Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

The major preparation was to evacuate the residents after discussion with them. At the time it was thought it would be a temporary evacuation. As time showed, the nuclear weapons contaminated the area in a way that made them dangerous to live in for an extended period.

Image:Chief Judah, island magistrate from Rongerik Atoll, with one of his subchiefs, August 1947 (DONALDSON 13).jpeg

File:LST-1108 arrives at Rongerik Atoll on 8 March 1946 (146763092).jpg

In February 1946, the United States government forced the 167 Micronesian 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.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro00unit |title=Operation Crossroads - The Official Pictorial Record |year=1946 |publisher=W. H. Wise and Co. Inc. |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro00unit/page/21 21] |access-date=April 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505143247/https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro00unit |archive-date=May 5, 2017 |url-status=live }} Navy Seabees helped them to disassemble their church and community house and prepare to relocate to their new home. On March 7, 1946, (now known as Bikini Day){{cite web | url=https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/03/lee-cataluna-an-unusual-protest-an-ongoing-battle/ | title=Lee Cataluna: An Unusual Protest, an Ongoing Battle | date=March 7, 2021 }} the residents gathered their belongings and building supplies. They were transported {{cvt|125|mi|km}} eastward on Navy landing craft 1108 and LST 861 to the uninhabited Rongerik Atoll, 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.

File:Cross spikes club.jpg

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.{{cite web|title=Operation Crossroads: Fact Sheet|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm|publisher=Department of the Navy—Naval History and Heritage Command|access-date=13 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024121304/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm|archive-date=24 October 2012}} Seabees built bunkers, floating dry docks, {{cvt|75|ft|m}} steel towers for cameras and recording instruments,{{cite web|title=Bikini|url=http://www.bikiniatoll.com/Newsweek1946.html|date=1 July 1946|publisher=Newsweek|access-date=13 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016003324/http://www.bikiniatoll.com/Newsweek1946.html|archive-date=16 October 2013}} and other facilities on the island to support the servicemen. These included the "Up and Atom Officer's Club"{{cite web|title=Nuclear explosions at Bikini Atoll in 1946|url=http://terraoko.com/?p=1015|access-date=15 July 2014|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721010650/http://terraoko.com/?p=1015|archive-date=21 July 2014}} 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.{{cite journal | url = http://www.naav.com/newsletters/2006%20Vol%2025%20No%201%20Newsletter.pdf | title = Article on Operation Crossroads mentioning Cross Spikes Club | journal = Newsletter of American Atomic Veterans | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326233934/http://www.naav.com/newsletters/2006%20Vol%2025%20No%201%20Newsletter.pdf | archive-date = March 26, 2009 | access-date = June 15, 2014 }} The "Cross Spikes Club" was the only entertainment that the enlisted servicemen had access to during their June to September stay at Bikini.{{cite web|title=Operation Crossroads: Bikini Atoll|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/bikini/bikini6.htm|publisher=Naval Historical Center|access-date=26 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121000013/http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/bikini/bikini6.htm|archive-date=January 21, 2013|url-status=dead}}

The Navy designated Bikini Atoll lagoon as a ship graveyard, then brought in 95 ships,{{cite web|last=Gwynne|first=S.C.|title=Paradise With an Asterisk|url=http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Paradise-With-An-Asterisk.html?page=all|publisher=Outside Magazine|access-date=9 August 2013|date=5 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816055720/http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Paradise-With-An-Asterisk.html?page=all|archive-date=16 August 2013}} 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.{{cite journal|last=Guyer|first=Ruth Levy|title=Radioactivity and Rights |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=91 |number=9, issue 9 |date=September 2001 |pmc=1446783|pages=1371–1376|doi=10.2105/AJPH.91.9.1371 |pmid=11527760}}

File:Seabees build camera tower on Bikini Atoll.jpg' 53rd Naval Construction Battalion build camera towers prior to atomic bomb testing on Bikini Atoll, July 1946.]]

File:Crossroads baker explosion.jpg from test Baker, situated just offshore from Bikini Island at top of the picture. ]]

{{main|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 {{cvt|520|ft|m}}, but was dropped by aircraft about {{cvt|1500|to|2000|ft|m}} off target. It sank only five of the ships in the lagoon. Baker was detonated underwater at a depth of {{cvt|90|ft|m}} 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 {{cvt|99000|°F|°C}}, created blast waves with speeds of up to {{cvt|26|ft/s|m/s}}{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2020|reason=physically implausible; unit conversion error between m/s and km/s?}}, and shock and surface waves up to {{cvt|98|ft|m}} high. Blast columns reached the floor of the lagoon, which is approximately {{cvt|230|ft|m}} 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, a deep water shot conducted in 1955 off the California coast.

