Bikini Atoll
Mon, Aug 24th 2009, 17:29
This tiny atoll has received fame far greater than its size … it is the inspiration for the name of the tiniest swimwear, site of some of the hugest nuclear explosions and now one of the prime wreck diving locations on earth.
Bikini Atoll lies on the northern frindge of the Marshall Islands in Micronesia. The Marshall Islands is a cluster of 23 islands and islets that has received attention from many nations over the ages. Named after British Sea Captain, John Charles Marshall, who landed here in 1788, the islands have subsequently been in Spanish hands, sold to Germany, occupied by Japan and then captured by the USA in 1944.
167 Bikinians were living on the atoll during the 1940's. They were relocated to neighbouring islands when the United States decided to locate their nuclear testing programme in the atoll. 1946 saw the first nuclear explosion at Bikini Atoll. Castle Bravo was the codename for the first explosion of a Hydrogen bomb at bikini on 1 May 1958. This bomb had 1,000 times greater force than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It vaporised nearly 70 acres of bikini atoll and left a crater nearly 1 mile wide.
Nearby islanders were showered in grey radioactive ash from the fallout and there has been controversy between the Marshall Islanders and the United States ever since. In 1968 the results of a radiological survey decided that the Bikini Atoll was safe for resettlement and 193 Bikinians returned. In 1978 it was decided that the resettlement had been a mistake. Bikinians had taken out a lawsuit against the USA after they experienced numerous health problems from radiation poisoning.
There have been allegations by Marshall Islanders that the United States deliberately underplayed the dangers of the nuclear fallout so that they could study the effects on the people on the islands. More tests were conducted in 1980 and 1982 which found that radiation effects were still present in food chain on Bikini Atoll.
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