is only , but it encloses ...
and later to Kili Island
Kili Island or Kili Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a small, () island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is the temporary home of 548 inhabitants who are descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were ...
. Both locations proved unsuitable to sustaining life, and the United States had to provide residents with on-going aid. Despite the promises made by authorities, these and further nuclear tests (Redwing
The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
Taxonomy and systematics
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his ...
in 1956 and Hardtack
Hardtack (or hard tack) is a simple type of dense biscuit or Cracker (food), cracker made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly dur ...
in 1958) rendered Bikini unfit for habitation, contaminating the soil and water, making subsistence farming and fishing too dangerous. The United States later paid the islanders and their descendants $125 million in compensation for damage caused by the nuclear testing program and their displacement from their home island. A 2016 investigation found radiation levels on Bikini Atoll as high as 639 mrem
The roentgen equivalent man (rem) is a CGS unit of equivalent dose, effective dose, and committed dose, which are dose measures used to estimate potential health effects of low levels of ionizing radiation on the human body.
Quantities measur ...
yr−1 (6.39mSv
mSv or MSV may refer to:
* Maize streak virus, a plant disease
* Medium-speed vehicle, US category
* Medium Systems Vehicle, a class of fictional artificially intelligent starship in The Culture universe of late Scottish author Iain Banks
* Mill ...
/ a), well above the established safety standard for habitation. However, Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
scientists reported "an abundance of marine life apparently thriving in the crater of Bikini Atoll" in 2017.
Preparation
Residents relocated
In February 1946, the United States government forced the 167 Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
n inhabitants of the atoll to temporarily relocate so that testing could begin on atomic bombs.[ King Juda agreed to the request, announcing that "we will go believing that everything is in the hands of God."] Nine of the eleven family heads chose Rongerik as their new home. Navy Seabee
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
s helped them to disassemble their church and community house and prepare to relocate to their new home. On March 7, 1946, the residents gathered their belongings and building supplies. They were transported eastward on Navy landing craft 1108 and LST 861 to the uninhabited Rongerik Atoll
Rongerik Atoll or Rongdrik Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 17 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and is located in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, approximately east of Bikini Atoll. Its total land area is only , but it encloses ...
,[ which was one-sixth the size of Bikini Atoll.][ No one lived on Rongerik because it had an inadequate water and food supply, and also due to traditional beliefs that the island was haunted by the ''Demon Girls of Ujae''. The Navy left them with a few weeks of food and water which soon proved inadequate.][
]
Military services
The United States assembled a support fleet of 242 ships that provided quarters, experimental stations, and workshops for more than 42,000 personnel. The islands were primarily used as recreation and instrumentation sites. Seabees built bunkers, floating dry docks,[ steel towers for cameras and recording instruments,] and other facilities on the island to support the servicemen. These included the "Up and Atom Officer's Club" and the "Cross Spikes Club", a bar and hang-out created by servicemen on Bikini Island between June and September 1946. The "club" was little more than a small open-air building which served alcohol to servicemen and provided outdoor entertainment, including a ping pong table. The "Cross Spikes Club" was the only entertainment that the enlisted servicemen had access to during their June to September stay at Bikini.
Ship graveyard
The Navy designated Bikini Atoll lagoon as a ship graveyard
A ship graveyard or ship cemetery is a location where the hulls of scrapped ships are left to decay and disintegrate, or left in reserve. Such a practice is now less common due to waste regulations and so some dry docks where ships are bro ...
, then brought in 95 ships, including carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, attack transports, and landing ships. The proxy fleet would have comprised the sixth largest naval fleet in the world if the ships had been active. All carried varying amounts of fuel, and some carried live ordnance.
Weapons tests
Operation Crossroads
Crossroads consisted of two detonations, each with a yield of 23 kt of TNT (96 TJ). ''Able'' was detonated over Bikini on July 1, 1946 and exploded at an altitude of , but was dropped by aircraft about off target.[ It sank only five of the ships in the lagoon. ''Baker'' was detonated underwater at a depth of on July 25, sinking eight ships.][ The second underwater blast created a large condensation cloud and contaminated the ships with more radioactive water than was expected. Many of the surviving ships were too contaminated to be used again for testing and were sunk. The air-borne nuclear detonation raised the surface seawater temperature by , created blast waves with speeds of up to , and shock and surface waves up to high. Blast columns reached the floor of the lagoon, which is approximately deep.][
''Charlie'' was planned for 1947 but was canceled primarily because of the Navy's inability to decontaminate the target ships after the ''Baker'' test. ''Charlie'' was rescheduled as ]Operation Wigwam
Operation Wigwam involved a single test of the Mark 90 "Betty" nuclear bomb. It was conducted between ''Operation Teapot'' and '' Project 56'' on May 14, 1955, about 500 miles (800 km) southwest of San Diego, California. 6,800 personnel ...