{{main|Castle Bravo}}

File:Castle Bravo Blast.jpg test on March 1, 1954 far exceeded expectations, causing widespread radioactive contamination. The fallout spread traces of radioactive material as far as Australia, India, and Japan, and even to the United States and parts of Europe. It was organized as a secret test, but it quickly became an international incident, prompting calls for a ban on the atmospheric testing of thermonuclear devices.DeGroot 2004, pp. 196-198]]

The next series of tests over Bikini Atoll was codenamed Operation Castle. The first test of that series was Castle Bravo, a new design utilizing a dry fuel thermonuclear 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 during World War II. The device was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States. Bravo had just under one third the energy of the Soviet Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear device ever tested. However, while the Soviets intended to create such a large weapon, Castle Bravo's yield was much higher than anticipated. 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.

The test (Codename Shrimp) was considered "the worst" nuclear test, with one designer saying "We had no idea what we were doing". The results of this test led to the limited test ban treaty of 1963.{{Cite web |title=Castle BRAVO at 70: The Worst Nuclear Test in U.S. History {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2024-02-29/castle-bravo-70-worst-nuclear-test-us-history |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}

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 counters 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.sonicbomb.com/content/atomic/docs/trapped_by_radioactive_fallout.pdf|author= John C. Clark as told to Robert Cahn|title= Trapped by Radioactive Fallout, Saturday Evening Post|date= July 1957}} accessed Feb 20, 2013

The fallout continued to spread across the inhabited islands of the Rongelap, Rongerik, 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2009/06/22/les-cobayes-du-dr-folamour_1209927_3244.html|title=Les cobayes du Dr Folamour|language=fr|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|date=2009-06-22|access-date=June 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428180316/http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2009/06/22/les-cobayes-du-dr-folamour_1209927_3244.html|archive-date=April 28, 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite web| url=http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Nuclear%20Issues.htm| title=Nuclear Issues| access-date=2006-03-26| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424042410/http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Nuclear%20Issues.htm| archive-date=2016-04-24}} 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.{{Cite episode |title=The Ghost Fleet of Bikini Atoll |url=http://www.militaryhistory.co.uk/shows/ghost-fleet-bikini-atoll/about.html |access-date=4 May 2012 |network=A&E Television Networks |series=Military History |date=August 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312234737/http://www.militaryhistory.co.uk/shows/ghost-fleet-bikini-atoll/about.html |archive-date=March 12, 2012 }}

File:USS Independence (CVL-22) afire after the Able atomic bomb test on 1 July 1946 (80-G-627502).jpg|The light aircraft carrier {{USS|Independence|CVL-22}} 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|{{USS|Saratoga|CV-3}} sinking after Operation Crossroads

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.

File:Bravo Fallout.jpg

The Rongelap Atoll was coated with up to {{cvt|0.8|in|cm}} 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.{{cite book|first1=Isobelle |last1=Gidley |first2=Richard |last2=Shears |year=1986 |title=The Rainbow Warrior Affair |publisher=Unwin |page=155}} 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 for medical treatment.{{cite web|title=Bikini Atoll|url=https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/bikini.php|publisher=U.S. Department of Energy|access-date=8 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112122014/https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/bikini.php|archive-date=12 November 2013}}Gerald H. Clarfield and William M. Wiecek (1984). Nuclear America: Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States 1940–1980, Harper & Row, New York, p. 207.

