Micronesians Continue To Seek Justice On The 60th Anniversary Of The Castle Bravo Nuclear Test

The U.S. conducted at least 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. The nuclear test conducted at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, Operation Castle Bravo, remains the largest test ever conducted by the U.S. and yielded 15 megatons, almost 1,000 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Bravo vaporized two surrounding islets and sent a plume of highly radioactive debris floating over the lagoon and into the open water. Atolls downwind of Bikini, including Rongelap and Utirik, hadn't been informed of the tests but were showered with dangerously radioactive ash, which residents believed was snow — something they had never seen.

In the years following the test, people who were exposed burned from the radiation, became nauseous, developed thyroid problems, had loss of blood cells, and women who were pregnant miscarried. And decades after the bombings, the health problems persist with unusually high rates of birth defects and cancer among Micronesians.

Even today, the fallout impacts the environment, where it is remains unsafe to eat coconuts, other crops, and fish around these islands. As a consequence, most Bikinians have given up the dream of ever returning to their home, and many Micronesians have left their islands for America.

The anniversary of Operation Castle Bravo is a national day of mourning in the Marshall Islands.

Micronesia includes Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), as well as other nations. All of these places have their own cultures and languages.

An atoll is a ring-shaped island that encircles a lagoon. The atoll sometimes only partially closes around the lagoon and may be made up of smaller islets.

The agreement said the U.S. would promote self-governance and economic development so these nations could be self-sufficient. COFA citizens would also be granted the right to live in the U.S., where they can work or study and are required to pay local, state, and federal taxes. They are also allowed to join the military. In the beginning, they were eligible for many of the same benefits as citizens.

The U.S. military remains very active at Kwajalein Atoll, and in 2012 they performed their largest and most complex missile defense test to date.

In exchange, the COFA agreement gives the U.S. exclusive access to the Marshall Islands' Kwajalein, the largest atoll in the world, where the $4 billion Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site is located.

This agreement took the longest to reach because the Republic of Palau's constitution proclaims the nation as nuclear-free. The United States, which neither confirms nor denies the presence of nuclear weapons as a policy, essentially pressured Palau to abandon its commitment to being nuclear-free.

Additionally, Micronesians are concerned about climate change and rising seas, since their islands have a median height of 7 feet.

Compounded with all of these concerns, more than a third of Marshallese — about 20,000 — and more Micronesians from FSM and Palau have migrated to the U.S. in search of better education, job opportunities, and medical care.

"How do you deal with a culture that has gone through this ... the trauma of going through being moved, of radiation," said Dr. Neal Palafox, a professor at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center with a focus on Marshall Islanders, "the trauma of your culture changing."

Micronesians mostly move to Hawaii and the West Coast, while a large community has also formed in Arkansas, where Marshallese have sought out higher-paying factory jobs at Tyson Foods.

In addition, Micronesians in seeking different options have disproportionally served in the military, and many people in Micronesia know someone who has died in the military.