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This Country Was Nuked 67 Times By The United States
The fallout and lingering anger still plague the island nation
The concrete dome on Runit Island is called “The Tomb” by locals of the Marshall Islands. The site was sealed with concrete and left by the United States military in 1980 after a three year cleanup effort. Inside the innocuous concrete structure lies 95,000 cu yd of radioactive waste and debris. Some of the waste locked inside the Runit Dome is toxic enough to kill a person with just a single particle.
Runit Island is a part of the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands gained its independence from the United States in 1977 but not after suffering through 67 nuclear tests that took place from 1946 until 1958. Additional tests were conducted in the vicinity of the Marshall Islands through 1962 with dozens more bombs being detonated in the air around Christmas Island and Johnston Atoll.
The Runit Dome is a legacy from a period of history that saw the United States callously test high yield nuclear weapons in close proximity to island populations.
Despite the cleanup efforts, conducted decades after the fact, the people of the Marshall Islands claim it was never enough and are still waiting for billions of dollars in potential compensation for the nuclear tests.
