![]() ![]() Today, the danger of living on Bikini Atoll comes from consuming contaminated food or water there is no real risk in simply walking around the islands, although the crater from the blast is still visible from the air. found that the inhabitants of Bikini Atoll were exhibiting dangerously high levels of radioactivity and the entire population once again had to be evacuated. However, during routine surveillance in 1978, the U.S. The islanders finally began to return home in the early 1970s, nearly 30 years after the testing had begun. An eight-year plan was prepared that included the replanting of crops and clearing of radioactive debris. would work to ensure they could go back to their homeland. Wikimedia Commons The crew of a Japanese fishing vessel was unintentionally exposed to nuclear fallout from the Castle Bravo test at Bikini Atoll.Īlthough nuclear testing in Bikini Atoll officially ended in 1958, the high levels of radiation prevented the inhabitants from returning until more than a decade later, when President Johnson promised that the U.S. Traces of radioactivity from the blast were later found as far away as Europe. The unsuspecting crew of a Japanese fishing vessel 80 miles east of the Castle Bravo test site was also exposed to the fallout. The islanders were literally covered with the fallout until they were evacuated two days later. Instead of being carried over the open ocean, the radioactive fallout fell over populated areas.Ĭhildren on the atolls within range thought that the powdery substance falling from the skies was snow and began to eat it. However, two things went horribly wrong with Castle Bravo: the scientists had severely underestimated the yield of the bomb (it would be more than double what they had predicted) and the winds changed during the detonation. The result was the Castle Bravo test, which used a bomb 1,000 times more powerful than the one that annihilated Hiroshima. The next series of tests that began in 1954, had devastating if unintended consequences for Bikini Atoll that are still wreaking havoc to this day.Ĭodenamed Operation Castle, these detonations were meant to test the efficiency of a deliverable hydrogen bomb: one that was small enough to be transported by plane, but had the capability to level an entire city. Wikimedia Commons The USS Saratoga sinks during the Operation Crossroads nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. No one involved thought that, thanks to the nuclear testing, Bikini Atoll would remain uninhabited for more than 70 years. The islanders agreed under the impression they would be able to return to their homes after only a brief period. military governor asked the locals if they would be willing to temporarily relocate for “the good of mankind and to end all world wars.” One Sunday in February 1946, the island’s U.S. realized that Bikini Atoll’s isolation made it the ideal area for nuclear testing. After the war, the United States took over administration of the atoll, at which point its isolation became a curse. The small population of the Pacific island chain - about 1,800 miles from Papua New Guinea, the nearest land mass of note - was free from the conflict of the outside world until the 20th century, when it served as a Japanese outpost during World War II. March 1, 1954.īikini Atoll’s isolation had proved a blessing early in its history. Wikimedia Commons The mushroom cloud from the Castle Bravo nuclear test blast at Bikini Atoll, which was 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped over Hiroshima. ![]()
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