Amchitka#Long Shot test

File:Amchitka Island, Harlequin Beach.jpg

Amchitka is the southernmost of the Rat Islands group in the Aleutian Chain, located between {{Coord|51|21|N|178|37|E|region:US-AK_type:isle}} and {{Coord|51|39|N|179|29|E|region:US-AK_type:isle}}.{{cite journal |url=http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/806659-8KjQem/native/806659.PDF|first=Ahmed |last=Hassan |author2=Karl Pohlmann |author3=Jenny Chapman|date=2002|title=Modeling Groundwater Flow and Transport of Radionuclides at Amchitka Island's Underground Nuclear Tests: Milrow, Long Shot, and Cannikin|access-date=2006-10-09|doi=10.2172/806659|id=DOE/NV/11508-51|journal=USDOE Technical Report}}{{rp|3}} It is bounded by the Bering Sea to the north and east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south and west.{{rp|3}}

The eastern part of the island is a lowland plateau, with isolated ponds{{cite web |title=Amchitka Independent Assessment Science Plan |last=Powers |first=Charles W. |publisher=CRESP Amchitka Oversight Committee |url=http://www.instrm.org/Amchitka_Final_Report/finalreport/01Append_intro/ApprovedAmchitkaSciencePlan.pdf |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406214459/http://www.instrm.org/Amchitka_Final_Report/finalreport/01Append_intro/ApprovedAmchitkaSciencePlan.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-06 }} and gently rolling hills.{{rp|3}} There is low but abundant vegetation,{{rp|3}} consisting of mosses, lichens, liverworts, ferns, grasses, sedges, and crowberry. The center of the island is mountainous, and the western end is barren and vegetation is sparse.{{rp|3}}

Amchitka has a maritime climate, often foggy and windswept, with cloud cover 98 percent of the time.{{rp|6}} While temperatures are moderated by the ocean, storms are frequent.{{cite conference |first=Michael O. |last=Giblin |author2=David C. Stahl |author3=Jodi A. Bechtel |title=Surface remediation in the Aleutian Islands: A case study of Amchitka Island, Alaska |work=WM '02 Conference, Tucson AZ, February 24–28, 2002 |url=http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/833145-KwaGYY/native/833145.pdf |access-date=2006-10-07}} Geologically, the island is volcanic, being a part of a small crustal block on the Aleutian Arc that is being torn apart by oblique subduction. It is "one of the least stable tectonic environments in the United States."{{cite web|url=http://www.geotimes.org/mar02/feature_amchitka.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030901092428/http://www.geotimes.org/mar02/feature_amchitka.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2003-09-01|first=John|last=Eichelberger|author2=Jeff Freymueller|author3=Graham Hill|author4=Matt Patrick|title=Nuclear Stewardship: Lessons from a Not-So-Remote Island|date=March 2002|publisher=GeoTimes|access-date=2006-10-11}}

File:Aleutian Cackling Geese in Flight Over Amchitka Island.jpg in flight over Amchitka Island]]

File:Amchitka Island, Beach Fleabane in full bloom - Senecio pseudo-arnica.jpg

The human history of Amchitka dates back at least 2,500 years, with the Aleut people.Miller states "at least 9,000 years" (see Miller, Pam, "Nuclear Flashback") Human remains, thought to be of an Aleut dating from about 1000 AD, were discovered in 1980.{{cite web |url=http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-29766.pdf |title=Federal Register: Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, Anchorage, AK |date=2003-12-01 |access-date=2008-11-07| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081205122031/http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-29766.pdf| archive-date= 5 December 2008 | url-status= live}}

Amchitka is said to have been seen and named St. Makarius by Vitus Bering in 1741, was sighted by Joseph Billings in 1790, and visited by Shishmaref in 1820.{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Marcus |title=Geographic Dictionary of Alaska (Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, no 187, Series F, Geography, 27) |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington |year=1902 |pages=50, 73, 336}}

In 1783, Daikokuya Kōdayū 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 {{ISBN|4-00-430879-8}}{{page needed|date=November 2020}}

{{see also|Aleutian Islands Campaign|Amchitka Air Force Base|Landing at Amchitka}}

