CHAPTER 1 “ INTRODUCTION The situation Enewetak Atoll is located in the northwestern portion of the Marshall Islands which are part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Island (TTP1). The United States acquired the atoll from the TTPI in 1946 to use as a nuclear weapons proving ground. the testing progrm In late 1947, before ccmmenced, the United States resettled the people of Enewetak, then numbering 142, on Ujelang Atoll,’a considerably smaller atoll about 124 miles southwest, where they still reside. Forty-three nuclear weapons tests were conducted at Enewetak Atoll from 1948 to 1958. The tests contaminated some of the islands of the atoll with radioacti s elements. . . The pliaht of the peoPle of Enewat~k The people of Enewetak, displaced now for more t!!an30 years, have suffered both the physical hardsnips of Iiviug in significantly increasing numbers ~/ on a much smaller atoll than their home atoll and the psychological hardships of being removed from their traditional land. This latter hardship is the greater burden as the land is all important to the . Marshallese people, being the source of not only subsistence, but also social status and family unity. A comparison of Enewetak and Ujelang Atolls in square miles of area shows: ● lJ About 450 people are expected to resettle on EnewefitkAtol 1. . .