The Subduction Crew

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF RADIOACTIVITY IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC?

by Homer Montgomery

0250 Z - R/V Melville, Near Tinian, an island that lives in infamy

Dr. Strangelove was right over there on Tinian. And I do not mean Peter Sellers and his apocalyptic movie. This was the real deal. Often credited with ending the war in the Pacific, the uranium bomb code-named "Little Boy" departed Tinian at 2:45 am on August 6, 1945 aboard the Enola Gay. From where we are right now, we could have heard the lumbering B-29 bomber as it climbed off the runway. At 9:15 Tinian time, Little Boy exploded above Hiroshima unleashing a fireball that was simultaneously preeminent science and a vision of hell. More than 75,000 people were incinerated in an instant. Those farther from the blast were torn to bits. Some 125,000 more have died from the aftereffects, radiation poisoning, cancer, that sort of thing. Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. Same story, Part II.

Despite the supposed best efforts of the U.S. Government, Dr. Stangelove may always be here. Science in the western Pacific will forever be overshadowed by the U.S. weapons development programs that followed the unleashing of Little Boy and Fat Man.

Not wasting any time, the U.S. military governor of the Marshall Islands, acting on orders from President Truman, met with the 161 residents of Bikini Atoll following church services. The Bikinians are fervently religious and deeply respectful of authority. The U.S. knew they would get what they were after with no resistance. The residents were relocated with the promise that they could come back after the U.S. finished using their home for a "greater good."

Within months of their departure, the first of 23 nuclear explosions tore Bikini Atoll asunder. Two of the islands were completely blasted from the face of the earth. The tests left Bikini Atoll unfit for habitation.

The Bikinians were moved to Rongerik Atoll. Rongerik is considered a place of very bad luck to people of the Marshall Islands. The people nearly starved as they attempted to subsist on the poisonous fish in the lagoon. The Bikinians were later moved to Kwajalein Atoll and finally to Kili Island. In 1970, they were finally informed that it was OK to go back to Bikini Island. Unfortunately, the Bikinians became highly radioactive after eating the produce they grew in the caesium-contaminated soil. Oops, some bureaucrat made a mistake. The Bikini people were supposed to go to the island of Eneu and not to Bikini. Eneu is another island in the Bikini Atoll that is not as radioactive.

The U.S. government allocated some $100 million for cleanup of Bikini. It seems that will not be enough. All of the topsoil will have to be replaced. Topsoil alone will cost $200 million.

Robert Oppenheimer clearly saw the evil in his creation. Edward Teller did not. I suppose that is the nature of Dr. Strangelove science. Deliverance from evil or conveyance of evil. We each have our own perspective. If you get the chance to go to Japan, visit Hiroshima. Or Bikini Atoll. Listen for the bomber as it climbs off Tinian. I am going for a walk on deck. Sleep is not at hand.

Communications | Humankind | Ecology | Geology