The end of the World War II in 1945 gave birth to another war — one that was “colder” but just as terrifying. US-Soviet tension and the arms race it caused had much of the world in a panic, and WWII’s victors were falling all over themselves to test nuclear weapons and build arsenals meant to deter all but the looniest attackers.
A tiny uninhabited Pacific island chain called Bikini Atoll was a major focal point for this nuclear research — not because of any cutting-edge labs or facilities, but because the U.S. armed forces kept blowing it up. Twenty nuclear bombs were detonated there over 12 years, including the world’s first hydrogen bomb in 1954 (pictured above).
I’d have thought that after withstanding nuke after nuke after nuke, the islands would be a barren wasteland, completely devoid of life — a chilling preview of what a nuclear nightmare might look like. Turns out I’d be wrong.
From the New Scientist:
What does a coral reef look like 50 years after being nuked? Not so bad, it seems.
[…] Three islands of Bikini Atoll were vapourised by the Bravo hydrogen bomb in 1954, which shook islands 200 kilometres away. Instead of finding a bare underwater moonscape, ecologists who have dived it have given the 2-kilometre-wide crater a clean bill of health.
“It was fascinating – I’ve never seen corals growing like trees outside of the Marshall Islands,” says Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia.
Richards and colleagues report a thriving ecosystem of 183 species of coral, some of which were 8 metres high. They estimate that the diversity of species represents about 65% of what was present before the atomic tests.
Amazing stuff, but the islands are not without their casualties, and it may be a while yet before tourists are tossing back margaritas on the beach.
Beger took a Geiger counter with her on dives and says that the background levels were similar to that at any Australian city. The same could not be said of coconuts growing on the islands.
“When I put the Geiger counter near a coconut, which accumulates radioactive material from the soil, it went berserk,” says Beger.
2 responses so far ↓
1 B // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:58 pm
(I’m hoping this post stays, as the first time I wrote this it disappeared. Perhaps that’s a sign that what follows isn’t worth reading.)
1. So it turns out that the life that wasn’t extinguished was boosted by the radiation. I’d like to be the first to welcome our new overlords! Well, we mammals had a good run…
2. I don’t know what standard you’re working with when a loss of 1/3 of the life in the area warrants a “clean bill of health.”
3. Tourist season isn’t necessarily over. When I was in Seattle last summer I learned of an old toxic waste dumping site that couldn’t be restored, so housing couldn’t be developed there. Instead, they turned it into a park. Sorry kids, the 5 second rule doesn’t apply.
4. Radioactive coconuts? That’s too much fun for words! They need to make an updated Flintstones movie. Radioactive warfare BCE. How long do you figure before those coconuts become the new drug fad?
2 mark // Apr 17, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Should I be worried when the comment is more entertaining than the post?
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