2.3
Accidental Contamination from 1954 Thermonuclear Explosion
On March 1,
Bikini Atoll.
1954,
a thermonuclear device was exploded at
An unexpected change in the wind pattern caused
radioactive materials to be deposited on Rongelap,
and Uterik Atolls,
on ships of Joint Task Force 7, which was
conducting the tests,
FPukuryu Maru No.
Ailinginae
and on the
5 which,
Japanese
fishing vessel
unknown to the personnel of the Joint
Task Force, was fishing for tuna in waters 85 miles to the east
of Bikini at the
moment of detonation.
these unfortunate circumstances,
As a consequence of
intensified
studies of the
radioactive contamination of the sea and the affected atolls
were undertaken,
2.31
Japanese surveys.
The Japanese government,
by the radioactive contamination of the
personnel and its catch of tuna,
alarmed
Fukuryu Maru No.
5,
its
and by evidences of the contami-
nation of other catches of tuna from the Central Pacific in 1954,
sent out,
in May 1954,
a survey ship,
ing to the Fisheries Agency,
Forestry,
the Shunkotsu Maru,
belong-
Ministry of Agriculture and
staffed by scientists of a number of government agen-
cies and university faculties,
for the purpose of investigating
the extent of the radioactive contamination of the tuna fishing
grounds in the vicinity of Bikini Atoll.
During the winter of