In June 1942, the Japanese occupied some of the western Aleutian islands, and hoped to occupy Amchitka.{{cite book |last=Conn |first=Stetson |title=Guarding the United States and its outposts |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |year=2000 |id=CMH 4–2 |lccn=62-60067 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Guard-US/index.htm#contents |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch10.htm |chapter=Chapter X: Alaska in the War, 1942 |access-date=2006-10-09 |isbn=0-16-001904-4 |archive-date=December 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225041653/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Guard-US/index.htm#contents |url-status=dead }} Eager to remove the Japanese, the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to move quickly to regain the territory. American planners decided to build a series of airfields to the west of Umnak, from which bombers could attack the invading forces.{{cite book |last=MacGarrigle |first=George L. |series=The Campaigns of World War II |title=Aleutian Islands |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |date=October 2003 |id=CMH Pub 72–6, paper, GPO S/N 008-029-00232-9 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/aleut/aleut.htm |access-date=2006-10-07 |archive-date=March 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317040937/http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/aleut/aleut.htm |url-status=dead }}

The United States Army 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, they made the airfield usable by February 16. The Alaska Command was now {{convert|80|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} away from their target, Kiska. The military eventually built numerous buildings, roads, and a total of three airstrips on the island,{{cite web|url=http://www.lm.doe.gov/documents/sites/ak/amchitka/factsheet/amchitka.pdf |title=Amchitka, Alaska, Site Fact Sheet |publisher=Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management |access-date=2006-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630165411/http://www.lm.doe.gov/documents/sites/ak/amchitka/factsheet/amchitka.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-30 |url-status=dead }} one of which would later be rebuilt and used by the Atomic Energy Commission in the late 1960s.{{cite report |year=1971 |title=Environmental Statement Cannikin |publisher=Atomic Energy Commission |osti = 4019027 | doi=10.2172/4019027|doi-access=free }}{{rp|38}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nsa.gov/cch/cch00005.cfm |title=Pre-1952 Historical Timeline |publisher=National Security Agency |access-date=2006-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003132331/http://www.nsa.gov/cch/cch00005.cfm |archive-date=2006-10-03 |url-status=live }} On 31 December 1949 the Air Force base was closed due to insufficient personnel and staff.{{Cite web |title=Document Detail for IRISNUM= 00076530 |url=http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/076/530.xml |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=airforcehistoryindex.org}} The Army closed its communications facility at Amchitka in August 1950.{{cite report |url=http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/758922-sfDXiQ/webviewable/758922.pdf |title=Amchitka Island, Alaska: Potential U.S. Department of Energy site responsibilities (DOE/NV-526) |date=December 1998 |publisher=Department of Energy |doi=10.2172/758922 |access-date=2006-10-09|last=Office |first=Nevada Operations |s2cid=110235410 }} On 31 December 1950 the Air Force 2107th Air Weather Group withdrew the last of its personnel from Amchitka and the facility was abandoned.{{Cite web |title=Document Detail for IRISNUM= 00496942 |url=http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/496/942.xml |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=airforcehistoryindex.org}}

The site later hosted an Air Force White Alice Communications System 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.{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/an-tps-71.htm |title=AN/TPS-71 ROTHR (Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar) |date=June 29, 1999 |publisher=Federation of American Scientists |access-date=2014-07-09 }}

Amchitka first appeared as a census-designated place (CDP) on the 1990 U.S. Census with a population of 25.{{Cite web |date=1990 |title=Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph5/cph-5-3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108175710/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph5/cph-5-3.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-08 |website=U.S. Census Bureau}} This was the only time it appeared on the census, and the CDP was abolished in 2000.{{Cite web |date=2002 |title=Alaska: 2000 Summary Population and Housing Characteristics |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/phc-1-3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318011024/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/phc-1-3.pdf |archive-date=March 18, 2021 |access-date=October 14, 2019}}

File:AmchitkaTestSites.svg

With the pullout of military forces from Amchitka in 1950, the Department of Defense (DoD) initially considered the island for nuclear testing planned for 1951, under Operation Windstorm.{{cite book |last1=Kohlhoff |first1=Dean W. |title=Amchitka and the Bomb |date=2002 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=0-295-98255-1 |pages=34–35}} Requiring information about the cratering potential of nuclear weapons, plans were made to detonate two {{convert|20|kt(TNT)|adj=on|sp=us}} devices. After approximately 34 test holes had been drilled, the site was deemed unsuitable, and the project was moved to the Nevada test site.

