April 1973
SUGGESTIONS FOR INCLUSION IN THE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE ENIWETOK ATOLL CLEANUP
R. B. Leachman
3.f.
The U. S. Development of the Islands for Nuclear Testing
The testing of nuclear detonation requires testing grounds that,
among other factors, are remote from populated areas.
Previously, two
tests had been conducted at Bikini Atoll in June and July 1946
under Operation Crossroads and, earlier, near Alamogordo, New Mexico
“on 16 July 1945 as Operation Trinity.
However, for a continuing
program of testing, Bikini suffered deficiencies in that the land
as
WW
eith
gc enough nor preperly oriented to the prevailing
winds to permit construction of a major airstrip.!
This led to the
selection of Eniwetok Atoll for testing nuclear detonations, a
selection administratively approved by President Truman on 2 December
1947.
The selection of Eniwetok Atoll was based on a study of possible
ocean sites made by Captain J. S. Russell, USN, Deputy Director of the
Division of Military Applications, and by Dr. Darol K. Froman of the
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.
In regard to possible fallout,
Eniwetok Atoll] was well located by having hundreds of miles of open sea
lying from the Atoll in the westwardly direction of the prevailing winds.
1.
N. 0. Hines, Proving Ground (U. of Washington Press, Seattle, 1926)
p 81.
.