, a deep water shot conducted in 1955 off the California coast.
Castle Bravo test
The next series of tests over Bikini Atoll was codenamed Operation Castle
Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield (high-energy) nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7) at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954. It followed ''Operation Upshot–Knothole'' and preceded ''Operation Teapot''.
Condu ...
. The first test of that series was Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...
, a new design utilizing a dry fuel thermonuclear
Thermonuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining or “fusing” using high temperatures to drive them close enough together for this to become possible. There are two forms of thermonuclear fusion: ''uncontrolled'', in which the re ...
bomb. It was detonated at dawn on March 1, 1954.
The explosion yielded 15 Mt of TNT, far exceeding the expected yield of 4 to 8 Mt of TNT (6 predicted), and was about 1,000 times more powerful than each of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
during World War II. The device was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States and just under one-third the energy of the Tsar Bomba
The Tsar Bomba () ( code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet physicist Andrei Sa ...
, the largest nuclear device ever tested. The scientists and military authorities were shocked by the size of the explosion, and it destroyed many of the instruments put in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the test.[
]
Castle Bravo contamination
The unexpectedly large yield led to the most significant radiological contamination caused by the United States. A few minutes after the detonation, blast debris began to fall on Eneu/Enyu Island on Bikini Atoll where the crew who fired the device were located. Their Geiger counter
A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental ph ...
s detected the unexpected fallout, and they were forced to take shelter indoors for a number of hours before it was safe for an airlift rescue operation.[ accessed Feb 20, 2013]
The fallout continued to spread across the inhabited islands of the Rongelap
Rongelap Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 61 islands (or motus) in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is . It encloses a lagoon with an area of . ...
, Rongerik
Rongerik Atoll or Rongdrik Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 17 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and is located in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, approximately east of Bikini Atoll. Its total land area is only , but it encloses ...
, and Utrik Atolls. The inhabitants of Rongelap and Rongerik Atolls were evacuated by servicemen two days after the detonation, but the residents of the more distant Utrik Atoll were not evacuated for three days. Many of them soon began to show symptoms of acute radiation syndrome. They returned to the islands three years later but were forced to relocate again when the islands were found to be unsafe.
File:USS Independence (CVL-22) afire after the Able atomic bomb test on 1 July 1946 (80-G-627502).jpg, The light aircraft carrier afire aft, soon after the "Able Day" atomic bomb air burst test at Bikini on July 1, 1946
File:Damage to the port quarter of USS Independence (CVL-22) after the Able atmic bomb test, 23 July 1946 (80-G-627471).jpg, View of the USS Independence's port quarter showing severe blast damage caused by the "Able Day" atomic bomb air burst over Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946
File:USS Saratoga (CV-3) sinking in Bikini Atoll lagoon on 25 July 1946 (SC 259372).jpg, sinking after Operation Crossroads
File:Bravo Fallout.jpg, Path of the nuclear fallout plume after the Castle Bravo test
The fallout gradually dispersed around the globe, depositing traces of radioactive material in Australia, India, Japan, and parts of the United States of America and Europe. It had been organized as a secret test, but Castle Bravo quickly became an international incident prompting calls for a ban on atmospheric testing of thermonuclear weapons.
Local populations affected
The Rongelap Atoll
Rongelap Atoll (Marshallese language, Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 61 islands (or motu (geography), motus) in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is . It ...
was coated with up to of snow-like irradiated calcium debris and ash over the entire island. Virtually all the inhabitants experienced severe radiation sickness, including itchiness, sore skin, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. Their symptoms also included burning eyes and swelling of the neck, arms, and legs. They were forced to abandon the islands three days after the tests, leaving behind all their belongings. The U.S. government relocated them to Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
for medical treatment.[
Six days after the Castle Bravo test, the government set up a secret ]project
A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal.
