Editing Rongelap Atoll (section)

===The tests===

From 1946 until 1958 the [[United States]] military conducted numerous [[atmosphere|atmospheric]] [[nuclear weapons test]]s, including [[hydrogen bomb]] tests, primarily at [[Bikini Atoll]], about {{convert|120|km|sp=us}} from Rongelap Atoll. On March 1, 1954, the testing of the [[Castle Bravo]] hydrogen device produced an explosion that was 2½ times more powerful than predicted, and produced unexpected amounts of fallout<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236608|title=Radiological Assessments for Resettlement of Rongelap in the Republic of the Marshall Islands|last=United States National Research Council Committee on Radiological Safety in the Marshall Islands|chapter=Introduction |publisher=National Academies Press|year=1994|pages=Introduction}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Bikini Atoll Survey "Operation Crossroads," 1946-47|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=2 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502185526/http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> that resulted in widespread [[radioactive contamination]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/MuhammadKaleem.shtml | title = Energy of a Nuclear Explosion | year = 2000 | last = Kaleem| first = Muhammad | work = The Physics Factbook | access-date = 2007-07-22| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070810132732/http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/MuhammadKaleem.shtml| archive-date= 10 August 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name=brit>Lorna Arnold and Mark Smith. (2006). [[Britain, Australia and the Bomb]], Palgrave Press, p. 77.</ref><ref>John Bellamy Foster (2009). ''The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet'', Monthly Review Press, New York, p. 73.</ref> The [[mushroom cloud]] contaminated more than {{convert|7000|sqmi}} of the surrounding [[Pacific Ocean]] including some of the then inhabited surrounding islands including [[Rongerik Atoll]], Rongelap Atoll ({{convert|120|km|sp=us}} away) and [[Utirik Atoll]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Titus |first= A. Costandina |title= Bombs in the Backyard Atomic Testing and American Politics |location= Reno |publisher= University of Nevada |year= 2001 |isbn= 9780874173703 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eQfG-U5iAPYC }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[irradiation|Irradiated]] debris fell up to {{convert|2|cm|sp=us|1}} deep over the island. A United States military medical team visited the island with [[geiger counter]]s the day after the fallout, but left without telling the islanders of the danger they had been exposed to.<ref name="green"/> Virtually all the inhabitants experienced severe [[radiation sickness]], including itchiness, sore skin, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. Their [[symptom]]s also included burning eyes and swelling of the neck, arms, and legs.<ref name=gid>Isobelle Gidley and Richard Shears (1986). ''The Rainbow Warrior Affair'', Unwin, p. 155.</ref> The inhabitants were forced to abandon the islands, leaving all their belongings, three days after the test. They were relocated to [[Kwajalein]] for medical treatment.<ref name=gid/><ref>Gerald H. Clarfield and William M. Wiecek (1984). ''Nuclear America: Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States 1940-1980'', Harper & Row, New York, p. 207.</ref> Six days after the Castle Bravo test, the U.S government set up a secret [[Project 4.1|project]] to study the medical effects of the weapon on the residents of the [[Marshall Islands]].<ref>{{cite web | work=James Reeves to Frank D. Peel | title=Establishment of Program 4 and Project 4.1 in Castle | date=11 March 1954 | url=http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | access-date=16 June 2020 | archive-date=27 September 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927225402/http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[United States]] was subsequently accused of having used the inhabitants in medical research (without receiving consent) to study the effects of nuclear exposure.<ref name="green"/> Until that time, the United States [[United Nations Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] had given little thought to the potential impact of widespread fallout contamination and health and ecological impacts beyond the formally designated boundary of the test site.