History and Effects of the Nuclear Tests done in the Pacific (Essay Sample)

History and Effects of the Nuclear Tests done in the Pacific
The history of nuclear testing in the Pacific begins just after the Second World War when the United States began to conduct a series of nuclear tests on some of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. Later on, American allies such as the French also conducted nuclear tests in the Pacific and the test sites expanded beyond the Marshall Island to include areas like parts of French Polynesia in the South Pacific. These nuclear tests later on had significant negative consequences to the people and biodiversity of the islands that were test sites as well as those that were located close to the test sites and felt the effects of the fallout. The US performed the earliest nuclear test in 1946 at the Bikini atoll, which is part of the Marshall Islands in a project called Operation Crossroads CITATION Nav75 \l 1033 (Navissi,Ahmad and William R.Schell, 1975). Subsequently, the United States performed 105 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1946 and 1962 in the Pacific. Islands and atolls like Bikini atoll, Eniwetok atoll, Johnston Island and Christmas Island were the main nuclear test sites. All these areas are part of the Pacific Proving Grounds, an area that the US government had designated for nuclear testing at the time. The Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 CITATION Sch64 \l 1033 (Schwelb, 1964) brought to an end to nuclear weapons testing by the US in the Pacific Proving Grounds. France began its nuclear testing operations in the sixties on its territories in the South Pacific, mainly around Moruroa and Fangataufa islands, which were uninhabited atolls and part of French Polynesia. France conducted 193 nuclear tests, both atmospheric and underground in the South Pacific from 1966 to 1996, a period of thirty years.
The American and French nuclear tests had several negative consequences that affected the population, flora, and fauna of the islands used as test sites as well as neighboring islands. Operation Castle, which the United States conducted, spread nuclear fallout over a wide area and forced the evacuation of neighboring islands. Later on, the natives of these islands suffered from several cases of birth defects and a rise in cancer cases. The French tests had even more damaging effects than the American ones. According to the Guardian CITATION Ang13 \l 1033 (Chrisafis, 2013), the fallout from the Moruroa nuclear tests affected the whole of French Polynesia and not just the area around Moruroa. Tahiti, which was well beyond the fallout zone, received 500 times the accepted amount of radiation. The fallout reached as far as the Island of Bora Bora, a major tourist hub in the South Pacific.
Environmentally, the nuclear tests turned the testing sites into barren wastelands and the surrounding islands became unsuitable for human habitation. In order to avoid radiation related complications, the natives relocated and overcrowded neighboring islands. The island of Moruroa became a nuclear waste dump CITATION CTB10 \l 1033 (Mission, 2010) and today, French Polynesia, region once self sufficient in food, imports 80% of its food requirements due to contamination. CITATION Dan90 \l 1033 (Danielsson.B., 1990)
The nuclear tests conducted in the Pacific lead to environmental destruction and a lot of human suffering for the local native...