Giff Johnson, a free-lance writer who has traveled extensively
“loa
throughout the Pacific, edits the Micronesia Bulletin
published in Honolulu, Hawaii 96826.
bythe early 1970s a few people had
begun moving back.
Many Bikinians tell of Atomic Energy Commission scientists taking
them to Btkint to demonstrate its
safety. When the Bikinians refused
to eat any local foods, fearing radiation exposure. the scientists would
consume conconuts, fish and other
oy
Nan
F
VOR C aD I ADS
o -- ~~.
eh ee ee le
when
in the United States. The Bikintans
Were evacuated again.
26
é
J
opulation: 24,248
rea: 69.84 square miles —
*,
Mariana, Caroline and Marshall fslands
Total istand population: 114,645
Inhabited atolls and separate islands: 110
Ocean arca: Z 3,000,000 square miles
«
,
Enevetak
.
Sy.
«
*
Bikini *
*
we
.
.?
«Kua jeleta *
“
°
we
Se,
*
mneee ene eseeneene
7}
Q
a
fw
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e
E.
PACIFIC ISLANDS
(2.141 islands)
a
“
z
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aS)
wets
EE
a wRD.
2aBeye |
oe
eM my mem
yee 8 TT ee
fy
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5
Land area: 700 squaré€ miles
covered. The Commission, and later
the Department of Energy. did not
maximum permissible dose allowed
&
Fox. ~<S >,
government was committed to the
resettlement and offered Marshallese government employees free
food and housing if they would move
to Bikini.
During an Atomic Energy Commission surveyof the more than 100
peop: living on the atoll in 1975, the
“presence of low levels of
plutonium” in their urine was dis-
consider
this
‘“‘radiologically
significant.’''? By 1977, tests showed
an Ll-fold increase in the people's
body burdens of cesium-137. Rather
than remove the population from a
hazardous environment, however,
the Department of Energy suggested
that the Trust Territory government
institute a complete feeding program, to reduce consumption of
local foods, and thus exposure.
The Department seemed reluctant
to give up what one Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory study called
“possibly the best available source
of data for evaluating the transfer of
plutenium across the gut wall after
being incorporated into biological
systems.°'3) The situation deterorated further and by May 1978,
a high percentage of the Marshallese
body levels were above the
“3
a
.
ao
NN 1
See cee J~ TRUST TERRITORY OF THE
> ez
=
foods in front of the islanders to
voted not to retum home. But the
'ACIFIC OCEAN
5 Bree DAE
convince them." In 1972, however,
the Bikinians expressed doubts
about the safety of their atoll and
o