Nuclear Sins: The Marshall Islands and the Ghosts of Testing

At dusk, all the inhabitants of the island were seriously ill. For years, the United States used the Marshall Islands, where Rongelap is located, as a testing ground for its nuclear program. In reality, no one really knew what the effects of a nuclear test would be on the island. There is an archival film of US Navy Commodore Ben H. Wyatt explaining the situation to the inhabitants of Bikini. The scene is a miniature echo of the paintings of Marshallese warriors in traditional canoes, with their arms raised in unison while paddling, which adorn the walls of a local hotel. The world has long since forgotten the nuclear tests of the early Cold War. 'To my knowledge, the last explosive nuclear test was conducted by North Korea, or the DPRK—and that was in 2017.' Most experts agree. 'As far as I know, there have been no tests with warheads,' asserts Lewis. The same happened with the inhabited islands. The Marshallese living on the surrounding atolls had no protected bunkers. On the other hand, we don't need a nuclear-powered cruise missile. The United States, which remained the world's only nuclear power, wanted to demonstrate the impressive power of 'The Bomb.' The bomb was more powerful than the scientists had expected. The chosen site was Bikini Atoll, whose huge lagoon was filled with a fleet of ships, allowing the military to study the effects of an atomic weapon on warships. But there was a problem: Bikini was inhabited. 'I think the quote was: 'to begin testing our nuclear weapons on equal footing.' The Russians don't have an air defense network so impressive that we have to evade it by taking a tortuous route.' Apparently in response to Trump's statements, Putin ordered on November 5 for officials to begin preparing for a 'possible' resumption of explosive nuclear tests. These are real nuclear weapon detonations.' Many questions remain about Trump's nuclear intentions. He has worked for years to try to prove that his neighborhood, nestled in a canyon near Salt Lake City, was particularly affected by radiation exposure. 'During all that time, we had no idea what was going on in our bodies.' As data accumulates, the understanding of the broader impact of the tests is evolving—but there is clear evidence that the people closest to the tests were the most affected. After decades of efforts to get the United States government to recognize this situation, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed in 1990. 'I wonder… would you be so willing to give up everything you have so easily?' Nuclear Sins Alson Kelen remembers his ancestral home as a paradise. They started excitedly playing with the fluffy white material. But it wasn't snowing. What was falling from the sky was highly radioactive pulverized coral ash, the consequence of the largest nuclear explosion in history to date. Abon felt his eyes and airways burning as he played with the ash. A trust fund of $150 million was created to pay compensation. 'You didn't need fishing gear.' In Marshallese, there is no word for 'radiation.' The Russians ended explosive nuclear testing in the early 1990s and signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).' However, in a November 2 episode of 60 Minutes, Norah O'Donnell asked Trump to clarify whether the United States was going to 'start detonating nuclear weapons to conduct testing.' Trump responded: 'I'm saying we're going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes.' 'Russia is testing, and China is too, but they don't talk about it,' Trump insisted later, adding: 'We're going to test, because they test and others do.' Trump may have been referring to subcritical tests, in which small amounts of nuclear material are subjected to explosives without generating a chain nuclear reaction. The children are not in school because it is Nuclear Remembrance Day, a national holiday in the Marshall Islands. Mac William Bishop. The atoll complex, historically known locally as jolet jen Anij—'gifts from God'—was first colonized by humans about 4,000 years ago. The tribunal effectively stopped functioning in 2011; the requests from the Marshallese for the United States to replenish the nuclear compensation fund have been ignored. Washington rarely shows interest in paying for its sins, whether nuclear or otherwise. Mary Dickson, who was living in Utah in 1962, blames the nuclear tests conducted in nearby Nevada for the impact they have had on her health throughout her life. 'That journey to bring peace to the world is still there, but we sacrificed everything for it.' In 1986, the United States ratified a 'Compact of Free Association' (CFA) that governs its relationship with the Marshall Islands. They won't know that's what has made them sick.' Throughout the Cold War, the United States continued testing in the Pacific and also on its own territory—in Nevada, where 100 atmospheric tests and about 800 underground tests were conducted, as well as in Alaska, where a series of underground tests were carried out. He said that Russia had fulfilled its obligations under the CTBT, but if the United States or any nuclear power were to conduct a test, Russia would too. Later that night, the US President doubled down and again wrote that the United States would 'begin testing its nuclear weapons on equal footing.' Experts are alarmed. 