In the late 1950s, scientists realized that improved seismological knowledge was necessary for the detection of Soviet underground nuclear explosions.{{cite journal |last=Barth |first=Kai-Henrik |year=2003 |title=The politics of seismology: Nuclear testing, arms control, and the transformation of a discipline |journal=Social Studies of Science |volume=33 |issue=5 |pages=743–781 |doi=10.1177/0306312703335005|s2cid=110810982 }} The {{convert|1.7|kt(TNT)|adj=on|sp=us}} Rainier test (part of Operation Plumbbob, 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), with the twin goals of improving seismic instruments and deploying them globally, and researching in more depth the seismic effects of nuclear explosions.{{cite book |last=Van der Vink |first=Gregory E. |title=Nuclear testing and nonproliferation: The role of seismology in deterring the development of nuclear weapons |publisher=The Iris Consortium |date=February 1994 |url=http://www.iris.iris.edu/HQ/Bluebook/chapter2.lessons.html |access-date=2006-10-08| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060907030642/http://www.iris.iris.edu/HQ/Bluebook/chapter2.lessons.html| archive-date= 7 September 2006 | url-status= live|display-authors=etal}} The project was subsequently initiated by the Eisenhower administration.

Together with the Atomic Energy Commission, the DoD began assessing Amchitka for atmospheric tests of very high-yield thermonuclear weapon effects as part of the Vela Uniform nuclear test program, under Project Rufus, and later, Project Larkspur, using a pre-existing Vela Uniform program for underground testing as a cover. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 ended investigation of Amchitka as a site for atmospheric testing, but work continued on underground test preparations.{{Cite report |url=http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1046575/ |title=The Off-Site Plowshare and Vela Uniform Programs: Assessing Potential Environmental Liabilities through an Examination of Proposed Nuclear Projects, High Explosive Experiments, and High Explosive Construction Activities |last1=Beck |first1=Colleen M. |last2=Edwards |first2=Susan R. |last3=King |first3=Maureen L. |date=2011-09-01 |issue=Tech Rpt 111 DOE/NV/26383-22, 1046575 |doi=10.2172/1046575 |volume=2 |language=en|section=Project Ketch|pages=3-233–3-236}}{{Cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA341694.pdf |title=Project Larkspur, Amchitka Island, Alaska, Investigations of Areas 1, 2, 3 and 4|publisher=U.S. Army Engineer District, North Pacific Division, U.S. Corps of Engineers|date=March 1965 |language=en|page=1}}

File:Long Shot film still.jpg

To conduct the Vela Uniform test Long Shot,^{{{coord|51|25|35.84|N|179|11|14.13|E|type:landmark_scale:500}}} 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."{{cite web|url=http://web.em.doe.gov/closure/pbs/nv.html |title=Project Baseline Report (NVNO0227) |date=1998-01-16 |access-date=2006-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926112422/http://web.em.doe.gov/closure/pbs/nv.html |archive-date=2006-09-26 |url-status=dead }}

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.Kohlhoff, p. 60

Long Shot was detonated on October 29, 1965, and the yield was {{convert|80|kt(TNT)|sp=us}}. It was the first underground test in a remote area, and the first test managed by the DoD. While there was no surface collapse,{{rp|9}}tritium and krypton were found at the surface following the test;{{rp|9}}{{cite web|url=http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/usa/press/reports/nuclear-flashback.pdf |first=Pam |last=Miller | date=1996 |title=Nuclear Flashback: Report of a Greenpeace Scientific Expedition to Amchitka Island, Alaska – Site of the Largest Underground Nuclear Test in U.S. History |access-date=2006-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928190111/http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/usa/press/reports/nuclear-flashback.pdf |archive-date=2006-09-28 |url-status=dead | pages=3, 5–6, 20, 27}} this was not made public until 1969.

===Milrow and Cannikin tests===

Though performed as part of the Nuclear Weapons Testing Program, "[the] purpose of the Milrow test was to test an island, not a weapon."{{cite web|url=http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=26 |title=The Milrow Test (DOE Historical Test Film 800040) |access-date=2006-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928145109/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=26 |archive-date=28 September 2006 |url-status=dead }} 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 ^{{{coord|51|24|52.06|N|179|10|44.84|E|type:landmark_scale:500}}}, with an approximate yield of {{convert|1|to(-)|1.2|Mt(TNT)|sp=us}}.{{rp|8}}See Miller "Nuclear Flashback" or Schneider "Amchitka's nuclear legacy".

