US nuclear testing legacy lingers in the Marshall Islands
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Description
During the 1940s and 50s the US detonated 67 nuclear bombs on, in and above the Marshall Islands as part of its Cold War nuclear testing programme. The Marshall Islands are two chains of 29 coral atolls in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. At the time, whole islands ceased to exist, hundreds of native Marshallese had to be relocated off their home islands and many were affected by fallout from the testing. The Marshallese continue to campaign for adequate compensation from the U.S. Runit Dome, on Enewetak Atoll, houses 88,000 square metres of contaminated soil and debris, and has recently received media attention due to cracking and the threat from rising sea levels. Giff Johnson is the editor of The Marshall Islands Journal, correspondent for Radio New Zealand and runs the facebook page "Marshall Islands Nuclear News". He's experienced the unfolding legacy of US nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands first hand. His wife Darlene Keju, an outspoken advocate for test victims and nuclear survivors, herself died of cancer in 1996. Johnson has written a book about her called Don't Ever Whisper
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