. , -2- Geography of the Proving Ground and Background of the “Bravo” test of March 1, 1954 The ?farshall Islands are a group of atolls which mark off the southern boundary of the Nor<h Pactfic Basin, lying about 10° north latitude roug~~y halfway between the Hawaiian Islands on the east and the Marianna Islands on the west. The only inhabited places between the Marshalls and the Aleutians north of the fiftieth latitude are Wake Island about 500 miles due north and Midway Island about 2700 miles north-northeast. This open area to the north and”west of the Marshalls was a major consideration in the selection of Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls, lying about 200 miles apart on an east-west line at the westernmost end of the Marshall chain, for the testing of new generations of nuclear weapons (l). The Marshallese who inhabited Bikini and Eniwetok were transported, after proper negotiations and settlements, to newly-built villages on other atolls or islands before the technical buildup began for the first test in July 1946 (1),, The reference cited describes among other things the environmental surveys under AEC sponsorship that preceded and followed these tests. The first two tests in the Marshalls Bikini Atoll (4). and two in 1952. were conducted without incident at The next nine were at Eniwetok, three in 1948, four in 1951, The eighth in this series, the first experimental device, probably approached the megaton range. stratosphere and created appreciable thermonuclear The cloud top penetrated into the amounts of fallout. As planned, the fallout from this detonation was carried away by a wind blowing from the east-northeast. Some of the radioactive debris fell into the lagoon, and on the narrow band of