Victory! The U.S. had just won WWII with the first nuclear bombing on Hiroshima in 1945. President Harry S. Truman ordered that we test this new nuclear weapon in order to determine the effect of an atomic bomb on American warships. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was chosen for the bombing because of its location away from regular air and sea routes. The inhabitants of Bikini Atoll handed over the atoll to the U.S. confused and were moved to Rongerik Atoll with all their belongings. This nuclear project was then given a name, Operation Crossroads.

After the transportation of the Bikinians to Rongerik, everything started to go down from there. While on Rongerik, the Bikinians had found out that Rongerik was 1/6 the size of Bikini, so the food and water supply weren’t reliable. The U.S. had left the Bikinians with enough food for a few weeks, which left them on their own for two more years, where the food supply worsened and people starved because crops weren’t producing. On March 1948, the Bikinians were moved to Kwajalein Atoll because the food supply on Rongerik had already depleted. They were housed next to an airstrip owned by the U.S. Military. The Bikinians had chosen another island to live off that wasn’t ruled by a king (since Kwajalein was ruled by the U.S.), it was called Kili Island. Six months later, the people of Bikini had left to Kili Island where the worst decision of their lives would take place.

On Kili Island, starvation had occurred once again which led to the Trust Territory administration to donate a 40-foot ship. The ship was used to transport copra (coconut meat) between Kili and Jaluit Atoll because they would use the copra to sell or trade with the people on Jaluit for food and money. Later on in 1951, the ship was sunk on the reefs of Kili and lost a full-load of copra. The next few years, rough seas, which lead to fewer visits from ships that carried food, had caused food shortages and had once required an airdrop of emergency food rations. By 1957, some families had moved to Jaluit Atoll to sell copra. The Bikinians had signed an agreement with the U.S. government, which gave the U.S. full use of Bikini Atoll. In exchange the Bikinians were given full use to Kili Island and several islands in Jaluit Atoll. Also, the people were given $25,000 in cash and a $300,000 trust fund.

In 1957, one of the worst events in Bikini history had occurred. Typhoon Lola had hit Kili destroying crops and sinking all of the Bikinians’ supply ships. One year later in 1958, Typhoon Ophelia had came about and left destruction on Jaluit and all the other southern atolls. On August 1969, an eight-year plan was made to repair Bikini Atoll by letting the crops start to mature and cleaning the radioactive debris on Bikini Atoll. The U.S. Test Territory government was responsible for the construction of a housing development and the relocation of the community. In 1972, the first three families had moved back on to Bikini Atoll along with fifty Marshallese workers that helped build the houses. The population of islanders slowly started to increase until 1975 when radiological tests had found out there were “higher levels of radioactivity than originally thought”. This meant that some water wells were not safe enough to consume. Later on, scientists found out that the local foods grown on Bikini Atoll (pandamus and breadfruit) were also not safe enough to eat. Urine tests from 100 people showed that there were low levels of plutonium 239 and 240. In 1975 the Bikinians had file a lawsuit in the U.S. federal court demanding that they get a full scientific survey of Bikini Atoll and the Northern Marshall Islands. Later, in May 1977, the level of radioactive strontium -90 in the well water in Bikini was more than the U.S. maximum. In 1978, U.S. physicians found that radiation levels in 139 people on Bikini were well over the U.S. maximum level. There was also a 75% increase in the radioactive cesium 137. The Interior Department had ordered the Bikinians to move off the atoll within 75 to 90 days. The Bikinians scattered across the Marshall Islands and are actually still waiting for Bikini Atoll to be cleaned up. All of these conditions and motivations have led to a big contemporary problem with the Marshall Islands.

The Nuclear Claims Tribunal had given the Marshall Islands a total of $724,560,902 but this was still not enough for a full radiological cleanup for the entire atoll. This problem is still to be solved to this current date.

Money, the only thing preventing the Bikinians from cleaning up their atoll. Most of the solutions already attempted have involved money. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal had given the Bikinians $724,560,902 but it was still not enough. Also, since the Bikinians had signed an agreement with the U.S. government stating that the U.S. had full control of Bikini Atoll, in return they were given $25,000 in cash and a $300,000 trust fund. Bikinians had also tried to solve this situation by themselves by producing and selling copra to other islands for money and food. My solution to the Bikinians problem to restore Bikini Atoll is to write a letter to our Hawaii congressman Neil Abercrombie requesting that they fund the general health care program of the Marshall Islands. This is because they were not given the promised U.S. funding for their health care program in the past. The Bikinians that had survived throughout the nuclear testing should deserve better health-care so then they can live longer and maybe be able to live long enough to move back on to Bikini Atoll when the radiological cleanup is finally paid for and performed.