RONGELAP ATOLL: THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF U.S. NUCLEAR TESTING

There had been a war

raging inside Bianca’s six year old bones

white cells had staked their flag

they conquered the territory of her tiny body

they saw it as their destiny

they said it was manifested

                It

                  all

                       fell

                         out

I felt

bald and blank as Bianca’s skull

when they closed her casket

hymns wafting into the night sky

 

(Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, “Fishbone Hair”)

 

“Fishbone Hair” is a poem by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, a Marshallese poet, about her niece Bianca Lanki who died of leukemia when she was eight years old. Bianca is one of the many Marshallese people who have succumbed to cancer and other illnesses caused by radiation. This radiation is part of the painful and destructive legacy of U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The most destructive test, Operation Castle Bravo, was conducted on March 1, 1954. The outcome was a disaster. Following the blast, Rongelap atoll as well as two other nearby atolls were blanketed in radioactive fallout. The U.S. claimed that this was an accident, caused by the unexpectedly high 15-megaton-yield of the bomb which was two and a half times larger than what was calculated, as well as adverse wind conditions. After spending 48 hours in the fallout, where children played in the radioactive ash they thought was snow, the people who lived on Rongelap atoll were evacuated on March 3.¹ They spent three years living on U.S. military bases and small islands before being returned to Rongelap in 1957 and told it was safe.

In 2012, many decades after Castle Bravo irreversibly changed the lives of the Rongelapese, the U.S. government stated that the victims had been adequately compensated and that no further aid was owed.² In reality, the United States abandoned the Rongelapese after returning them to their irradiated home in 1957, and left them to fight for help alone ever since. 

This paper fits into a broader field of historiography called Global Hibakusha. Hibakusha is a Japanese term that translates to ‘explosion-affected person’ and refers to the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the most well-known nuclear events, nuclear weapons have been detonated thousands of times around the world, killing many and leaving survivors dealing with long-term consequences. Global Hibakusha aims to bring attention to these often-forgotten victims. It also aims to link disparate Hibakusha communities and build a more cohesive history of the social impacts of nuclear testing.³ We can build a stronger understanding of the terrible consequences of nuclear weapons by telling the story of the Rongelapese, whose struggle as a result of radiation and fight for justice is unknown to many.

THE U.S. COVER-UP

The United States has tried to avoid responsibility for Castle Bravo and never fulfilled its obligation to help the people whose lives were destroyed by its fallout. The U.S. obligation to help the Rongelapese is clear. Even if the disaster was an accident, invading a foreign land to test dangerous and poorly-understood weapons is unacceptable. Worse, some scholars do not believe that Castle Bravo was an accident. A Global Hibakusha article written by Dr. Seiichiro Takemine presents evidence from U.S. government reports that the wind and high yield may not have been as unexpected as the U.S. claimed in 1954. In particular, the military knew that the wind conditions did not match the predictions 13 hours ahead of the test. Additionally, months before the Bravo test, scientists calculated possible fallout radii in order to safely position military personnel. One of these estimates was made for a 20 megaton yield. The actual yield of Operation Bravo was 15 megatons.⁴ The 15 megaton yield may have not matched the final calculations, but it was not outside the range of possibility. This evidence shows that the consequences of Castle Bravo can not be dismissed as an accident and instead reflect a U.S. disregard of native peoples. Further, this makes it completely unacceptable that the U.S. has not fully accepted responsibility.

Evidence of this U.S. stance began early. On March 3, 1954, the U.S. evacuated the Rongelapese and brought them to a naval base on Kwajalein Atoll. Here, they were treated for severe radiation injuries. When it became clear that Rongelap would not be safe to return to for some time, the people were moved to a temporary settlement on Ejit. These events were recounted in a series of articles called Modern Atomic Exiles published in the Honolulu Advertiser 4 months after the Bravo shot. The author, S. H. Riesenberg, was an anthropologist who worked for the U.S. Trust Territory that controlled Micronesia at the time. His words demonstrate a reluctance to blame the U.S. First, besides a short preamble that says the nuclear test had “unexpected results,” the author does not acknowledge that the U.S. was at fault.⁵ Instead, the article focuses on how much the U.S. had helped the people of Rongelap since the blast. Second, the article mostly ignores the perspectives of the Rongelapese, except when it benefits the U.S. image. Riesenberg describes the Rongelapese as excited to be on the Navy base seeing movies and watching planes land—while in reality many of them were suffering from radiation poisoning.⁶ Later, when the Rongelapese were living in their temporary settlement, Riesenberg described them as “well settled,” even though Ejit island lacked the resources to support them and they were surviving on rations.⁷ The article mostly focuses on the Utirik people, who were also evacuated after Bravo, but were further from the blast than the Rongelapese and were thus exposed to less radiation. Such a presentation of events demonstrates an attempt to minimize U.S. responsibility. In the article, Riesenberg estimates that the Rongelapese would be able to return home in a few months.⁸ It ended up taking three years. When the Rongelapese finally returned home, the U.S. aid they had been receiving abruptly stopped, even though many signs showed the radiation remained.

