Marshall Islands Confront Ongoing Fallout from Cold-War Nuclear Tests

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States detonated 67 nuclear devices on Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, including one blast estimated to be 1,100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosions created the concrete “Runit Dome” on Runit Island in the late 1970s, sealing more than 90,000 cubic metres of radioactive soil and waste. Decades later the dome is cracking, and rising sea levels threaten its collapse, raising fears of further contamination of groundwater, coconuts and marine life.

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The Marshall Islands were placed under U.S. “free association” after independence in 1979, remaining economically dependent on Washington. An international tribunal in 1988 ordered the United States to pay $2.3 billion for health care and resettlement, a sum the U.S. says was satisfied by a $600 million payment in the 1990s. The U.S. maintains that its liabilities ended with that payment and that responsibility for the dome rests with the Marshallese government because the structure sits on Marshallese land.

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• 67 detonations, including a 1,100-fold Hiroshima-scale device.

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• Runit Dome: 115 metre (377 ft) wide, covering the equivalent of roughly 35 Olympic-size swimming pools.

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• The 2012 United Nations report described radiation effects as “near-irreversible.”

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• A 2019 LA Times investigation reported that U.S. military personnel observed leaks from the dome but did not inform Marshallese authorities.

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U.S. officials argue that the Marshall Islands are safe and that the United States has fulfilled its obligations. The United Nations and World Bank studies, however, highlight ongoing environmental risks, including the vulnerability of the atolls—averaging only 2 metres above sea level—to sea-level rise and potential dome failure. Researchers such as Stanford marine scientist Stephen Palumbi note the difficulty of monitoring ecosystems on sparsely populated Bikini Atoll.

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• “The film completely ignores the experiences of our people,” — Ian Zabarte, principal man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation –

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• “The health impacts on our people have never been investigated,” — Ian Zabarte, principal man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation –

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• “Cancers continue from generation to generation,” — Alson Kelen

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• “Of course it’s going to break,” — Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University marine scientist

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• “You do not grow crops, you do not eat coconut, you do not drink the water,” — Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University marine scientist

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• “We have to keep repeating this story,” — Alson Kelen

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