An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...
to study the medical effects of the weapon on the residents of the Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
. The United States was subsequently accused of using the inhabitants as medical research subjects without obtaining their consent to study the effects of nuclear exposure. Until that time, the Atomic Energy Commission had given little thought to the potential impact of widespread fallout contamination and health and ecological impacts beyond the formally designated boundary of the test site.
Japanese fishermen contaminated
Ninety minutes after the detonation, 23 crew members of the Japanese fishing boat the ''Daigo Fukuryū Maru
was a Japanese tuna fishing boat with a crew of 23 men which was contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954.
The crew suffered acute radiation syndrome (ARS) ...
'' ("Lucky Dragon No. 5")[Lorna Arnold and Mark Smith. (2006). Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Palgrave Press, p. 77.] were contaminated by the snow-like irradiated debris and ash. They had no idea what the explosion was and no understanding of the debris that rained down like snow, but they all soon became ill with the effects of acute radiation sickness. One fisherman died about six months later while under doctor supervision; his cause of death was ruled a pre-existing liver cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...
compounded by a hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...
infection. The majority of medical experts believe that the crew members were infected with hepatitis C through blood transfusions during part of their acute radiation syndrome treatment.
Edward Teller
Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care fo ...
was one of the driving minds behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and an architect of the Marshall Island tests. After the mass media painted the fisherman's death as an anti-nuclear call to arms, Teller notoriously commented, "It's unreasonable to make such a big deal over the death of a fisherman."
Later tests
The 17-shot Redwing
The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
Taxonomy and systematics
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his ...
series followed—11 tests at Enewetak Atoll
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...
and six at Bikini. The island residents had been promised that they would be able to return home to Bikini, but the government thwarted that indefinitely by deciding to resume nuclear testing at Bikini in 1954. During 1954, 1956, and 1958, 21 more nuclear bombs were detonated at Bikini, yielding a total of 75 Mt of TNT (310 PJ), equivalent to more than three thousand ''Baker'' bombs. The 3.8 Mt of TNT Redwing ''Cherokee'' test was the only air burst. Air bursts distribute fallout in a large area, but surface bursts produce intense local fallout. These tests were followed by the 33-shot Hardtack
Hardtack (or hard tack) is a simple type of dense biscuit or Cracker (food), cracker made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly dur ...
tests, which began in late April 1958. The last of ten tests were detonated on Bikini Atoll on July 22, 1958.[
]
Shipwrecks
Shipwrecks in the lagoon include:
* —aircraft carrier
* —battleship
* —attack transport
* —attack transport
* —destroyer
* —destroyer
* —submarine
* —submarine
* —battleship
* —light cruiser
* —heavy cruiser—currently capsized on the surface of Kwajalein Atoll lagoon
Nuclear test detonations at Bikini Atoll
The following above-ground nuclear device tests were conducted on or near Bikini Atoll from 1946 to 1958, comprising 15.1% of total test yield worldwide. These dates are given in US Eastern time zone The days of the week are a day earlier than they were at Bikini.
Relocation issues
Strategic Trust Territory
In 1947, the United States petitioned the United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
to designate the islands of Micronesia a United Nations Strategic Trust Territory. This was the only strategic trust ever granted by the Security Council. The U.S. Navy controlled the trust from a headquarters in Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
until 1951, when the Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan
Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...
. The directive stipulated that the U.S. would "promote the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the inhabitants" and "protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources".[
The residents of Bikini Atoll were left alone on Rongerik Atoll from July 1946 through July 1947. Leonard E. Mason was an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii; he visited the islanders on Rongerik Atoll in January 1948 and found that they were starving.] A team of U.S. investigators concluded in late 1947 that the islanders must be moved immediately. Press from around the world harshly criticized the U.S. Navy for ignoring them. Columnist Harold Ickes wrote that "the natives are actually and literally starving to death."[
The Navy then selected ]Ujelang Atoll
Ujelang Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 30 islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is , and it encloses a lagoon of . It is the westernmost island in the Marshall Islands, approxim ...
for their temporary home, and some young men from the Bikini Atoll population went ahead to begin constructing living accommodations. But U.S. Trust Authorities decided to use Enewetak Atoll
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...
as a second nuclear weapons test site, and they relocated Enewetak's residents to Ujelang Atoll to the homes built for the Bikini Islanders.[
In March 1948, 184 malnourished Bikini islanders were temporarily relocated again to ]Kwajalein Atoll
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
.[ In June 1948, the Bikini residents chose ]Kili Island
Kili Island or Kili Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a small, () island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is the temporary home of 548 inhabitants who are descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were ...