Since returning home in 1957, the Rongelapese have been met with resistance, misinformation, and indifference from the U.S. government while facing severe, radiation-related health issues. John Anjain, the leader of the Rongelap when the Bravo test occurred, was promised by the U.N. Trusteeship Council,⁹ as well as U.S. government officials, that only an insignificant and non-dangerous amount of radiation persisted on the atoll.¹⁰ This reassurance was enough for the Rongelapese to return home. They were hoping that they could return to their previous lives and put the illness and misery they experienced over the previous three years behind them. This was not the case. Death and radiation-related health issues continued. Kiosang Kios was 15 years old when Operation Bravo occurred and received a high dose of radiation that caused burns and made her hair fall out. These immediate effects were just the beginning, as Kiosang would suffer lifelong consequences from the radiation. In 1957 she gave birth to a baby that had no bones and malformed skin, who died within a day. She then had several more stillbirths and miscarriages, and ultimately gave birth to a child who had thyroid problems and severe issues with her legs.¹¹

In addition to the pain of losing a child, miscarriages carried additional shame for Marshallese women. This is described in the poem Monster by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, which is about the women like Kiosang who gave birth to deformed babies. These women buried their stillborn babies and hid miscarriages to avoid the shame from their families. According to Jetñil-Kijiner, in Marshallese culture it is believed that women who have miscarriages have been unfaithful to their husbands.¹² Mothers hid miscarriages from their husbands because they did not want to be accused of being unfaithful. This likely contributed to subsequent medical studies underestimating the rates of miscarriages and birth deformities. The poem also brings up a monster in Marshallese culture, the Mejenkwaad, a mother who turns into a demon that eats her own babies. Stories like these could have been a way that Rongelapese women understood the unexplainable horrors they were experiencing in childbirth. Jetñil-Kijiner wonders, did they consider themselves monsters?¹³ These fears and health issues were widespread upon return to the atoll–raising questions about if the U.S. had told the truth when they promised the atoll was safe.  

Meanwhile, the U.S. continued the reassure the Rongelapese that they were not in danger from radiation.¹⁴ Acknowledging that the atoll was not safe would have meant admitting the situation was worse than what had been shared with the public. It appears the U.S. government cared more about protecting itself than helping the victims of Bravo, as is evidenced by the continued U.S. stance.

In the 1960s, the Honolulu Advertiser printed stories claiming that everything was well on Rongelap. The article ‘Fallout Children’ Show No Evidence of Defects claimed that despite high rates of thyroid problems among children, most cases were benign. The article also claimed that infant mortality and birth defect rates on Rongelap were completely normal.¹⁵ Some articles went even further in misrepresenting the situation. ’54 Bikini Blast Boon to Victims reported that not only were the Rongelapese completely free of radiation, miscarriages, and deformed babies by 1962, but that they were now prospering. The article says that the Rongelapese “never had it so good,” and that they were the “richest in the Territory” after receiving houses with aluminum roofs, 10 coconut trees, and concrete water cisterns through U.S. aid.¹⁶ These articles seem to be trying to minimize the consequences of U.S. actions. They imply that the U.S. went above and beyond helping the victims of nuclear testing. 

Medical research funded by the U.S. Atomic Emergency Commission reinforced the false claim that everything was okay. One such 1962 study found that rates of death, miscarriages, and illness on Rongelap were not abnormal.¹⁷ The results of these studies directly contradicted the lived experiences of the Rongelapese. These studies were funded by the same organization that conducted the nuclear testing, but this conflict of interest was ignored. The results were accepted by U.S. newspapers and used by the government to dismiss Rongelap peoples’ concerns about their health and their atoll. 

This pattern of disinformation surrounding the real health impacts and lingering effects of radiation was not limited to the Rongelapese. The Global Hibakusha Project, which interviewed and analyzed several Hibakusha communities around the world, found that “irrespective of national government each group was met with scientific and medical obfuscation, official denials, and disinformation.”¹⁸ The U.S. government, and the other nuclear powers that exposed people to radiation through nuclear testing, were trying to minimize their responsibility and draw attention away from the atrocities they caused. Such behavior may explain why so few people know about the global victims of nuclear testing.