Six days after the Castle Bravo test, the government set up a secret project to study the medical effects of the weapon on the residents of the Marshall Islands.{{cite web | work=James Reeves to Frank D. Peel | title=Establishment of Program 4 and Project 4.1 in Castle | date=11 March 1954 | url=http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927225402/http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | archive-date=27 September 2006 }} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/mejato/ |title=The evacuation of Rongelap |access-date=21 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916100156/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/mejato/ |archive-date=16 September 2012 }} 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

{{main|Daigo Fukuryū Maru}}

File:The head of the crew of Daigo Fukuryu-maru.JPG showing radiation burns caused by fallout that collected in his hair; dated April 7, 1954, 38 days after the nuclear test]]

Ninety minutes after the detonation, 23 crew members of the Japanese fishing boat the Daigo Fukuryū Maru ("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 compounded by a hepatitis C infection.Rhodes, Richard (1995). Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster. {{ISBN|0-684-80400-X}}. pg 542{{better source|date=June 2014}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140517p2a00m0na005000c.html |title=As I See It: Gov't must delve deeper into radiation exposure from Bikini Atoll incident|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524051201/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140517p2a00m0na005000c.html|archive-date=24 May 2014}}

Edward Teller 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."{{cite web|last=Hoffman|first=Michael|title=Forgotten atrocity of the atomic age|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/08/28/culture/forgotten-atrocity-of-the-atomic-age/|publisher=Japan Times|access-date=8 August 2013|date=8 August 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113192759/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/08/28/culture/forgotten-atrocity-of-the-atomic-age/|archive-date=13 January 2014}}

{{Main|Operation Redwing|Operation Hardtack I}}

The 17-shot Redwing series followed—11 tests at Enewetak Atoll 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.{{cite book| last = Hansen| first = Chuck| author-link = Chuck Hansen| series = Swords of Armageddon: US Nuclear Weapons Development since 1945

| title = Volume VII: The Development of US Nuclear Weapons| location = Sunnyvale, California| publisher = Chukelea Publications| year = 1995 | isbn =978-0-9791915-1-0| oclc = 231585284 |page=154, Table A-1}} These tests were followed by the 33-shot Hardtack tests, which began in late April 1958.{{cite web|last=Kattenburg|first=David|title=Stranded on Bikini|url=http://www.greenplanetmonitor.net/news/2010/12/stranded-on-bikini/|publisher=Green Planet Monitor|access-date=19 August 2013|date=December 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830013643/http://www.greenplanetmonitor.net/news/2010/12/stranded-on-bikini/|archive-date=30 August 2012}} The last of ten tests were detonated on Bikini Atoll on July 22, 1958.

Shipwrecks in the lagoon include:

• {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3}} —aircraft carrier
• {{USS|Arkansas|BB-33}} —battleship
• {{USS|Gilliam|APA-57}} —attack transport
• {{USS|Carlisle|APA-69}} —attack transport
• {{USS|Lamson|DD-367}} —destroyer
• {{USS|Anderson|DD-411}} —destroyer
• {{USS|Apogon|SS-308}} —submarine
• {{USS|Pilotfish|SS-386}} —submarine
• {{ship|Japanese battleship|Nagato}} —battleship
• {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Sakawa}} —light cruiser
• {{ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen}} —heavy cruiser—currently capsized on the surface of Kwajalein Atoll lagoon

{{main|List of United States' nuclear weapons tests}}

The following above-ground nuclear device tests were conducted on or near Bikini Atoll from 1946 to 1958, comprising 15.1{{Spaces|1|thin}}% 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.

File:Bikini 2244493428 13643c6505 o.jpg

{{main|Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands}}

In 1947, the United States petitioned the United Nations Security Council 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 until 1951, when the Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan.{{cite web | url=http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/ttp/ttpi.html | title=Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands | publisher=University of Hawaii | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130101809/http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/ttp/ttpi.html | archive-date=2016-01-30 }} 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".

Image:Group of Rongerik Island natives waiting for food to be distributed by Captain Engleman, summer 1947 (DONALDSON 130).jpeg

The residents of Bikini Atoll were left alone on Rongerik Atoll from July 1946 through July 1947. Leonard E. Mason, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii, 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 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 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. In June 1948, the Bikini residents chose Kili Island as a long-term home. The {{convert|200|acre}} ({{convert|.036|sqmi}}) 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.

President Lyndon B. Johnson 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 crabs, 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. A few extended families began moving back to their home island in the early 1970s despite the risk, eventually totaling about 100 people. But few years later, a team of 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/558769/Survivors-of-nuke-testing-seek-justice.html?nav=10 |title=Survivors of nuke testing seek justice: Marshall Islanders on Maui rally to share nation's story |author=Chris Hamilton |date=March 4, 2012 |work=Maui News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523212532/http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/558769/Survivors-of-nuke-testing-seek-justice.html?nav=10 |archive-date=May 23, 2012 }}{{cite web | url = http://www.ratical.org/radiation/NAvictims.html | title = Victims of the Nuclear Age |access-date=22 July 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070809213904/http://www.ratical.org/radiation/NAvictims.html |archive-date=9 August 2007 |url-status= live}} The U.S.-administered Strategic Trust Territory decided that the islanders had to be evacuated from the atoll a second time.

