Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll, a remote ring of coral islets in the northern Marshall Islands, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognised as a symbol of the dawn of the nuclear age. Between 1946 and 1958 the United States detonated 23 nuclear devices here, including the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb. The 167 islanders were moved off the atoll in 1946; about a hundred returned in 1972 but were evacuated again in 1978 because of radiation, and they have not returned to live there since. Beneath the lagoon lies a fleet of warships sunk in the tests, including an aircraft carrier, which makes it a world-famous and strictly limited deep-diving destination.

History

On 7 March 1946 the atoll's 167 inhabitants were taken by ship to Rongerik Atoll, which could not support them, and they had to be moved again. The United States then exploded 23 nuclear devices at seven test sites here between 1946 and 1958, beginning with Operation Crossroads in July 1946; the 1954 Castle Bravo test had a yield of 15 megatons, and three islands were destroyed in the tests. About 100 people returned in 1972, but radiation tests led to a second evacuation in September 1978, and the islanders are still barred from going back. UNESCO inscribed the atoll on 3 August 2010; it has 23 islands around a lagoon of about 594 square kilometres (Wikipedia, Bikini Atoll).

Highlights

• The story of the Bikinians - the displaced people and their exile.
• The nuclear test legacy - the history of the atomic and hydrogen tests.
• The sunken fleet - the warships and carrier sunk in the tests.
• The atoll - the beautiful, poignant, largely uninhabited ring.

When to go

Access to Bikini is extremely limited and has come and gone with the operation of specialist dive expeditions, so it is not a place one simply visits; when trips run, they are for experienced deep and technical divers only, by special charter and arrangement, in the calmer months. Its status should always be checked, and the human history approached with the utmost respect.

Things to know

Bikini is the homeland of a people who were moved away for the nuclear tests and have not returned because of contamination. Visiting is extremely difficult, expensive and intermittent, and the wreck dives are strictly for experienced deep and technical divers.

Nearby

The capital Majuro and the other Marshall atolls are reached by air.

Key facts