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| Fig. 1: This image shows the people of Bikini Atoll. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Bikini Atoll is an atoll in the Marshall Island which was a nuclear testing site in the 1940s and 1950s. The United States conducted these tests after the indigenous population of 167 individuals was removed, with the promise of a quick return which proved to be false. [1] A total of 23 nuclear devices were detonated at seven test sites, on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater. One of the bombs was 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima and vaporized three islands in the lagoon. [1]
Due to Bikini Atoll being distant from regular sea and air traffic, it was an ideal location, but the rest of the world was not beyond the reach of the nuclear blasts. These explosions caused an increase in atmospheric levels of Carbon 14, a radioactive isotope thats naturally created by cosmic rays interacting with nitrogen. [2] C-14 is readily absorbed by plants and, in turn, animals. This led to every human on Earth having twice as much radioactive C-14 after those tests than before. [3]
Surprisingly, today at Bikini Atoll, a resembling ecosystem can be found, starting with the coral. Scientists speculate that the growth of coral may have begun about a decade after the bombs were dropped because the corals look like they have been growing for about 50 years. Species composition was assessed in 2002 and compared to before nuclear testing. The findings were that 70% of the Bikini Atoll zooxanthellate coral assemblage is resilient to large-scale anthropogenic disturbance. [3] A total of 183 coral species was recorded, compared to 126 species recorded in the previous study and 42 coral species may be locally extinct at Bikini Atoll. [3] However, fourteen of these losses may be pseudo-losses due to inconsistent taxonomy between the two studies or insufficient sampling in the second study, but 28 species appear to represent genuine losses. [3]
In the 1960s, palm trees were planted in the 1960s as part of the atolls recovery but they stand in a grid of precise rows, so it is obvious they were not naturally occuring. [2] Some of the highest radioactive readings come from the coconuts which are produced from the palm trees. The coconuts have such a high radioactive reading because their trees use the soil and groundwater for nutrients, which are both contaminated. [2]
In 1946, the native people of Bikini Atoll were moved from their homeland to allow for testing of nuclear weapons (see Fig. 1). They had a 2 year stay on Rongerik Atoll, where they almost starved and a 6 month stay on Kwajalein Atoll, living in tents on the island. [1] In 1948, they were relocated to Kili, but still faced many hardships, such as loss of skills for self-sustenance. In the late 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared Bikini Atoll safe for habitation. [1] However, in 1978, the U.S. Department of Energy discovered that in one year, some of the returned islanders were showing a 75% increase in their body of 137Cs, which is a radioactive isotope of Caesium. [1] After this discovery, they were moved again, this time to Majuro Atoll.
Even with the damage brought by the detonation of 23 nuclear devices, somehow the ecosystem of Bikini Atoll has been extremely resilient. Bikini Atoll provides a compelling case to show that when an ecosystem is destroyed it can heal with time (without human interference).
© Sarah Klass. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] J. Niedenthal, "A History of the People of Bikini Following Nuclear Weapons Testing in the Marshall Islands: With Recollections and Views of Elders of Bikini Atoll," Health Phys. 73, 28 (1997).
[3] A. S. Bordner et al., "Measurement of Background Gamma Radiation in the Northern Marshall Islands," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 113, 6833 (2016).
[3] Z. T. Richards et al., "Bikini Atoll Coral Biodiversity Resilience Five Decades After Nuclear Testing," Mar. Pollut. Bull. 56, 503 (2008).
