Bikini Atoll

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Bikini Atoll Pikinni Atoll
—  Atoll  —
Bikini Atoll. The crater formed by the Castle Bravo nuclear test can be seen on the northwest cape of the atoll.
Flag
Map of the Marshall Islands showing Bikini
Map of Bikini Atoll
Coordinates: 11°35′N 165°23′ECoordinates: 11°35′N 165°23′E
Country	Republic of the Marshall Islands
Area
• Land	2.3 sq mi (6 km2)
Population
• Total	Uninhabited
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Site
Type:	Cultural
Criteria:	iv, vi
Designated:	2010 (34th session)
Reference No.	1339
State Party:	Marshall Islands
Region:	Asia-Pacific

Bikini

Location of Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean

Bikini Atoll (pronounced /ˈbɪk.ɨˌniː/ or /bɨˈkiː.ni/; Marshallese: Pikinni, [pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːii̯], meaning coconut place)^[1] is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands.
It consists of 23 islands surrounding a deep 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km²) central lagoon at the northern end of the Ralik Chain (approximately 87 kilometres (54 mi) northwest of Ailinginae Atoll and 850 kilometres (530 mi) northwest of Majuro), now universally significant to the world^[2] as follows:

Bikini Atoll has conserved direct tangible evidence ... conveying the power of ... nuclear tests, i.e. the sunken ships sent to the bottom of the lagoon by the tests in 1946 and the gigantic Bravo crater ... Through its history, the atoll symbolises the dawn of the nuclear age, despite its paradoxical image of peace and of earthly paradise.

Within Bikini Atoll, Bikini Island is the northeastern most and largest islet, measuring 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long. About twelve kilometres to the northwest is the islet of Aomen. As part of the Pacific Proving Grounds it was the site of more than 20 nuclear weapons tests between 1946 and 1958.
The first Westerner to see the atoll, in the mid-1820s, was the Baltic German captain and explorer Otto von Kotzebue, sailing in service of the Russian Empire. He named the atoll Eschscholtz Atoll after another Baltic German, scientist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz. The atoll, however, has always been called Bikini by the native Marshall Islanders, from Marshallese "Pik" meaning "surface" and "Ni" meaning "coconut". The name was popularized in the United States not only by nuclear bomb tests, but because the bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, when the name of the island was in the news.[3

Bikini atomic experiments

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2007)

The Bikini Atomic Experiments were a series of nuclear and thermonuclear tests conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Bikini Islands. The experiments were part of the United States' research into the full effects of the atomic bomb, including post-detonation radioactive fallout. The first tests were conducted under the name Operation Crossroads.

Preparation

During World War II, Bikini Atoll was home to a small Japanese radar installation. In 1945, the last year of fighting, the U.S. landed a small force to secure the site. The battle was brief and had no strategic significance. As the war ended, the United States decided that Bikini Atoll would be suitable for nuclear detonation tests, and shortly before Christmas 1945 it was selected to be the site of the world's fourth and fifth atomic bomb detonations. (The first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in New Mexico, and the second and third bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.) Before the bombs could be tested, the U.S. government had to find another home for the displaced natives on Bikini. The U.S. government promised the natives that they would have their island back in a couple of months. The crew of the USS LST 861 temporarily evacuated many of the natives to the island of Rongerik.
To prepare the island and the atoll for testing the United States Naval Construction Battalion (better known as the Seabees) was flown in to help establish a credible base on the island. Several derelict tanks, bulldozers, and other military machinery were placed on the island to test the ability of such vehicles to withstand nuclear attack. The Air Force left 150 airplanes on the island's airstrip for testing purposes as well.
In addition to military equipment, the United States Navy moved 250 naval vessels to the atoll, including the Pennsylvania, New York, Arkansas, Nevada, Saratoga, Independence, Nagato (a Japanese battleship), and the Prinz Eugen (a German cruiser) to test the durability of ships to withstand a nuclear impact. Lab animals were also purchased and placed on several ships, and would later be tested for radiation poisoning.
Back in the United States, the general public grew worried over the planned testing. Some people worried that the bomb's power would be felt all the way back in the United States. Others believed the bomb would create a hole in the earth. To help ease these fears, the Navy created several information packets and began broadcasting over "Radio Bikini" in an effort to calm the public's fears and rally support for the tests.
During the final preparation, the displaced islanders began to protest their move; however, they were unsuccessful in preventing the "shot."

Tests

This section requires expansion. (May 2008)

Main articles: Operation Crossroads, Operation Castle, Operation Redwing, and Operation Hardtack I

The first atomic bomb to be detonated at Bikini was code-named "Able", a bomb similar in most respects to "Fat Man," which was dropped on Nagasaki. The B-29 designated to drop Able was named "Dave's Dream," and on July 1, 1946, at about 8:45 AM, the first peacetime detonation of a nuclear ordnance occurred. Of the animals left on board the ships at anchor in Bikini Lagoon, approximately 10% died instantly. The Naval vessels managed to withstand the blast for the most part, but many were destroyed during Test "Baker" on July 25. In the coming years, some twenty additional bomb tests would be conducted before the United States government officially returned control of the islands over to their natives in 1957. The largest test, Castle Bravo, also proved to be a large radiation fallout disaster: ashes from the explosion flew miles into inhabited islands, putting nuclear fallout into the public minds of many. The 1 March 1954 test exposed a Japanese fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryū Maru, to radioactive fallout, resulting in 11 of the boat's 23 crewmembers dying from radiation sickness.^[1]

Aftermath

Shortly after the announcement that the islands were safe, a group of the native people left their makeshift home to return to Bikini, but were evacuated ten years later after some developed radiation poisoning from Cesium-137, including thyroid cancer, (some sources also state Strontium-90), a remnant of the radioactive fallout. As of 2009, the islands remain uninhabitable, and many of the displaced natives now reside in the Carolines and Marshall Islands in the Western Pacific; also some live in California, and in Nevada. The US Department of Energy, along with the representatives from the government of the Marshall Islands, sends scientists to the atoll for temporary stays to study the island's environment and measure residual levels of radiation. The researchers grow a small vegetable garden and send the produce to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for testing. The US and Marshall Islands' governments still advise that nothing harvested from the island be eaten.^[2]

Movie

The movies Bikini, The Atomic Cafe, and The Atom Island illustrate preparations for the tests, and the effects of the tests.^[3] The documentary Radio Bikini shows another vision of what happened in Bikini. ^[4]

Music and Video

The second movement of the video opera Three Tales of Steve Reich concerns the atomic tests in the Bikini Atoll. The video part of the opera includes images of the US Army presenting the project to the local people of Bikini, the trip of animals for testing and the explosion of the atomic bomb.

File:Operation Crossroads Baker Edit.jpg

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