U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

John Wright (202)208-6416 Steve Sander (202)208-4754


For Release: September 19, 1996

Rongelap Atoll was in the path of contamination from 1954 nuclear test

The people of the Pacific island of Rongelap, which was in the path of U.S. nuclear test fallout in 1954, will have the option to return home as a result of a $45 million resettlement agreement signed today, it was announced by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.

At a signing ceremony held at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., Secretary Babbitt was joined by the Mayor of Rongelap, James Matayoshi, Marshall Island Ambassador to the United States, Banny de Brum, United States Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Joan Plaisted, and members of the Rongelap Government Council.

"Congress declared its intention to assist in resettlement ten years ago," said Babbitt. "But when we took office in 1993, we found Rongelap's future in the hands of scientists, lawyers, and government officials, who, while intentioned, were unable to craft a solution. Today we are replacing the people of Rongelap's sense of neglect, with one of commitment."

After nearly three years of negotiations between Rongelap representatives and Interior's Office of Insular Affairs, the parties agreed to a full and final settlement pursuant to congressional authorization, of any obligation the United States may have to assist in the resettlement of Rongelap Atoll.

The agreement signed today provides for radiation mitigation, the building of homes, and construction of dock facilities, safe water, electric power, a school and local government facilities.

"On behalf of our people, I want to thank Secretary Babbitt for his leadership in reaching a settlement," Mayor Matayoshi said. "We also thank the Congress for its continuing support."

March 1, 1954, the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb, code named "Bravo," at a Marshall Islands test site in Bikini Atoll, about 100 miles west of Rongelap. A shift in wind direction took fallout from the blast over Rongelap and a nearby atoll, Utirik. Two days after the event, the military removed the people of Rongelap and Utirik from their islands.

The people of Rongelap returned to their Atoll in 1957, when it was thought safe to return. But in 1985, they again left Rongelap, this time for the island of Mejatto in the Kwajalein Atoll. - DOI -