Bikini Atoll Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Bikini Atoll is located in the North Pacific at 11 degrees 30′ North Latitude and 165 degrees 25′ East Longitude, and comprises one of 29 atolls in the Marshall Islands. The atoll consists of 36 islets that surround a lagoon of 594 square kilometers in area. Culturally part of the Micronesian region, archeologists place their best estimates of human colonization of the Marshall Islands between 3,000 2,000 years before present, with Bikini being settled more toward the recent portion of this date range. One controversial assessment of Bikini’s settlement, based on carbon dating of charcoal, pushes that date back to between 4,000 3,600 years ago, although this date range supersedes geologic estimates of the Atoll’s formation by 600 1,000 years (it is possible that the charcoal could have drifted in from elsewhere). Bikini Atoll is currently part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, an independent state since 1979; a Compact of Free Association was signed with the United States since 1986, and its independence was formally recognized internationally in 1990 after the United State’s trusteeship of the region was formally terminated by the United Nations.

Bomb Testing and Relocation

Bikini Atoll is best known as the site of U.S. nuclear testing between 1946 and 1958, during which 23 nuclear devices were detonated on the atoll, including the 15 megaton “Bravo” hydrogen bomb. As such, Bikini Atoll is often remembered as a symbol of U.S. imperialism in the Pacific Region, primarily for the forced relocation of the atoll’s inhabitants, the destruction of the atoll and lingering effects of the radiation that prevent the peoples’ return.

For its Project Crossroads, the U.S. military needed a large, remote test site that protected the U.S. population from radiation, in order to test the effectiveness of nuclear weapons against naval fleets as well as serve as a demonstration of military and technological prowess. Bikini Atoll was considered an ideal location for these and other reasons, except that it was inhabited.

The U.S. military characterized Bikini Atoll as a marginal environment incapable of providing a healthy standard of living for its inhabitants, and sought to move them to nearby Rongerik Atoll amid considerable fanfare. Although the U.S. military indicated that Rongerik was essentially identical to Bikini, their assessments ran counter to the perceptions of the Bikinians themselves. Contrary to the claims of the military, the people of Bikini atoll had strong cultural ties to the Atoll, having lived there for over 1,000 years. They viewed the area as a rich resource where their ancestors were buried, in contrast to the considerably smaller Rongerik that was viewed as inhabited by a maleficent spirit that had poisoned the food resources and consequently remained uninhabited over the same timespan. Indeed, within two months after relocation to Rongerik in early 1946, the Bikinians complained of inadequate food and water resources and were requesting repatriation to Bikini Atoll. Their plight was ignored by the military until 1948, after an anthropologist revealed that the Bikinians had been suffering from starvation and ciguatera poisoning (resulting from the consumption of fish that have fed upon toxic marine algae). The military relocated the Bikinians first to a camp on Kwajalein, and then to the island of Kili, which was smaller than Rongerik. Today, roughly one-third of the 3,100 Bikinians live on Kili, and the rest are scattered through the Marshall Islands.

The people of Bikini remain expatriated, despite being allowed to return, over lingering fears of radioactive contamination. The 23 nuclear detonations inundated the atoll with radiation, with the Bravo blast being especially destructive in vaporizing two islets, leaving a large crater in the lagoon and causing thyroid disorders from the radiation in nearby Rongelap Atoll to this day. The U.S. government declared Bikini Atoll safe for repatriation after 1960, but the Bikinians themselves opted not to return until they felt more certain of their safety. Some began to return after 1970, but after five years exhibited concentrations of radioactive caesium and strontium in their bodies over ten times the safe levels (from eating contaminated local foods), and were forced to leave again in 1978. Recent assessments suggest that permanent settlement is currently possible, provided certain remediation efforts are undertaken, such as applying potassium fertilizer that the crops will take up more readily than caesium. Bikinians are nevertheless skeptical of the scientific assessments, having been falsely reassured of the atoll’s safety before, and have yet to resettle. Bikini Atoll is currently being developed as a tourist destination, with scuba diving among the sunken ships used in the nuclear testing as a primary attraction.

Nuclear testing in the Pacific remains a sore point in geopolitical relations between Pacific Island citizens, and the United States and France in particular. New Zealand emphasizes this fact in its Nuclear Free Pacific policy, which it uses as a diplomatic tool to maintain friendly relations with the various Pacific Island Countries. Most recently, France resumed its nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll (French Polynesia) in 1995, despite vociferous opposition from the citizenry of French Polynesia; this move sparked regional protests and renewed calls for independence from France from some factions within French Polynesia. Comparisons with Bikini were made during these protests, with the United States and France being vilified for their historical lack of respect for Pacific Island peoples. New Zealand opposed the testing under its Nuclear Free Pacific policy, and strengthened its diplomatic ties with many Pacific Island Countries.

Bibliography:

Jeffrey Sasha Davis, “Representing Place: ‘Deserted Isles’ and the Reproduction of Bikini Atoll,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers (v.95, 2005);
Max Quanchi and Ron Adams, eds., Culture Contact in the Pacific (Cambridge, 1993);
Frank Thomas, “Historic Preservation in the Marshall Islands: 2003 2004 Research,” Micronesian 3 (2004).