The shockwave reached the surface with an acceleration of over 35 g (340 m/s²), causing a dome of the Earth's surface, approximately {{convert|3|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} in radius, to rise about {{convert|5|m|sp=us}}.{{cite journal |last=Merritt |first=Melvin |date=June 1971 |title=Ground Shock and Water Pressures from Milrow |journal=BioScience |volume=21 |issue=12 |pages=696–700 |doi=10.2307/1295751 |jstor=1295751 |publisher=American Institute of Biological Sciences}} The blast "turned the surrounding sea to froth" and "forced geysers of mud and water from local streams and lakes {{convert|50|ft|m|0}} into the air". A "surface collapse feature", also known as a subsidence crater, was formed by material collapsing into the cavity formed by the explosion.{{rp|8}}

Cannikin was intended to test the design of the Spartan anti-ballistic missile (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."{{cite web |url=http://www.llnl.gov/50th_anniv/decades/1970s.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050217061020/http://www.llnl.gov/50th_anniv/decades/1970s.htm |archive-date=2005-02-17|title=Accomplishments in the 1970s: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |access-date=2006-10-09}} The test would "measure the yield of the device, measure the x-ray flux and spectrum, and assure deployment of a reliable design."{{cite web

|url = http://www.uaf.edu/news/featured/06/amchitka/index.html

|first = Doug

|last = Schneider

|publisher = University of Alaska Fairbanks

|title = Amchitka's nuclear legacy

|access-date = 2006-10-09

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060912235215/http://www.uaf.edu/news/featured/06/amchitka/index.html

|archive-date = 2006-09-12

|url-status = dead

}}

A few days after the Milrow test, the Don't Make A Wave Committee was organized at a meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The committee's name referred to predictions made by a Vancouver journalist named Bob Hunter, later to become a member of Greenpeace. He wrote that the test would cause earthquakes and a tsunami.{{cite news |url=http://society.guardian.co.uk/voluntary/story/0,7890,1476047,00.html|date=2005-05-04 |work=The Guardian |title=The original Mr Green |access-date=2006-10-11 | location=London | first=John | last=Vidal}} 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: {{cite book |author=Davis |first=Chuck |url=http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/grn_peace.asp |title=The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopedia |publisher=Linkman Press |year=1997 |isbn=1-896846-00-9 |access-date=2006-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006152142/http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/grn_peace.asp |archive-date=6 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}

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".{{rp|3}} Others disagreed. Russell Train, then Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, 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."{{cite web

|url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/404/917/case.html

|date=1971-11-06

|publisher=US Supreme Court

|title=Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc. v. Schlesinger, 404 U.S. 917 (1971)

|access-date=2006-10-11

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322041557/http://supreme.justia.com/us/404/917/case.html

|archive-date=2007-03-22

}}

File: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.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905376,00.html |title=Round 2 at Amchitka |magazine=Time |date=1971-07-17 |access-date=2006-10-09 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221201803/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C905376%2C00.html |location=New York City }} The suit was unsuccessful, with the Supreme Court denying the injunction by 4 votes to 3,{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903217,00.html

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930063907/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903217,00.html

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=September 30, 2007

|title=The Amchitka Bomb Goes Off |date=1971-11-15 |magazine=Time|access-date=2006-10-09}} and Richard Nixon personally authorized the $200 million test, in spite of objections from Japan, Peru, and Sweden.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877386,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221205325/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877386,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 21, 2008|title=Green Light on Cannikin |date=1971-11-08 |magazine=Time |access-date=2006-10-09}} 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.

