Bikini Atoll

A small island, formerly called Escholtz Island, in the West Central Pacific, part of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, which was used as a testing site for nuclear weapons from 1946 to 1958. Twenty-three atomic and hydrogen bombs were detonated after the residents were removed from Bikini to Rongerik in 1946. The islanders were then moved to Ujelang in 1947 and resettled on the islet of Kili in 1949.

On March 1, 1954, the United States conducted the largest nuclear test of the Cold War era at Bikini. During the test, code-named Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated on the atoll, producing an atomic fireball and a 20-mile tall mushroom cloud. Gale force winds generated by the blast stripped coconuts and bark from trees and a small fleet of 33 ships including the USS Saratoga and the captured flagship of the Japanese fleet, the Nagato, were sent to the bottom. Fallout from the explosion drifted to neighboring islands including Rongelap, forcing their evacuation.

According to a 1946 Newsweek article, the tests had three major purposes: first, to see how ships should be designed for survival if they were to become targets for atom bombs or atomic mines; second, to demonstrate how ships should be spaced at sea and in port (the ships anchored in the lagoon at Bikini were closer together than task forces usually move at sea); and third, to show how many operating bases and repair yards would be needed, and whether they should be dispersed and made smaller.

The United States suspended testing in 1958. Bikini was declared safe in 1969, but a 1974 test showed high levels of radioactivity and 100 residents were evacuated again. Today, many Bikinians continue to suffer from long-term health problems associated with radiation exposure associated with the tests.

In 1969, a Nuclear Claims Tribunal was established under agreements between the United States and the Marshall Islands. Three decades later, in 1999, the tribunal awarded more than $500 million to the people of Bikini to complete the cleanup operations there. The Marshallese government, however, says that it would take $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion to complete the cleanup and fairly compensate the victims of the tests.