Many people forget (or are unaware) that the United States used the Marshall Islands as a testing ground for 67 nuclear weapons between 1946 and 1958 , causing human and environmental catastrophes.
Unfortunately, the consequences of these tests persist to this day. New research, published by Columbia University, shows how radiation levels in some regions of the Marshall Islands, located in the central Pacific, are much higher than in areas affected by the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters.
How much higher?
The researchers carried out measurements of the activity concentration of americium-241, cesium-137, plutonium-238 in 38 soil samples from the atolls.
The Enjebi, Runit, Bikini and Naen islands showed the highest radioactivity concentrations. The fact that the activity concentrations are also high in the Naen Island samples is a surprising finding, since Rongelap Atoll was not a nuclear test site, but was only exposed to consequences, mainly from the Bravo test. made in 1954.
Of the 67 bombs that were detonated during the 1940s and 1950s, the most powerful was called “Castle Bravo” in 1954 , on Bikini Atoll. Its power was 1,000 times greater than any of the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ultimately, as reported in the study, the concentration of nuclear isotopes in some of the islands is well above the legal exposure limit established in the agreements between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The research is a compendium of three studies, published on July 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), that analyzed soil samples, ocean sediments and a variety of fruits.
The authors of the paper, led by Emlyn Hughes and Malvin Ruderman of the Columbia Center for Nuclear Studies; and Ivana Nikolic Hughes, Associate Professor of Chemistry have stated: “Based on our results, we conclude that, to ensure safe relocation to Bikini and Rongelap Atolls, further environmental remediation is necessary to prevent exposure. potentially harmful to radiation . “
Image: World Future Council
Why can’t the Marshall Islands be inhabited, as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now?
It must be taken into account that the half-life of, for example, plutonium 239, found in the affected atolls, is more than 24,000 years. However, since the radiation emitted by a nuclear bomb has a relatively short life span, it is difficult to determine exactly when it will become habitable again. However, in 2014, UNESCO established that Bikini Atoll would not become so for at least 30 years.
Precisely the fact that the radiation emitted by a nuclear bomb has a short life span is the reason why Hiroshima and Nagasaki are currently inhabited. The key to the difference between the two cases is the amount of nuclear fuel that was detonated : the Hiroshima bomb “only” detonated 0.90 kilograms of uranium and Nagasaki, 0.90 kilograms of plutonium, in a single bomb. However, let us remember that the Marshall Islands have been the scene of some 67 detonations.
And Chernobyl?
For its part, when the reactor exploded in Chernobyl, seven tons of nuclear fuel were released, 100 times more than in the bombs detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For this reason, Chernobyl may not be habitable for tens or even hundreds of years, although it is difficult to agree (for some scientists this period is longer, for others, much shorter); the nuclear processes in the different cases were completely different.
The Marshall Islands, a chain of toxic atolls
The Marshall Islands are a chain of atolls (totaling 1,152 islands and reefs) located midway between Australia and Hawaii in Micronesia and have experienced rapid growth since the 1960s. Most of the nation’s residents live on two islands, with a very high population density, since they cannot return to their home islands due to nuclear contamination. The most polluted atolls today are Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utirik.
An area listed by the great powers
Little is known about the first settlers of the Marshall Islands, but they were conquered by Spanish settlers during the 16th century, and until the end of the 19th century, when they were ceded to Germany and the United Kingdom.
The Marshall Islands have been used as a strategic area for many governments throughout the 20th century. During World War I, Japan seized the islands, until 1944, when the United States seized them in the framework of World War II. Shortly after, the US reached an agreement with the UN Security Council to administer the area. They were named after John Marshall, an American lawyer and military man who visited the islands in 1799.
The Marshall Islands gained its independence in 1990 , making the Republic of the Marshall Islands one of the youngest states in the world.
