Prior to 1946, the twenty-three islands of the Bikini atoll provided a home for a peaceable Marshall Islands community of 150 or so natives. When the U.S. government identified Bikini as an ideal nuclear testing site, however, the natives were moved. Over the next few years they became "nuclear nomads," since one island destination after another proved to have too little food or inedible fish.

The U.S. military set off some two dozen nuclear bombs on and around Bikini from 1946 to 1958. It was not until 1970 that U.S. authorities assured the people of Bikini that it was safe for them to return to the island. The natives' return proved to be short-lived. Within a few years tests showed that they had ingested dangerous levels of cesium-137 from the island's coconuts and other plant foods. Even though it is safe to live on Bikini if...