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′E / 11.583°N 165.383°E / 11.583; 165.383Coordinates: 11°35′N 165°23′E / 11.583°N 165.383°E / 11.583; 165.383
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 /ˈbɪ.kɨˌni/ or /bɨˈki.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]

History [edit]

This section requires expansion. (November 2012)

Human beings have inhabited the atoll for at least 2,000 years.^[4]

Spanish-German Treaty of 1899 [edit]

After the explosion of the Maine in Havana's Harbor sent by the U.S.A. to protect American commercial interests in Cuba, and the Spanish–American War in 1898, Spain lost many of its remaining colonies. Cuba became independent while the United States took possession of Puerto Rico and Spain's Pacific colonies of the Philippines and Guam. This left Spain with the remainder of the Spanish East Indies in the Pacific, about 6000 islands that were tiny, sparsely populated, and not very productive, and that were both ungovernable after the loss of the administrative center of Manila, and undefendable after the entire loss of two Spanish fleets in 1898 a year still known in Spain as the "Year of the national disaster" or "the loss of the 400 years Empire". The Spanish government therefore decided to sell them to a new colonial power: Germany.

The treaty was signed on February 12, 1899 by Spanish Prime Minister Francisco Silvela and transferred the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau and other possessions to Germany. The islands were then placed under control of German New Guinea.

Recent history [edit]

During World War I, many of these German possessions were conquered by Japan, an ally of the British Empire at the time, and would remain under the control of the Japanese Empire as the South Pacific Mandate under the League of Nations until after World War II when the United States took control.

Along with the rest of the Marshalls, Bikini was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese administered the island under the South Pacific Mandate, but mostly left local affairs in the hands of traditional local leaders until the start of World War II.

Following the end of World War II, Bikini came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.

Nuclear tests [edit]

Between 1946 and 1958, twenty-three nuclear devices were detonated by the United States at Bikini Atoll, beginning with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. Preceding the nuclear tests, the indigenous population was relocated to Rongerik Atoll, though during the Castle Bravo detonation in particular some members of the population were exposed to nuclear fallout (see Project 4.1 for a discussion of the health effects). For examination of the fallout, several sounding rockets of the types Loki and Asp were launched at 11°35′N 165°20′E / 11.583°N 165.333°E / 11.583; 165.333.

The March 1, 1954, detonation, codenamed Castle Bravo, was the first test of a practical hydrogen bomb. The largest nuclear explosion ever set off by the United States, it was much more powerful than predicted, and created widespread radioactive contamination.^[5][6][7]

Among those contaminated were the 23 crew members of the Japanese fishing boat, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru.^[6] The ensuing scandal in Japan was enormous, and ended up inspiring the 1954 film Godzilla, in which the 1954 U.S. nuclear test awakens and mutates the monster, who then attacks Japan before finally being vanquished by Japanese ingenuity.

The Micronesian inhabitants, who numbered about 200 before the United States relocated them after World War II, ate fish, shellfish, bananas, and coconuts. A large majority of the Bikinians were moved to Kili Island as part of their temporary homestead, but remain there today and receive compensation from the United States government for their survival.^[8]

In 1968, the United States declared Bikini habitable and started bringing a small group of Bikinians back to their homes in the early 1970s as a test. However, in 1978, after a French team of scientists did additional tests on the island, the islanders were removed again when strontium-90 in their bodies had been shown to have reached dangerous levels .^[9] It was not uncommon for women to experience faulty pregnancies, miscarriages, stillbirths, and damage to their offspring as a result of the nuclear testing on Bikini.^[10][11] The United States provided $150 million as a settlement for damage caused by the nuclear testing program.^[12]

Since the early 1980s, the leaders of the Bikinian community have insisted that, because of what happened in the 1970s with the aborted return to their atoll, they want the entire island of Bikini excavated and the soil removed to a depth of about 15 inches (38 cm). Scientists involved with the Bikinians have stressed that while the excavation method would rid the island of the cesium-137, the removal of the topsoil would severely damage the environment, turning it into a virtual wasteland of windswept sand. The Council, however, feeling a responsibility toward their people, has repeatedly contended that scraping Bikini is the only way to guarantee safe living conditions on the island for future generations.^{[citation needed]}

A 1998 International Atomic Energy Agency report found that Bikini is still not safe for habitation, because of dangerous levels of radiation.^[10] Bikini Atoll was entered into the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites on 3 August 2010.^[13]