as a long-term home.[ The () island is one of the smallest in the Marshall Island chain; it was uninhabited and was not ruled by a paramount ''iroij'' (king). The Bikini islanders moved there in November 1948.][
]
Return to Bikini Island
President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
promised the 540 Bikini Atoll families living on Kili and other islands in June 1968 that they would be able to return to their home, based on scientific advice that the radiation levels were sufficiently reduced. But the Atomic Energy Commission learned that the coconut crab
The coconut crab (''Birgus latro'') is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to . It can grow to up to in width from the tip ...
s, an essential food source, retained high levels of radioactivity and could not be eaten. The Bikini Council voted to delay a return to the island as a result.[
In 1987, a few Bikini elders returned to the island to re-establish old property lines. Construction crews began building a hotel on Bikini and installed generators, desalinators, and power lines. A packed coral and sand runway still exists on Enyu Island. Three extended families moved back to their home island in 1972 despite the risk, eventually totaling about 100 people. But 10 years later, a team of French scientists found that some wells were too radioactive for use and determined that the pandanus and breadfruit were also dangerous for human consumption. Women were experiencing miscarriages, stillbirths, and genetic abnormalities in their children.] The U.S.-administered Strategic Trust Territory decided that the islanders had to be evacuated from the atoll a second time.
Second evacuation
An 11-year-old boy who was born on Bikini in 1971 died from cancer that was linked to radiation exposure that he received on Bikini. The records obtained by the Marshallese Nuclear Claims Tribunal
Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal is an international arbitral tribunal established pursuant to the Agreement Between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Marshall Islands for the Implementation of Section 177 of the ...
later revealed that Dr. Robert Conard, head of Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...
(BNL)'s medical team in the Marshall Islands, understated the risk of returning to the atoll. BNL then contracted Dr. Konrad Kotrady to treat the Marshall Island residents. In 1977, he wrote a 14-page report to BNL that questioned the accuracy of Brookhaven's prior work on the islands.[ The Bikini Atoll islanders grew to distrust the official reports of the U.S. scientists.][
The special ]International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
(IAEA) Bikini Advisory Group determined in 1997 that it was "safe to walk on all of the islands" and that the residual radioactivity was "not hazardous to health at the levels measured". They further stated that "the main radiation risk would be from the food", but they also added that "eating coconuts or breadfruit from Bikini Island occasionally would be no cause for concern". IAEA estimated that living in the atoll and consuming local food would result in an effective dose of about 15 mSv
mSv or MSV may refer to:
* Maize streak virus, a plant disease
* Medium-speed vehicle, US category
* Medium Systems Vehicle, a class of fictional artificially intelligent starship in The Culture universe of late Scottish author Iain Banks
* Mill ...
/a.
The leaders of the Bikini community have insisted since the early 1980s that the top of soil should be excavated from the entire island. Scientists reply that removing the soil would rid the island of cesium-137
Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nuclea ...
, but it would also severely damage the environment, turning the atoll into a virtual wasteland of windswept sand. The Bikini Council has repeatedly contended that removing the topsoil is the only way to guarantee safe living conditions for future generations.
In 1997, researchers found that the dose received from background radiation
Background radiation is a measure of the level of ionizing radiation present in the environment at a particular location which is not due to deliberate introduction of radiation sources.
Background radiation originates from a variety of sources ...
on the island was between 2.4 mSv/a—the same as natural background radiation—and 4.5 mSv/a, assuming that residents consumed a diet of imported foods. The local food supply is still irradiated and the group did not recommend resettling the island. A 1998 IAEA report found that Bikini should not be permanently resettled because of dangerous levels of radiation in the locally produced food. A permanent rehabitation would likely require the use of potassium fertilizer.[Assessing Radiological Conditions At Bikini Atoll and The Prospects For Resettlement – Review At Bikini Atoll](_blank)
Peter Stegnar, Iaea Bulletin, 40/4/1998, p. 3: »It was recommended that Bikini Island should not be permanently resettled under the present radiological conditions. This recommendation was based on the assumption that persons resettling on the island would consume a diet of entirely locally produced food. There are a number of remedial actions that could be performed that could lead to permanent rehabitation of the island. ... It is generally felt that the most reasonable approach would be to use potassium fertilizer.«
A 2002 survey found that the coral inside the Bravo Crater has partially recovered. Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...
observed matrices of branching Porites
''Porites'' is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetric ...
coral up to 8 m high.
