Bikini

Bikini (bēkē`nē), atoll, c.2 sq mi (5.2 sq km), W central Pacific, one of the Ralik Chain, Marshall Islands. It comprises 36 islets on a reef 25 mi (40 km) long. After its inhabitants were removed (1946) to Rongerik, Bikini was the scene of 23 U.S. atomic and hydrogen bomb tests (1946–58). The natives were transferred from Rongerik to Ujelang in 1947 and in 1949 were resettled on Kili. Bikini was declared safe for habitation in 1969. In 1974, 100 natives returned, but they were evacuated in 1978 when new data showed high levels of residual radioactivity. A cleanup began in 1988. By the late 1990s, Bikini had become a popular destination for scuba divers, though it remained uninhabited pending completion of the cleanup. Bikini was formerly called Escholtz Island.

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Bikini

Atoll, western Marshall Islands, central Pacific Ocean. It consists of a ring of 20 small coral islands. Administered by the U.S. from 1947 as part of a UN-sanctioned U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, it was used for U.S. nuclear-weapons testing in 1946–58. The 166 inhabitants were removed before the tests began and returned in 1969, but they were evacuated again in 1978 because of high radiation levels. Cleanup there continued, and in the late 1990s Bikini was again deemed safe for habitation. The atoll became part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 1979.

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Bikini

an atoll in the N Pacific; one of the Marshall Islands: site of a US atomic-bomb test in 1946