• 

  The "Baker" explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, on 25 July 1946

• 

  Path of the nuclear fallout plume after the U.S. nuclear weapons test, Castle Bravo, on 1 March 1954

Bikini Lagoon [edit]

USS Saratoga (CV-3) sinking after Operation Crossroads

Prior to Operation Crossroads, the lagoon at Bikini was designated as a ship graveyard after World War II by the United States Navy. Today the Bikini Lagoon is still home to a large number of vessels from the United States and other countries. The dangers of the radioactivity and limited services in the area led to divers staying away from the scuba diving sites in the Pacific for many years. The dive spot has become popular among divers since 1996.^[14] However, oil prices severely curtailed land-based diving operations to the point of being suspended from August 2008 through 2010, restricted to fully self-contained vessels by prior arrangement.^[15] After a successful trial live aboard expedition in October 2010, the local government licensed the live aboard operator as the sole provider of dive expeditions on the nuclear ghost fleet at Bikini Atoll starting in 2011. The dive season runs from May through October. The lagoon contains a larger amount of sea life than usual due to the lack of fishing, including sharks, increasing the fascination with the spot as a diver's adventure spot.

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
• Japanese battleship Nagato - battleship
• Japanese cruiser Sakawa - light cruiser

Cross Spikes Club [edit]

The Cross Spikes Club, painted by Navy artist Arthur Beaumont^[16]

The Cross Spikes Club was an improvised bar and hangout created by servicemen on Bikini Island between June and September 1946 during the preparation for Operation Crossroads. The "club" was little more than a small open air building that served alcohol to servicemen and provided outdoor entertainment, including a ping pong table.^[17] The Cross Spikes Club has been described as "the only bright spot" in the Operation Crossroads experience. The club, like all military facilities on the island, was abandoned or dismantled following the completion of Operation Crossroads.

The island today [edit]

The special International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Bikini Advisory Group determined in 1997 that "It is safe to walk on all of the islands ... although the residual radioactivity on islands in Bikini Atoll is still higher than on other atolls in the Marshall Islands, it is not hazardous to health at the levels measured ... The main radiation risk would be from the food: eating locally grown produce, such as fruit, could add significant radioactivity to the body...Eating coconuts or breadfruit from Bikini Island occasionally would be no cause for concern. Eating many over a long period of time without having taken remedial measures, however, might result in radiation doses higher than internationally agreed safety levels." IAEA estimated that living in the atoll and consuming local food would result in an effective dose of about 15 mSv/year.^[18]

The dose received from background radiation on the island was found to be between 2.4 mSv/year and 4.5 mSv/year (the lower rate is the same as natural background radiation), assuming that a diet of imported foods was available.^[19] It was because of these food risks that the group eventually did not recommend fully resettling the island.

A 2002 survey found partial recovery of the corals inside The Bravo Crater.^[20] 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 meters high.^[21]

The novel, The Bomb, by Theodore Taylor is a historical novel based on the story of the native inhabitants of Bikini Atoll during World War Two.

See also [edit]

• History of the bikini
• Operation Castle
• Operation Ivy
• Radio Bikini

References [edit]

Notes [edit]

Bibliography [edit]

• Niedenthal, Jack, For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini and their Islands, Bravo Publishers, (November 2002), ISBN 982-9050-02-5
• Wiesgall, Jonathan M, Operation Crossroads: Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll, Naval Institute Press (21 April 1994), ISBN 1-55750-919-0

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bikini Atoll

• A Short History of the People of Bikini Atoll
• What About Radiation on Bikini Atoll?
• Department of Energy Marshall Islands Program: Chronology of nuclear testing, relocation of islanders and results of radiation tests
• Annotated bibliography for Bikini Atoll from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• Islanders Want The Truth About Bikini Nuclear Test
• Marshall Islands site
• Entry at Oceandots.com at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010)

v t e Marshall Islands Bold indicates populated islands Italics indicate single island Ratak Chain (Sunrise, Eastern) Bokak (Taongi) Bikar Utirik Toke Mejit Ailuk Jemo Likiep Wotje Erikub Maloelap Aur Majuro Arno Mili Knox (Nadikdik) Ralik Chain (Sunset, Western) Enewetak Ujelang Bikini Rongerik Rongelap Ailinginae Wotho Ujae Lae Kwajalein Lib Namu Jabat Ailinglaplap Jaluit Kili Namorik Ebon