'All the rhetoric that has been circulating about a possible return to testing is really concerning,' says Dr. That process will begin immediately,' wrote President Donald Trump in a social media post on October 29. The President's statement appears to have been prompted by tests with advanced weapons conducted by Russia. Earlier that same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had successfully tested a torpedo called 'Poseidon' and a cruise missile called 'Storm Petrel.' That proposal addresses the country's nuclear program dozens of times and asserts that the United States must 'show its willingness to conduct nuclear tests in response to the nuclear advances of its adversaries if necessary.' It also advises the Trump administration to 're-establish readiness to conduct nuclear testing at the Nevada National Security Site,' update nuclear forces 'in light of China's modernization,' and withdraw from the CTBT, which the United States signed but never ratified. The United States is far ahead of its nuclear adversaries in research and data on nuclear warheads, and experts interviewed by Rolling Stone for this article believe that explosive testing is not only strategically unnecessary but, as several of them put it, 'insanity.' They are concerned that the bulwark of cooperation aimed at preventing nuclear disaster—the non-proliferation treaties—is being dismantled, piece by piece. The locals were not warned about the test, nor was mandatory evacuation ordered in case something went wrong. When people talk about it, they simply use the loanword 'bomb' or 'baaṃ' to describe radiation exposure. The 'King Juda,' who led his people into exile at the behest of the US Government, died of cancer in 1968, a year before his people began to return to the island. The return home was premature. 'Although it was known that some radioactive contamination still persisted, it was believed at the time that restrictions on the consumption of certain local foods and the provision of imported foodstuffs would make Bikini habitable,' notes the Department of Energy in its report on Radiation Experiments on Humans. It is not a race in the sense that there is a starting gun. To build it a completely new world of peace powered by atomic energy. In addition to the United States and Russia, other nuclear powers—such as France and the United Kingdom—have ambitious nuclear modernization plans. 'We made a lot of progress after the end of the Cold War and we managed to reduce those numbers, but now they have stalled or are increasing—as in the case of China,' says Hughes. She desperately hopes that the non-proliferation regime, including New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States that expires in February 2026, can be saved. Some Republicans hope to abandon the agreement. To do this, he set his sights on the Marshall Islands. President Harry S. Truman ordered the US Navy to conduct an atomic test in 1946. The Soviets were invited to witness it. But the most fundamental question may be: is the cost of explosive testing worth it? Perhaps the answer lies in Bikini Atoll. Born in Bikini in exile, his parents were forced to leave the atoll before Operation Crossroads. It is to this glorious opportunity that the humble people of Bikini are contributing with all that they have. The United States has already withdrawn from two major agreements: the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019. 'On this issue, I firmly believe that it should be a bipartisan issue, that it should actually be the ultimate pro-life issue,' says Dr. They were told they would be back soon. Twenty-three years passed before the Bikinians were allowed to return. The goal is to assess 'the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of US nuclear warheads without resorting to explosive nuclear testing.' 'It's only tests of launch systems. 'There is nothing more pro-life than preventing the annihilation of humanity and, potentially, all life on the planet.' There are currently about 12,000 active nuclear weapons in the world. 'You can see the scabs that are already forming on their skin.' A week after the incident, the US Government launched a secret program to assess the impact of radiation on the islanders. The fallout from these tests has spread across the planet. The March 1, 1954 test was called Castle Bravo and was 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The detonation did not go as planned. All the major nuclear powers conduct this type of testing—the United States completed a series of such experiments in July. So what does 'on equal footing' mean? The expansion recognized that communities as far away as Missouri—where the waste from the Manhattan Project was stored—had been affected by the nuclear tests. However, Dickson points out, ultimately the burden of proof falls on the individual, who must seek medical records and proof of residence from decades ago—in her case, from when she was a child—to successfully file a claim. 'How can you even think of retesting those weapons, when we know the damage they cause? Without human inhabitants, the atoll had become a cornucopia of fruit and fish. 'You could walk through the lagoon and just scoop up fish with your hands,' Kelen tells a Rolling Stone reporter. The island was evacuated again in 1978. 