{{main|Cannikin}}

Cannikin was detonated on November 6, 1971 ^{{{coord|51|28|13.20|N|179|6|40.75|E|type:landmark_scale:500}}}, as the thirteenth test of the Operation Grommet (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{{cite journal|title=Yields of Soviet Underground Nuclear Explosions at Novaya Zemlya, 1964–1976, from Seismic Body and Surface Waves |first=Lynn R. |last=Sykes |author2=Graham C. Wiggins |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=January 1986 |volume=83 |issue=2|doi=10.1073/pnas.83.2.201|pages=201–5|pmid=16593645|pmc=322824|bibcode = 1986PNAS...83..201S |doi-access=free }} to 5.2{{cite web |url=http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/SEEJ/NMD/alaska/greely/fritz1.htm |title=The Role of National Missile Defense in the Environmental History of Alaska |first=Stacey |last=Fritz |publisher=University of Alaska Fairbanks |date=April 2000 |access-date=2006-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230024050/http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/SEEJ/NMD/alaska/greely/fritz1.htm |archive-date=2010-12-30 |url-status=dead }} megatons or 18 to 22 PJ). The ground lifted {{convert|20|ft|m|0}}, caused by an explosive force almost 400 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/12/17/MN12230.DTL&type=printable |title=Blast from the past: Researchers worry that radiation from nuclear test decades ago may be damaging marine life today

|first=David |last=Perlman |date=2001-12-17 |access-date=2006-10-11 | work=The San Francisco Chronicle}} Subsidence and faulting at the site created a new lake, several hundred meters wide.{{rp|11}} The explosion caused a seismic shock of 7.0 on the Richter scale, causing rockfalls and turf slides of a total of {{convert|35000|sqft|m2|-2}}. 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.{{cite journal|title=Seismic effects of the MILROW and CANNIKIN nuclear explosions |first=E. R. |last=Engdahl |journal=Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America |date=December 1972 |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=1411–1423 |doi=10.2172/4687405|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1032334/m2/1/high_res_d/4687405.pdf }}

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 and americium into the environment. In 2004, scientific divers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks collected shallow subtidal organisms{{cite journal |author1=Jewett, Stephen |author2=Hoberg, Max |author3=Chenelot, Heloise |author4=Harper, Shawn |author5=Burger, Joanna |author6=Gochfeld, Michael. |title=Scuba Techniques Used In Risk Assessment Of Possible Nuclear Leakage Around Amchitka Island, Alaska. |journal=In: Godfrey, JM; Shumway, SE. Diving for Science 2005. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Symposium on March 10–12, 2005 at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut. |publisher=American Academy of Underwater Sciences |year=2005 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9018 |access-date=2011-01-10 |archive-date=September 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902162933/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/9018 |url-status=usurped }} 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".{{cite journal|first=J |last=Burger |title=Radionuclides in marine macroalgae from Amchitka and Kiska Islands in the Aleutians: establishing a baseline for future biomonitoring |journal=J Environ Radioact |date=October 2006 |pmid=17029666 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.08.003 |volume=91 |pages=27–40|issue=1–2|display-authors=etal}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://web.em.doe.gov/bemr96/ainp.html |title=Amchitka Island |publisher=Department of Energy |access-date=2006-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925164130/http://web.em.doe.gov/bemr96/ainp.html |archive-date=2006-09-25 |url-status=dead }}

{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• Hunter, Robert. The Greenpeace to Amchitka An Environmental Odyssey. Vancouver, B.C.: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-55152-178-4}}
• Sense, Richard G., and Roger J. Desautels. Amchitka Archaeology Progress Reports. Las Vegas, Nev: Holmes & Narver, Inc. 1970. {{ISBN?}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://dd352.us/ 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.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928145017/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=24 The Amchitka Program] ({{YouTube|s1XFHSKXLDk}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928144818/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=25 Project Long Shot] ({{YouTube|EHSPqw8NdG4}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928145109/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=26 The Milrow Test] ({{YouTube|77CqV0a9vek}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928145758/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=27 Project Cannikin Review] ({{YouTube|OMmFy4NdA8s}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928150227/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/other.aspx?ID=98 Amchitka Island Remediation Activities]
• The following links are to current articles from the Anchorage Daily News about the Cannikin test.
• [https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/01/28/why-a-bomb-test-in-the-aleutians-still-strikes-fear-in-workers-46-years-later/ Why a bomb test in the Aleutians still strikes fear in workers 46 years later]
• [https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2017/01/28/troops-who-cleaned-up-radioactive-islands-cant-get-medical-care/ Veterans pay the cost for U.S. nuclear tests]

{{US Nuclear Tests}}

{{Islands in the Bering Sea}}

{{USAAF 11th Air Force World War II}}

{{Authority control}}

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