Nearly 70 years have passed since the United States conducted what was then the largest-ever nuclear weapons test, on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The test exposed a Japanese fishing boat to radioactive fallout, making it a landmark moment for the anti-nuclear movement in Japan.
On March 1, 1954, the U.S. dropped the hydrogen bomb Castle Bravo on the atoll, which belongs to the Marshall Islands. As a result, the fishing boat operating nearby ー the Daigo Fukuryu Maru with 23 crew members aboard — was covered in radioactive fallout. Many on board subsequently suffered cancer and other illnesses.
The Marshall Islands consists of five islands and 29 atolls. The U.S. built nuclear test sites on Bikini and Enewetak atolls from 1946 through 1958 during the Cold War.