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 later revealed that Dr. Robert Conard, head of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)'s medical team in the Marshall Islands, understated the risk of returning to the atoll.{{cite news|last=Maier|first=Thomas|title=Brookhaven team minimized risks in return to Bikini|url=http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/brookhaven-team-minimized-risks-in-return-to-bikini-1.1385267?print=true|access-date=13 August 2013|newspaper=Newsday|date=21 August 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118161707/http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/brookhaven-team-minimized-risks-in-return-to-bikini-1.1385267?print=true|archive-date=18 January 2012}} 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 (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/yr.{{cite web |url=http://www-ns.iaea.org/appraisals/bikini-atoll.htm |title=IAEA Bikini Advisory Group Report |date=June 8, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130120204/http://www-ns.iaea.org/appraisals/bikini-atoll.htm/ |archive-date=2016-11-30 }}

The leaders of the Bikini community have insisted since the early 1980s that the top {{convert|15|in|cm}} of soil should be excavated from the entire island. Scientists reply that removing the soil would rid the island of cesium-137, 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.{{cite news|last1=Elliott|first1=Steve|title=Researchers explore ways to rid islands of lingering radiation|volume=130|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19880522&id=oNMzAAAAIBAJ&pg=6693,5428251&hl=en|access-date=20 June 2016|work=Lawrence Journal-World|issue=143|publisher=The Associated Press|date=May 22, 1988|page=7A}}

In 1997, researchers found that the dose received from background radiation on the island was between 2.4 mSv/yr—the same as natural background radiation—and 4.5 mSv/yr, assuming that residents consumed a diet of imported foods.{{cite journal|last=Robison |first=WL |author2=Noshkin VE |author3=Conrado CL |author4=Eagle RJ |author5=Brunk JL |author6=Jokela TA |author7=Mount ME |author8=Phillips WA |author9=Stoker AC |author10=Stuart ML |author11=Wong KM |year=1997 |title= The Northern Marshall Islands Radiological Survey: Data and Dose Assessments |journal=Health Physics |volume=73 |pages=37–48 |issue=1|doi=10.1097/00004032-199707000-00004|pmid=9199217}} 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.[https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull40-4/40405081517.pdf Assessing Radiological Conditions At Bikini Atoll and The Prospects For Resettlement – Review At Bikini Atoll], 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.{{cite journal|title=Bikini Atoll coral biodiversity resilience five decades after nuclear testing | doi=10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.11.018 | pmid=18187160 |volume=56 |issue=3 |date=Mar 2008 |journal=Mar Pollut Bull |pages=503–15|last1=Richards |first1=Z. T |last2=Beger |first2=M |last3=Pinca |first3=S |last4=Wallace |first4=C. C | bibcode=2008MarPB..56..503R }} Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University observed matrices of branching Porites coral up to 8 m high.{{cite web |url=http://www.physorg.com/news127473368.html |publisher=physorg.com |title=Bikini Corals Recover From Atomic Blast |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911153130/http://www.physorg.com/news127473368.html |archive-date=2012-09-11 }}

The Bikini islanders sued the United States for the first time in 1975, and they demanded a radiological study of the northern islands.{{cite web|title=Despite High Court Denial, Battle Over Bikini Atoll Bombing Endures|url=http://bikiniatoll.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/despite-high-court-denial-battle-over-bikini-atoll-bombing-endures/|publisher=Bikini Island Local Government|access-date=20 August 2013|date=26 April 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024061225/http://bikiniatoll.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/despite-high-court-denial-battle-over-bikini-atoll-bombing-endures/|archive-date=24 October 2013}} 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.{{cite web|title=U.S. Reparations for Damages|url=http://www.bikiniatoll.com/repar.html|publisher=Bikini Atoll|access-date=12 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016002504/http://www.bikiniatoll.com/repar.html|archive-date=16 October 2013}}

In 1983, the U.S. and the Marshall islanders signed the Compact of Free Association 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.{{cite web|title=U.S. Relations With Marshall Island|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=14 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194507/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm|archive-date=January 22, 2017|url-status=live}} 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{{Spaces|1|thin}}% 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.

