Enewetak Atoll

Enewetak Atoll (/ɛˈniːwəˌtɔːk, ˌɛnɪˈwiːtɔːk/; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; Marshallese: Ānewetak, [æ̯ænʲee̯ɔ̯ɔ͡ɛɛ̯dˠɑk], or Āne-wātak, [æ̯ænʲee̯-ɒ̯ɒ͡ææ̯dˠɑk]) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 664 people (as of 2011) forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometres (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.

It was held by the Japanese from 1914 until its capture by the United States in February of 1944, during World War II. Nuclear testing by the US totaling more than 30 megatons of TNT took place during the Cold War; in 1977–1980, a concrete dome (the Runit Dome) was built on Runit Island to deposit radioactive soil and debris.

The Runit Dome is deteriorating and could be breached by a typhoon, though the sediments in the lagoon are even more radioactive than those which are contained.

Enewetak Atoll in The Hot War
The United States' successfully tested the hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok in June, 1952. The test was devastating to the atoll.