Beyond creating disinformation, the unusually high volume of medical studies caused concern among the Rongelapese. Medical studies began immediately following the blast, and were performed annually through 15 years after Bravo, and continued occasionally beyond.¹⁹ The heightened medical interest, especially in comparison to lack of government assistance, has led some Rongelapese to believe that they were deliberately used as guinea pigs for a radiation experiment.²⁰ This belief is substantiated by the evidence that the U.S. knew about the high yield and adverse wind before the test. In addition, U.S. scientists have openly referred to the Rongelapese in terms that compared them to test subjects. Dr. Merrill Eisenbud spoke of the suffering of the Rongelapese as a research opportunity to study the effects of radiation upon humans. He stated in an AEC meeting in 1956, “Now, data of this type has never been available. While it is true that these people do not live the way westerners do, civilized people, it is nonetheless also true that they are more like us than the mice.”²¹ This is the attitude that the Rongelapese faced and the fears they had as they continued to ask the U.S. for answers and aid.

THE RONGELAPESE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

In 1983, the carefully constructed veneer of safety came crashing down when the Department of Energy published a 1978 radiological survey which had determined that parts of Rongelap atoll were as contaminated as Bikini atoll.²² Bikini Atoll was the epicenter of much nuclear testing, and Bikini islanders had long been removed from their homes because of the radiation. Meanwhile, the Rongelapese had been left to live on their equally contaminated atoll.

This revelation intensified the Rongelapese fight for aid and compensation. Now that they knew conclusively that their atoll was unsafe, the first priority was relocating. Jeton and John Anjain, as well as other members of the Rongelapese community, demanded assistance from the U.S. government at a hearing in 1984. They asked for $20 million to relocate 1,000 people and build a new community on another atoll.²³ This request was denied—with further U.S. assurances that Rongelap was safe.²⁴ With no other options, the islanders turned to Greenpeace, the environmental activism organization. In 1985, Greenpeace used the ship the Rainbow Warrior to transport the people living on Rongelap to Mejato, about 100 miles away.²⁵ Through consistent efforts, the Rongelapese were able to organize their relocation from their contaminated home. They had spent 28 years living in high levels of radiation, repeatably being told that nothing was wrong.

This coincided with another political issue in the Marshall Islands that threatened the Rongelap people: The Compact of Free Association (COFA). COFA, which began being drafted in 1980, aimed to bring a degree of sovereignty to some Micronesian states, including the Republic of the Marshall Islands. COFA granted economic assistance for the Micronesian states in exchange for continued military usage for the U.S., among other provisions.²⁶ The Rongelapese, as well as others in the Marshall Islands, found that the U.S. had put unfair legislation into specific sections of COFA. Aisen Tima, a Rongelapese man who was 5 months old when Bravo occurred, voiced his concerns with COFA in an interview from 1985. He said that Section 177, which focused on economic aid for nuclear victims, had a clause that would prevent Marshallese victims from bringing their claims to U.S. courts. Aisen was concerned that his two young daughters would have medical issues in the future, like many Rongelapese children, and that he would be left without recourse if Section 177 were passed.²⁷ Aisen was not a politician, but like many other Rongelapese, he was forced to engage with a foreign government to protect himself and his community from policies like Section 177. This led to widespread political involvement among the Rongelapese, who would go on to lobby governments, testify at hearings, and give speeches to fight for their home and their safety. COFA was passed via plebiscite with Section 177 unchanged, but the Rongelapese continued to fight. Representatives traveled to the U.S. to raise their concerns in Congress.²⁸ Since then, COFA has been amended, and Section 177 no longer includes the clause that would prevent legal actions from being taken.²⁹ Through widespread political involvement, the Rongelapese were beginning to win small victories against the U.S. These victories would result in the U.S. slowly taking more responsibility for the consequences of Bravo and increasing aid in return. 

After the evacuation of Rongelap, an accurate radiological survey was needed to determine if it would ever be safe to return. All previous radiological surveys had been conducted by the same organizations that would be held responsible if Rongelap was found to be contaminated. An independent survey was needed in order to get the unbiased truth. This is what the Rongelapese asked for when they went to Congress yet again to try and help their people in 1989.³⁰ This time, several members of the community, including some who could only speak Marshallese, testified to share their stories of what radiation had done to them and about how desperately they wanted to safely return home. A study that was fully independent from the U.S. was never conducted. However, a separate Committee was setup that oversaw radiological assessments for the Marshall Islands. In 1994, a study found that Rongelap would not be safe to return to without a significant cleanup effort.³¹ This was the first time that a U.S. organization admitted that Rongelap was unsafe. An accurate assessment of the atoll would have never been conducted without the unfaltering political fight of the Rongelapese.

Rongelap now had to be decontaminated. In 1996, the U.S. transferred $40 million to the Republic of the Marshall Islands intended for cleanup and resettlement.³² This was yet another victory from the many years of political action, but still not enough. In 1999, interviews with residents of Rongelap raised multiple concerns about the funding. First, the $40 million dollars would be barely enough to cover the process, as it involved removing the topsoil and replacing it with crushed coral, as well as new construction and other expensive operations. Second, the funding did not cover cleanup for smaller islands within the atoll, which were not traditionally inhabited but still used to gather food and grow copra. Finally, if future sources of radiation were found or radiation safety standards change, the funding would not be appropriately adjusted.³³ These issues, and the long process of providing adequate aid to the Rongelapese, show that the damage done by Operation Bravo could not be quickly or easily solved. It will take many more decades before safety can be guaranteed and health issues can be adequately addressed.