'I can safely say that more than 95 percent, maybe even 97 percent of the people of Bikini, have never seen Bikini,' says Kelen, who was mayor in exile of the atoll from 2009 to 2011. He died in 2018, never having returned to his home. More than 70 years later, Rongelap—like three other northern atolls of the Marshall Islands: Bikini, Rongerik, and Enewetak—remains uninhabitable for generations due to contamination from the nuclear tests. Arms Race 'Because of the testing programs of other countries, I have instructed the Department of War to begin testing our nuclear weapons on equal footing. Now I think we are running on the track and starting to accelerate,' he says. The children are probably between 10 and 12 years old, and as they paddle in unison on alternate sides of their improvised craft, they sing cadences in their native language. The push to modernize the United States' 'ground-based nuclear deterrence' fits with the set of policy proposals drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation, known as Project 2025. (Galerie Bilderwelt/ Getty Images). By MAC WILLIAM BISHOP Rolling Stone The escalation of an arms race that could lead to Armageddon is only one of the reasons why Trump's pressure to resume testing is terrifying. MAJURO, MARSHALL ISLANDS— Lemeyo Abon learned about snow from the films that the American sailors visiting the island would project. 'It's time to let it die a natural death and accelerate the nuclear modernization of the United States,' says Belcher of Ploughshares. Belcher of Ploughshares is concerned about the future of New START. The atmospheric tests, in particular, 'caused the largest collective dose of human-made radiation in history,' according to researchers. The radionuclides—unstable elements that release radiation as they decay—coming from the tests will continue to dump their doses into the environment for centuries. So the Navy devised a plan to relocate the islanders, promising them they could return later. The capacity to save, not destroy humanity. In 2000, it became clear that the fund was insufficient to meet the demand; most claims remain unpaid. He dismissed speculation about explosive warhead testing. But living in Rongelap—a remote tropical atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean—he had never seen it. So when soft flakes began to fall from the sky, then the 14-year-old and her friends were delighted with the new experience. The battles caused the deaths of more than 11,000 Japanese—and the forced laborers they had brought with them—and only a little more than 600 Americans died in the fighting. A year later, the war ended when the United States used its newly developed atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. When peace came, Europe was divided between the Soviet Union and its former allies, and the Cold War began. Observers of the test were surprised by the intensity of the explosion and the rapid spread of the radioactive fallout. 'In fact, I have serious doubts whether both sides will be able to reach an agreement,' he says. Since the passage of RECA, the government has paid out more than $2.6 billion to more than 41,000 claimants in a dozen states. Dickson participated in the initiative to update and expand RECA, which was passed earlier this year with bipartisan support from Congress. Dubbed Operation Crossroads, it was the first test since Trinity. This happened 'for the sake of humanity,' to bring peace to the world, she says. 'The vast majority of affected individuals will never know that they are. The entire process will simply gain momentum almost imperceptibly, until in ten years we find ourselves in the midst of a really serious arms race and we wonder: 'How did we get here?'. 'Gifts from God' On a pleasant weekday morning in Majuro, the children play fearlessly in the lagoon. 'Unfortunately, these assumptions proved to be wrong.' The scientists overseeing the Bikinians grew increasingly alarmed at the tests of the buildup of radiation exposure. We know that there are real people who were harmed by those tests,' says Dickson. 'These are ideas that go back to the 1980s, when the Reagan administration was considering SDI [the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as 'Star Wars']. They were forced to take shelter in a protected bunker. They were reactivated in the early 2000s when George W. Bush withdrew from the ABM (anti-ballistic missile) treaty, and they remain relevant because they would be used to evade the Golden Dome,' the missile defense program planned by Trump. In response to Trump's statement, officials offered ambiguous answers about the administration's nuclear plans. Vice Admiral Richard Correll, Trump's nominee to head US Strategic Command—responsible for the US nuclear arsenal—appeared at a Senate confirmation hearing on October 30. In the days after Castle Bravo, the residents of Rongelap were evacuated by the US Navy, who were told they could return to their homes in a few weeks. 'There is a photo of my grandfather holding a baby while they wait to be evacuated from Rongelap,' says Ariana Tibok, a member of the country's National Nuclear Commission, to Rolling Stone. 'And when there are no treaties, the only solution is to build and deploy more weapons.' Lewis, the arms control expert, is not optimistic. 