BIKINI AND ENEWETAK MARSHALLESE - THEIR ATOLLS AND NUCLEAR-WEAPONS TESTING

Following the end of World War II, the U.S. Government decided to comm ence nuclear weapons testing and consequently searched for a suitable test site. Bikini and Enewetak Atolls in the Marshall Islands were sel ected for various reasons discussed in this manuscript. Sixty-six nucl ear devices of various types were detonated from 1945 through mid-1958 at these atolls. During this period and for an extended period therea fter, extensive endeavors to rehabilitate these atolls occurred. In ad dition to physical rehabilitation, scientists were involved in basic i nvestigations on the cycling of radionuclides and the effects of ioniz ing-radiation on the atoll environment. Further, a limited number of o bservations were made on the cultural impacts of removal and possible return of the Bikini and Enewetak Marshallese to their home atolls. Th e extensive but obscure literature as well as unfamiliarity by many pe ople of the health aspects of ionizing radiation and fundamentals of r adiation ecology encouraged the authors to prepare a manuscript that d iscloses the complex problems associated with returning the original i nhabitants to Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. A primary goal was to make t he reader aware of the available and extensive literature resulting fr om governmental investigations. This article does not review the entir e literature for to do so would result in many volumes, but it does op en the door to those interested in pursuing the subject more fully.