Weisgall NOMADS RELEASE DATE: JUNE 10, 1980 by Jonathan M. Weisgall On July 16, 1945, the United States deto- nated the world’s first atomic bomb at Alamogordo. New Mexico. Three weeks later it detonated the second over Hiroshima. killing 60,175 people within [20 seconds. Three days later. on August 9, 40.000 people died in the explosion of the third bomb over NagaSaki. Horrified by the power of the atomic bomb. Japan announced its surrender to the United States five days later. The atomic age had begun. The United States enjoyed a brief monop- oly on atomic weapons technology after World War II. bur it had little knowledge of the force and effect of these weapons. To ac- quire that knowledge. the United States conducted 66 nuclear tests over the next two decades on Bikini and Enewetak atolls. circular chains of islands located in the Marshall Islands region of Micronesia, 2.400 miles southwest of Hawaii. The U.S. military administration moved the Bikinians off their atoll in 1946, and the government promised to take care of them until they could recurn. One year later the United Srates signed the U.N. Trusteeship Agreement for Micronesia. under which it agreed to ‘‘protect the inhabitants against the loss of their land and resources [and] protect the health of the inhabitants.”’ Thirty-three years later most of the Bikinians are still living temporarily on a tiny island 400 miles away. During these years American scientists have surveyed Bikini at tion. U.S. scientists have now concluded that radiation levels on Bikini Island are so high that it will be uninhabitable for at least 60 to 80 years. The Bikinians’ bizarre odyssey has taken a new turn in light of Presidene Carter's declaration that the United Srates intends to end irs U.N. crusteeship administration of Micronesia in 1981. Although they are geographically and culturally Marshallese, the Bikinians effectively have become wards of the United States. and the long-range problems they face are monumental. Wi re can they resettle until Bikini Island issaft- ‘What risks were they exposed to while 1. g on Bikini from 1970 to 1978. anc wh <inds of specialized health care will they <« sinue to need? What will happen to ther f the Marshall Islands become independe: Time is running out on the U.S. : xinistration of Micronesia, and the Bikiz 5 are ‘fearful that the United States wi valk away from its responsibility towarc aem and its promise to return them totheir meland. They have presented the Carter a. 2inistration with a proposal co resettle on i radiologically safe island in Bikini Acoll. and they have sought the help of Congress to in- sure that they are not forgotten. The island- ers’ fears are justified, for the history of their relations with the U.S. government is one of neglect, thwarted hopes, and unkept promises. Bikini Was It JONATHAN M. WEISCGALL. an attorney ueh the Washington, D.C., law firm of Ginsbure. Feidmen, Weil and Bress, is counsel to the people of Bikini. 74, 75. island in the atoll—safe for resettlement. Some Bikinians were moved back in the early 22 ES ee FOREIGN POLICY magazine #39 1978 when tests showed that they had been exposed to dangerously high levels of radia- Atthe close of World War II, the United States needed to assess the full potential of its new atomic weapon that so dramatically and spectacularly had ended the war with Japan. As the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) stated in its 1948 report to Congress: “America’s pre-eminence in the field of atomic weapons is notstatic. It depends upon achievement fully proved through tests and upon the observation by scientists of nuclear phenomena that can only adequately be least 16 times, and in 1968 President Johnson declared Bikini Island—the principal =~ -1970s, but they were moved off again in Summer 1980 _