Radioactive Paradise: Bikini Atoll

Overview

July, 1946. Bikini. It was the first of 23 nuclear tests the US government made in their race against the Soviets during the Cold War. A remote atoll in the Marshall Islands, set in the vast blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii. Ironically though, it was this isolation, that sealed the atoll's fate: During "Operation Crossroads" in July of 1946, two atom bombs were used to sink a ghost fleet of 84 vessels, destroying the natural environment and leaving parts of the huge atoll ring permanently contaminated in the process. The islanders are still reliant on imported food even today.

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