In 1946, the US began its nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands – a terrifying thought for many Australians. Some 75 years on, the evidence shows their fears were well-founded.
The Marshall Islands and other small island nations are urgently threatened by rising seas.
Stefan Lins/Flickr
Climate change is a true existential threat for small island nations, but the US has done little to help the Marshall Islands, which it administered for decades.
‘A-Day’ marked the first of 23 atomic bomb explosions at Bikini.
Department of Energy
In the summer of 1946, the U.S. government detonated the first of many atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands. Seventy years of radiation exposure later, residents are still fighting for justice.
Faculty Member, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University; Visiting Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University., Georgetown University