'I used to say it's not a race, but we're tying our shoelaces. At the start of World War II, the Japanese controlled the Marshall Islands, key outposts in their defense chain aimed at keeping the United States at bay. In 1944, the US Navy—at that point in the war, a combat force that had almost perfected amphibious operations—arrived at the Marshall Islands and destroyed the Japanese garrisons located there. About 7,000 square miles of ocean would be contaminated. With sufficient buildup, radiation exposure can increase the risk of developing multiple types of cancer. The closest is 'poison.' Neither China nor Russia has conducted explosive nuclear tests, so I don't attach any importance to it, nor do I read anything between the lines. The independent tribunal that judged the claims ended up awarding more than $2 billion in damages. Lewis notes that the United States also regularly tests its nuclear launch systems, including land- and submarine-based ballistic and cruise missiles. In fact, on November 5, the Air Force launched an unarmed LGM-30 Minuteman III (or ICBM) ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, across the Pacific, to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. For most, 'it's a myth.' 'We don't want anyone else to go through what we went through.' Washington effectively subsidizes the Marshall Islands government in exchange for military access—the latest CFA update provides $700 million over four years. The original CFA included a clause promising 'just and adequate compensation' to persons harmed by the nuclear tests. Lieutenant Colonel Karrie Wray, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, claimed the test was aimed at 'verify and validate the ICBM system's ability to perform its critical mission.' 'The idea that we are not testing on equal footing seems very strange to me,' says Lewis, 'except in the sense that we don't exactly have the same forces—that is, we don't have a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Sometimes cancer takes decades to appear after exposure,' she says. 'This will not happen all at once. From the 16th century, it passed through the hands of a series of imperial powers. The tiny atolls have few resources; their main value to foreigners is their strategic location. 'I was in my twenties when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.' Dickson is a 'downwinder,' a term used to describe people exposed to radiation from atmospheric nuclear tests due to the prevailing winds that deposit dangerous levels of radioactive fallout. 'The government never did a good job of tracking and oversight,' says Dickson. In total, the United States detonated 1,054 nuclear weapons between 1945 and 1992. All the nuclear powers in the world together have detonated about 2,000 nuclear weapons since 1945. 'We know that there are people within the administration—and outside it—who want the United States to resume nuclear testing.' During Trump's first term, administration officials awarded a contract to replace the Minuteman III with a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the LG-35A Sentinel. 'And I don't like to call them tests.' Twenty of the 29 children of Rongelap would later develop thyroid cancer. Abon, a fierce advocate for nuclear survivors, told her story for decades and testified before the United Nations. Both can carry nuclear warheads, but that is not their distinctive feature: both use nuclear propulsion, allowing them to travel extremely long distances. 'Both systems are designed to defeat US missile defenses,' says Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control specialist and professor of global security at Middlebury College. 'The main issue here is that when we abandon diplomacy, we are sending the message that both moderation and transparency are optional,' he says. 'The unraveling of the non-proliferation regime is really concerning, because the treaties that create it have the necessary structure to address challenges and violations,' adds he. 'New START was a one-sided deal negotiated by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and extended by Joe Biden,' tweeted Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on November 6. Castle Romeo was the code name given to one of the tests in the American thermonuclear test series Operation Castle, which began in March 1954 at Bikini Atoll. Dressed in his khaki uniform, Wyatt sits on a coconut palm trunk and speaks through his interpreter: 'Well, James, will you tell them that the Government of the United States now wants to try to turn this great destructive force into something good for humanity—and that these experiments here in Bikini are the first step in that direction?' The translator has a brief conversation with a man whom Wyatt calls 'King Juda'—the Iroij, or paramount chief, of Bikini Atoll—who explains that his people understand the situation and will agree to move, concluding simply: 'It is all in God's hands.' Wyatt responds: 'Okay… if it is all in God's hands, it must be good.' The narration captures the hopes of the Atomic Age, or at least, the government's version of nuclear testing: 'Hidden behind the searing terror that is the atomic bomb are the broader, nobler aspects of its mystery—the power for good instead of evil.' Emma Belcher, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a nonprofit organization working to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Experts say that if there is evidence that Russia and China are doing more than subcritical testing, it has not been made public. China is rapidly expanding its arsenal. Young people seize wooden planks from a pile of construction debris and use them as improvised rafts that they paddle with paddles, in a kayak style. The Marshallese do not. Ivana Hughes, a chemistry professor at Columbia University who studies the impact of nuclear testing and president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.