On March 1, 1954, the U.S. detonated its largest nuclear bomb on Bikini Atoll. Sixty years later, the U.S. continues the militarization of the area, and in exchange, Micronesians are allowed limited access to America.
The U.S. conducted at least 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. The nuclear test conducted at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, Operation Castle Bravo, remains the largest test ever conducted by the U.S. and yielded 15 megatons, almost 1,000 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Bravo vaporized two surrounding islets and sent a plume of highly radioactive debris floating over the lagoon and into the open water. Atolls downwind of Bikini, including Rongelap and Utirik, hadn't been informed of the tests but were showered with dangerously radioactive ash, which residents believed was snow — something they had never seen.
In the years following the test, people who were exposed burned from the radiation, became nauseous, developed thyroid problems, had loss of blood cells, and women who were pregnant miscarried. And decades after the bombings, the health problems persist with unusually high rates of birth defects and cancer among Micronesians.
Even today, the fallout impacts the environment, where it is remains unsafe to eat coconuts, other crops, and fish around these islands. As a consequence, most Bikinians have given up the dream of ever returning to their home, and many Micronesians have left their islands for America.
The anniversary of Operation Castle Bravo is a national day of mourning in the Marshall Islands.
Carl Mydans / Via digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu
Robert Kiste
Robert Kiste