Stanford University professor Steve Palumbi led a study in 2017 that reported on ocean life that seems highly resilient to the effects of radiation poisoning.{{cite news|title = 'Remarkable': Scientists amazed by thriving marine life at Bikini Atoll site where 23 atomic bombs were dropped|first = Fiona|last = Keating|newspaper = The Independent|date = July 15, 2017|access-date = July 15, 2017|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fish-nuclear-weapons-bombs-sea-stanford-university-us-tests-hiroshima-a7842436.html|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170715224146/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fish-nuclear-weapons-bombs-sea-stanford-university-us-tests-hiroshima-a7842436.html|archive-date = July 15, 2017}} 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".{{cite news|title = Stanford researchers exploring how corals of Bikini Atoll survive nuke tests|work = Xinhuanet|date = July 2, 2017|first = Mu|last = Xuequan|access-date = July 15, 2017|url = http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/02/c_136410223.htm|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170702021326/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/02/c_136410223.htm|archive-date = July 2, 2017}}{{cite web|title = Corals May Hold Cancer Insights|date = June 28, 2017|access-date = July 15, 2017|first = Rob|last = Jordan|publisher = Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment|url = https://woods.stanford.edu/news-events/news/corals-may-hold-cancer-insights|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170912102831/https://woods.stanford.edu/news-events/news/corals-may-hold-cancer-insights|archive-date = September 12, 2017}} 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.{{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/program/big-pacific/|title = Big Pacific|publisher = PBS|year = 2017|access-date = July 15, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170704095109/http://www.pbs.org/program/big-pacific/|archive-date = July 4, 2017|url-status = live}} The episode explored "species, natural phenomena and behaviors of the Pacific Ocean" and the way that the team is using DNA sequencing 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,{{cite news|title = Do Animals in Chernobyl's Fallout Zone Glow?|newspaper = Slate|url = http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/wildlife_in_chernobyl_debate_over_mutations_and_populations_of_plants_and.html|first = Mary|last = Mycio|date = January 2013|access-date = July 15, 2017|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170731205133/http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/wildlife_in_chernobyl_debate_over_mutations_and_populations_of_plants_and.html|archive-date = July 31, 2017}} 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 sharks have two dorsal fins, but Palumbi's team observed individuals with only a single fin, and they theorized that they might be mutations.{{cite news|title = Can coral get cancer? Research examines Bikini Atoll, where U.S. dropped 23 atomic bombs|url = https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2017/07/06/atomic-bombs-corals-and-cancer-whats-connection/455292001/|first = Doyle|last = Rice|newspaper = USA Today|date = July 6, 2017|access-date = July 15, 2017|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170710042701/https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2017/07/06/atomic-bombs-corals-and-cancer-whats-connection/455292001/|archive-date = July 10, 2017}} Pambuli and his team have focused on the hubcap-sized crabs, as their coconut diet is contaminated with radioactive caesium-137 from ground water,{{cite news|title = Bikini Atoll corals may give insight into cancer treatment|url = http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/07/14/bikini-atoll-corals-may-give-insight-into-cancer-treatment/|first = ZaZu|last = Lippert|date = July 14, 2017|access-date = July 15, 2017|newspaper = The Stanford Daily|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170714171513/http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/07/14/bikini-atoll-corals-may-give-insight-into-cancer-treatment/|archive-date = July 14, 2017}} 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 described as "near-irreversible environmental contamination".{{cite news|title = Islanders afraid to go home 60 years after Bikini Atoll H-bomb|url = https://phys.org/news/2014-03-islanders-afraid-home-years-bikini.html|date = March 1, 2014|access-date = July 15, 2017|first = Giff|last = Johnson|work = phys.org|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150927085522/http://phys.org/news/2014-03-islanders-afraid-home-years-bikini.html|archive-date = September 27, 2015}} Gamma radiation levels in 2016 averaged 184 mrem yr⁻¹ (1.84 mSv/yr),{{cite journal|title = Measurement of background gamma radiation in the northern Marshall Islands|first1 = Autumn S.|last1 = Bordner|first2 = Danielle A.|last2 = Crosswell|first3 = Ainsley O.|last3 = Katz|first4 = Jill T.|last4 = Shah|first5 = Catherine R.|last5 = Zhang|first6 = Ivana|last6 = Nikolic-Hughes|first7 = Emlyn W.|last7 = Hughes|first8 = Malvin A.|last8 = Ruderman|journal = Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.|volume = 113|issue = 25|pages = 6833–6838|doi = 10.1073/pnas.1605535113|pmid = 27274073|doi-access=free|year = 2016|pmc = 4922173|bibcode = 2016PNAS..113.6833B}} 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 and thyroid cancers.{{cite book|title = Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation|first = Timothy J.|last = Jorgensen|year = 2017|publisher = Princeton University Press|isbn = 9780691178349}}

