EARLY PROBLEMS 



Freedom from severe cold and violent storms. 



Predictable winds directionally uniform at 

 all altitudes from sea-level to 60,000 feet. 

 ( There must be no chance that the radioactive 

 materials carried high into the air could be 

 wafted back over the task force personnel by 

 a fluke counter-wind.) 



Predictable water currents of great lateral 

 and vertical dispersion; fast currents avoid- 

 ing important fishing areas, steamer lanes, 

 inhabited shores. (Radioactive materials re- 

 leased in water must be dispersed reasonably 

 rapidly, and without harm to persons or to the 

 fishing industry. ) 



Control by the United States. 



Bikini won out. Its 162 inhabitants could be trans- 

 ferred readily. The few^ coral heads obstructing the 

 anchorage could be eliminated by dynamiting. 



Bikini's location is shown in Figures 1 and 2. It 

 is one of the 34 atolls making up the Marshall Islands 

 group. Discovered in 1526 by a Spanish sea captain, 

 the islands were rediscovered by the English Captains 

 Grilbert and Marshall in 1788. Germany annexed them 

 in 1885, and they were mandated to the Japanese after 

 World War I. In World War II they were occupied 

 by the Japanese. 



Final choice of Bikini suffered one delay. Spokes- 

 men for the fishing industry feared the explosions 



17 



