,

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uninhabited islands, and in the ocean beyond (l).

No people were involved

although plants and sea life and the detonation area exhibited radioactivity.
Also, as more fully appreciated later, the radioactivity

injected into the

stratosphere would be subject to worldwide distribution.

The Bravo Test , March 1, 1954
Bikini Atoll was selected for the next four tests beginning with the
Bravo test of March 1, 1954.

Four additional tests at Bikini followed by a

sixth test on Eniwetok lagoon completed the “Castle” series of that year;
these latter five were uneventful.

Bravo, however, was the first test of a

high-yield fission-fusion device designed to be in the multi-megaton

range;

also, it was expected to produce fallout similar to that of the thermonuclear
test of 1952 and amp’le precautions were taken.

The task force was careful to

follow the standard injunction of detonating only when the meteorological
conditions would ensure that the close-in fallout would be carried out over
the uninhabited ocean.

To reinforce that end, a precautionary

no-entry zone

was established for ships and aircraft extending about 335 miles east to west
and 150 miles north to south around the Eniwetok-Bikini
On March 1, 1954, the meteorological
suitable to conduct the detonation.

Atolls.

conditions were judged to be

The explosion attained an estimated

15 megatons and yielded unusual amounts of radionuclides

and fission products

adherent to or dissolved in the coralline rock melted up from the surface of
the island.

Much of this debris was injected into the stratosphere

cloud topped out at about 100,000 feet.

for the

Some of the expected close-in fallout

.

Select target paragraph3