Compensation and reparations
The Bikini islanders sued the United States for the first time in 1975, and they demanded a radiological study of the northern islands. The United States set up ''The Hawaiian Trust Fund for the People of Bikini'' in 1975, totaling $3 million. Residents were removed from the island in 1978, and the government added $3 million to the fund and created ''The Resettlement Trust Fund for the People of Bikini'', containing $20 million in 1982. The government added another $90 million to that fund to pay to clean up, reconstruct homes and facilities, and resettle the islanders on Bikini and Eneu islands.
In 1983, the U.S. and the Marshall islanders signed the Compact of Free Association
The Compact of Free Association (COFA) is an international agreement establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island sovereign states of the Federated States of Micronesia (F ...
which gave the Marshall Islands independence. The Compact became effective in 1986 and was subsequently modified by the Amended Compact that became effective in 2004. It also established the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which was given the task of adjudicating compensation for victims and families affected by the nuclear testing program. Section 177 of the compact provided for reparations to the Bikini islanders and other northern atolls for damages. It included $75 million to be paid over 15 years.[ On March 5, 2001, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal ruled against the United States for damages done to the islands and its people.][
The payments began in 1987 with $2.4 million paid annually to the entire Bikini population, while the remaining $2.6 million is paid into ''The Bikini Claims Trust Fund''. This trust is intended to exist in perpetuity and to provide the islanders a 5% payment from the trust annually.][ The United States provided $150 million in compensation for damage caused by the nuclear testing program and their displacement from their home island.]
By 2001, 70 of the 167 relocated residents were still alive, and the entire population had grown to 2,800.[ Most of the islanders and their descendants live on Kili, in Majuro, or in the United States. Only a few living people were born on the Bikini Atoll. Most of the younger descendants have never lived there or even visited. The population is growing at a four percent growth rate, so increasing numbers are taking advantage of terms in the Marshall Islands' Compact of Free Association that allow them to obtain jobs in the United States.][
]
Recovery of marine ecosystem
Stanford University professor Steve Palumbi Stephen R. Palumbi (born October 17, 1956, in Baltimore, MD) is the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor in Marine Sciences at Stanford University at Hopkins Marine Station. He also holds a Senior Fellowship at the Stanford Woods Institute for t ...
led a study in 2017 that reported on ocean life that seems highly resilient to the effects of radiation poisoning. The team described substantial diversity in the marine ecosystem, with animals appearing healthy to the naked eye. According to Palumbi, the atoll's "lagoon is full of schools of fish all swirling around the living coral. In a strange way they are protected by the history of this place, the fish populations are better than in some other places because they have been left alone, the sharks are more abundant and the coral are big. It is a remarkable environment, quite odd." Both corals and long-lived animals such as coconut crabs should be vulnerable to radiation-induced cancers, and understanding how they have thrived might lead to discoveries about preserving DNA. Pambuli notes that the Bikini Atoll is "an ironic setting for research that might help people live longer". PBS documented field work undertaken by Palumbi and his graduate student Elora López on Bikini Atoll for the second episode ("Violent") of their series ''Big Pacific.'' The episode explored "species, natural phenomena and behaviors of the Pacific Ocean" and the way that the team is using DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...
to study the rate and pattern of any mutations. López suggested possible explanations for the health of the marine life to ''The Stanford Daily'', such as a mechanism for DNA repair that is superior to that possessed by humans, or a method of maintaining a genome in the face of nuclear radiation.
The area has effectively become an unplanned marine-life sanctuary; this has also occurred in Europe in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, Belarusian: Хона адчужэння Чарнобыльскай АЭС, ''Zona adčužennia Čarnobyĺskaj AES'', russian: Зона отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС ...
, where scientists are studying the effects of radiation on animal life. Most fish have relatively short lifespans, and Palumbi suggested that "it is possible the worst-affected fish died off many decades ago… and the fish living in Bikini Atoll today are only subject to low levels of radiation exposure as they frequently swim in and out of the atoll." Nurse shark
The nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum'') is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. They are considered t ...
s have two dorsal fins, but Palumbi's team observed individuals with only a single fin, and they theorized that they might be mutations. Pambuli and his team have focussed on the hubcap-sized crabs, as their coconut diet is contaminated with radioactive caesium-137 from ground water, and on the corals, because both have longer life spans that allow the scientists "to delve into what effect the radiation exposure has had on the animals' DNA after building up in their systems for many years."
