IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 692 

Commending the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the 

contributions and sacrifices they made to the United States nuclear 

testing program in the Marshall Islands, solemnly acknowledging the 

first detonation of a hydrogen bomb by the United States on March 

1, 1954, on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and remembering 

that 60 years ago the United States began its nuclear testing program 

in the Marshall Islands. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2006 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA (for himself and Mr. FLAKE) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Commending the people of the Republic of the Marshall 

Islands for the contributions and sacrifices they made 

to the United States nuclear testing program in the 

Marshall Islands, solemnly acknowledging the first detonation of a hydrogen bomb by the United States on 

March 1, 1954, on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall 

Islands, and remembering that 60 years ago the United 

States began its nuclear testing program in the Marshall 

Islands. 

Whereas between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, all of 

which were atmospheric; 


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•HRES 692 IH 

Whereas the most powerful of these tests was the BRAVO 

shot, a 15-megaton device detonated on March 1, 1954, 

at Bikini atoll; 

Whereas the BRAVO shot alone was the equivalent to 1,000 

Hiroshima-sized bombs; 

Whereas 17 other tests in the Marshall Islands were in the 

megaton range, and the total yield of the 67 tests was 

108 megatons, the equivalent yield of more than 7,000 

Hiroshima bombs; 93 times the total of Nevada atmospheric tests; and the equivalent yield of 1.6 Hiroshimasized bombs fired every day for 12 years in the Marshall 

Islands; 

Whereas in July 1998, the United States Center for Disease 

Control estimated that 6,300,000,000 billion curies of radioactive iodine-131 were released to the atmosphere as 

a result of the testing in the Marshall Islands; 

Whereas the people of Rongelap Atoll, the inhabited island 

closest to the ground zero locations, remain in exile; 

Whereas the 177 agreement under the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Marshall Islands was based on a study done by the Department of 

Energy titled the ‘‘1978 Radiological Survey of the 

Northern Marshalls’’, which was presented to the 

Marshallese as the definitive study on the full extent of 

damages in the Marshall Islands; 

Whereas since the negotiation of the Compact of Free Association and the 177 agreement, the Department of Energy has released additional information, previously classified, revealing that information was withheld during negotiations from Marshallese negotiators, American negotiators, and Congress that would have prevented the 


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•HRES 692 IH 

agreement had the full extent of the damage of nuclear 

weapons testing been known; 

Whereas the Marshall Islands have filed a Changed Circumstance Petition with the United States, but it has not 

yet been negotiated; 

Whereas the National Academy of Sciences released the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) VII Report 

in July 2005 reaffirming the conclusion of the 1990 

BEIR V report that every exposure to radiation produces 

a corresponding increase in cancer risk; 

Whereas the United States must assist the people of the Marshall Islands to help them extricate themselves from the 

legacy of the nuclear age and the burden of providing 

testing grounds for nuclear weapons; and 

Whereas the importance of the nonproliferation of weapons of 

mass destruction must also include the essential nonproliferation of illness, forced relocation, and social and 

cultural ills in the indigenous communities that paid disproportionately for the adverse consequences of weapons 

processing, deployment, and storage: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives — 

2 (1) commends the people of the Republic of the 

3 Marshall Islands for the contributions and sacrifices 

4 they made to the United States nuclear testing pro5 gram in the Marshall Islands; 

6 (2) solemnly acknowledges the first detonation 

7 of a hydrogen bomb by the United States on March 


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•HRES 692 IH 

1 1, 1954, on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands; 

2 and 

3 (3) remembers that 60 years ago the United 

4 States began its nuclear testing program in the Mar5 shall Islands. 

Æ 


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