Enewetak Atoll

Atoll in the Marshall Islands, in the central Pacific Ocean; population (1999) 853. The atoll is made up of 40 small islands which encircle a lagoon 40 km/25 mi in diameter. It was taken from Japan by the USA in 1944, which made the island a naval base and resettled the inhabitants at Ujelang; 43 atomic tests were conducted there from 1947. Atomic weapons testing continued here until 1958, but it was not until the late 1970s that resettlement of the original inhabitants was sanctioned. Despite the clearance of nuclear debris and radioactive soil to the islet of Runit, high radiation levels persisted.