Bikini Atoll remains uninhabitable for humans due to what United Nations reporter Călin Georgescu
Călin Georgescu (born 1962) is a Romanian senior expert in sustainable development, with an acknowledged recognition in the field, following 17 years of service in the environmental area in the United Nations system. Georgescu was appointed the ...
described as "near-irreversible environmental contamination". Gamma radiation
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically s ...
levels in 2016 averaged 184 mrem
The roentgen equivalent man (rem) is a CGS unit of equivalent dose, effective dose, and committed dose, which are dose measures used to estimate potential health effects of low levels of ionizing radiation on the human body.
Quantities measur ...
yr−1 (1.84 mSv/a), well above the maximum allowed for human habitation, thereby rendering the water, seafood, and plants unsafe for human consumption. Timothy Jorgensen reports on the increased cancer risk among the residents of the nearby islands, especially for leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
and thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...
s.
Health impacts
The Castle Bravo test produced the highest fallout levels in history. The detonation produced an explosion approximately 2.5 times the predicted 6.0 megatons, equal to 15 Mt of TNT. The residents of Rongelap
Rongelap Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 61 islands (or motus) in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is . It encloses a lagoon with an area of . ...
and Utirik
Utirik Atoll or Utrik Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 10 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area ...
atolls were exposed to high levels of radiation, the heaviest of which was in the form of pulverized surface coral from the detonation. They experienced mild radiation sickness including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Several weeks later many people began suffering from alopecia
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri ...
(hair loss) and skin lesions. The fallout was the source of most people's radiation exposure, which has been linked to increases in leukemia and thyroid cancer. Residents of the Marshall Islands who received significant exposure to radionuclides incurred a much greater risk of developing cancer. There is a presumed association between radiation levels and female reproductive system functioning.
The female population of the Marshall Islands have a sixty times greater cervical cancer mortality than a comparable mainland United States population. The Islands populations also have a five times greater likelihood of breast or gastrointestinal mortality, and lung cancer mortality is three times higher than the mainland population. The male population on the Marshall Islands' lung cancer mortality is four times greater than the overall United States rates, and the oral cancer rates are ten times greater. Fallout produced from nuclear tests affected the residents externally and internally. External irradiation was caused by gamma rays that originated from fallout on the ground. While the levels of external radiation exposure can be reduced by sheltering indoors, the islanders spent most of their time outside. Internal exposure to radiation can occur through inhalation, ingestion, and skin exposure. The greatest exposure is from consuming contaminated food like coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
, pandanus
''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...
, papaya
The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus ''Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...
, banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
, arrowroot
Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...
, taro
Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
, limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
* the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to:
** Limes (Roman Empire)
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
, breadfruit
Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of ''Artocarpus camansi'' originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippi ...
, and the ducks, pigs, and chickens raised on the islands.
Food shipped into the islands could also be irradiated by contaminated cooking utensils. Iodine-131
Iodine-131 (131I, I-131) is an important radioisotope of iodine discovered by Glenn Seaborg and John Livingood in 1938 at the University of California, Berkeley. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. It is associated with nuc ...
, a highly radioactive isotope, can be ingested or inhaled and is concentrated in a person's thyroid
The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...
.
See also
* Chagai-I
Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province.
Chagai-I was Pakistan's ...
* Chagai-II
Chagai-II is the codename assigned to the second atomic test conducted by Pakistan, carried out on 30 May 1998 in the Kharan Desert in Balochistan Province of Pakistan. ''Chagai-II'' took place two days after Pakistan's first successful test, ' ...
References
External links
BikiniAtoll.com: "What About Radiation on Bikini Atoll ?"
— ''Chronology of nuclear testing, relocation of islanders and results of radiation tests.''
WLU.edu: Annotated bibliography for Bikini Atoll from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
JapanFocus.org: Islanders Want The Truth About Bikini Nuclear Test
*
BBC: "On this Day in History" (March 1st)
YouTube—Atomic Age: "Bikini Island Nuclear Explosion" (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll
01
American nuclear test sites
Bikini Atoll
Nuclear test sites
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
1940s in the Marshall Islands
1950s in the Marshall Islands