Already victims of one nuclear experiment, the people of Bikini Atoll are understandably reluctant to get involved in another. The islanders are sceptical of the latest plans to reduce the dangers of a homeland beset with radioactive contamination.
The US evicted all 167 residents of the central Pacific atoll in 1946 and tested 23 nuclear bombs in the area over the subsequent 12 years. The largest of these blasts was a 15 megaton test on 1 March 1954, code-named Bravo. The atoll was badly contaminated by fallout.
To encourage the remaining islanders and their descendants to return, scientists at the…