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 and Utirik 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) and skin lesions.{{Cite journal|date=1955-01-01|title=Radioactive Fallout in the Marshall Islands|journal=Science|volume=122|issue=3181|pages=1178–1179|doi=10.1126/science.122.3181.1178|pmid=17807268|jstor=1749478|bibcode=1955Sci...122.1178.}} 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.{{Cite journal|last1=Grossman|first1=Charles M.|last2=Morton|first2=William E.|last3=Nussbaum|first3=Rudi H.|last4=Goldberg|first4=Mark S.|last5=Mayo|first5=Nancy E.|last6=Levy|first6=Adrian R.|last7=Scott|first7=Susan C.|date=1999-01-01|title=Reproductive Outcomes after Radiation Exposure|journal=Epidemiology|volume=10|issue=2|pages=202–203|doi=10.1097/00001648-199903000-00024|pmid=10069262|jstor=3703102|doi-access=free}}{{better source|date=August 2018}}

The female population of the Marshall Islands have a sixty times greater cervical cancer mortality than a comparable mainland United States population.{{Cite journal|last1=Lauerman|first1=John F.|last2=Reuther|first2=Christopher|date=1997-01-01|title=Trouble in Paradise|journal=Environmental Health Perspectives|volume=105|issue=9|pages=914–919|doi=10.2307/3433870|jstor=3433870|pmid=9341101|pmc=1470349}}{{better source|date=August 2018}} 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.{{better source|date=August 2018}} 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.{{better source|date=August 2018}} 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, pandanus, papaya, banana, arrowroot, taro, limes, breadfruit, and the ducks, pigs, and chickens raised on the islands.{{Cite journal|date=1966-01-01|title=Fallout Radiation And Growth |journal=The British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=5496|pages=1132|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5496.1132-a|pmid=20790967|pmc=1844058|jstor=25407693}}{{failed verification|date=August 2018}}

Food shipped into the islands could also be irradiated by contaminated cooking utensils. Iodine-131, a highly radioactive isotope, can be ingested or inhaled and is concentrated in a person's thyroid.{{Cite journal |last1=Simon |first1=Steven L. |last2=Bouville |first2=André |last3=Land |first3=Charles E. |date=2006-01-01 |title=Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks: Exposures 50 years ago still have health implications today that will continue into the future |url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests-and-cancer-risks |journal=American Scientist |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=48–57 |doi=10.1511/2006.57.48 |jstor=27858707|url-access=subscription }}

• Chagai-I
• Chagai-II

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{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Bikini Atoll}}

{{GeoGroup}}

• [http://www.bikiniatoll.com/whatrad.html BikiniAtoll.com: "What About Radiation on Bikini Atoll ?"]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041016102831/http://www.eh.doe.gov/health/marshall/marshall.htm U.S. Department of Energy: Marshall Islands Program website] — Chronology of nuclear testing, relocation of islanders and results of radiation tests.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060721230143/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=places%2FBikini WLU.edu: Annotated bibliography for Bikini Atoll from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues]
• [http://japanfocus.org/-Yoichi-Funabashi/1576 JapanFocus.org: Islanders Want The Truth About Bikini Nuclear Test] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311041316/http://japanfocus.org/-Yoichi-Funabashi/1576 |date=March 11, 2015 }}
• [http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/atolls/bikini.html CSU.edu: Bikini Atoll website]
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043232/http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/marshall/bikini.php |date=December 23, 2010 |title=OceanDots.com: Bikini Atoll}}
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_2781000/2781419.stm BBC: "On this Day in History" (March 1st)]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJY2jM00V1s YouTube—Atomic Age: "Bikini Island Nuclear Explosion" (video)]

{{Marshall Islands}}

{{US nuclear tests}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll}}

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