THE LASTING IMPACTS OF NUCLEAR TESTING

The cultural impacts of nuclear testing in Rongelap have been severe but are much harder to quantify than issues like cancer rates and radiation levels. One way these impacts can be explored is through cultural works like poetry. A theme in Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner’s poetry is how nuclear testing has hurt the Marshallese language. In the poem On the Couch with Būbu Nein, Jetñil-Kijiner recounts struggling to communicate with her grandmother. Her grandmother had tongue cancer and could no longer speak her native and only language of Marshallese. Jetñil-Kijiner, in return, struggled to speak Marshallese to her grandmother, as she was ashamed of her accent which sounded English from living in Hawai’i.³⁴ In the grandmother’s case, radiation had directly taken her ability to talk, and she could no longer share stories with her granddaughter. In Jetñil-Kijiner’s case, she had been forced by radiation to move at a young age to a safer place to live, taking her away from her native language. This theme exists in other poems, like in Bursts of Bianca, which is about Jetñil-Kijiner’s niece who died of leukemia. Jetñil-Kijiner observes that Bianca, like many Marshallese, is fluent in the language of cancer. She knows terms like blood cells, bone marrow, catheter, and remission therapy despite knowing little other English.³⁵ The Marshallese language has been invaded with English medical terms that no eight-year-old girl should be forced to know. These are just a few of the lasting impacts that nuclear testing has had on Marshallese culture. 

Today, the legacy of nuclear testing still plagues Rongelap and its people. This legacy was explored in a 2012 report by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which stated that nuclear testing has turned many people of the Marshall Islands into, “nomads who are disconnected from their lands and their cultural and indigenous ways of life.”³⁶ This is epitomized by the many Rongelapese who fear that their atoll remains too contaminated to return to. These fears are justified by the number of times the U.S. lied about the safety of Rongelap, and by the fact that only one third of the atoll’s main island had been effectively decontaminated by 2012.³⁷ The U.N. report also provided recommendations to the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the U.S. on how to address the remaining issues caused by nuclear testing. These recommendations included that a radiological survey be conducted by U.N. agencies independent of the United States, that the U.S. and the R.M.I. develop a full strategy to address the widespread lingering health issues, and that the U.S. provide full access to the environmental, health, and historical records of its nuclear testing program to the R.M.I.³⁸ These U.N. recommendations were analyzed by researchers from the Global Hibakusha Project. While they found that most of the recommendations were “laudable,” they had problems with a few. Specifically, the recommendation that a radiological study be conducted by U.N. agencies. The researchers believe that no study conducted by an agency made up of nuclear powers could ever be free of conflicts of interest.³⁹ This conclusion is supported by widespread attempts by said nuclear powers to hide and minimize the consequences of their nuclear testing.

The U.N. report also gave final, direct recommendations to the U.S. to fully compensate Marshallese individuals from the nuclear claims fund, and that a presidential acknowledgment and apology should be issued for the damages caused by nuclear testing.⁴⁰ The U.S. responded to these recommendations shortly after the U.N. report was published:

The United States acknowledges the negative effects of our nuclear testing program and has accepted, and acted on, our responsibility to the people of the Marshall Islands. As part of the 1986 Compact of Free Association, the United States and the Marshall Islands agreed to a “full and final settlement” of all claims related to the nuclear testing.⁴¹

Beyond this statement, no presidential acknowledgment or apology was ever issued. As long as today’s victims of nuclear testing continue to die from radiation-caused cancers and parts of the Marshall Islands are too contaminated to safely return to, the United States has completely failed in its responsibility to the people of the Marshall Islands. The U.S. is responsible not just for the effects of its nuclear testing, but for the insidious cover-up attempt which led to the Rongelapese living in unsafe radiation for decades. No settlement can begin address the suffering this caused.

While the U.S. continues to avoid its full responsibility, hope lies in the Rongelapese peoples’ long fight for justice. All progress won so far was hard fought for—through petitions for aid and compensation in the U.S. Congress, in the self-organized evacuation of the atoll of 1985, in legal self-defense against policies like Section 177 of COFA, and through the efforts to convince the U.S. to finally begin a cleanup of their home. This fight is far from over, and must be aided by raising awareness about an issue that few know enough about. Through such efforts, we may begin to fully understand the long-lasting consequences that nuclear weapons have wrought upon the world and help the many victims that have been left in their fallout.

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———. “Fishbone Hair.” In Iep Jāltok, 25-26. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2017.

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FOOTNOTES