Islanders from three US nuclear test-affected atolls are filing lawsuits in US courts seeking more than US$1 billion compensation. Bikini Atoll will file a claim during March, 60 years after the US Navy removed their population to start the first post-World War II nuclear tests. Twenty-three nuclear tests were carried out at Bikini, including the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb — the largest US weapon ever tested. Enewetak Atoll is also preparing court action, along with Rongelap Atoll, which was engulfed in radioactive fallout after a nuclear accident.
From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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