60 Years After Nuclear Tests, Marshall Islanders Still Waiting To Return Home

RONGELAP, MARSHALL ISLANDS - JANUARY 28: In this aerial image, general view of the Rongelap Island, 180km east from Bikini Atoll is seen on January 28, 2014 in Rongelap, Marchall Islands. The United States contributed 40 million U.S. dollars toward a fund for the decontamination work, which has continued since 1998. Coconut trees were cut down and topsoil removed using bulldozers. Still, only about 0.15 square kilometer of land has been decontaminated, or just 2 percent of the island's area. The U.S. conducted 67 tests of nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, the site of the U.S. Pacific Proving Grounds, between 1946 and 1958. In 1977, radioactive strontium-90 exceeding U.S. environmental standards was detected in well water. The following year, the U.S. Interior Department said cesium-137 levels on the atoll were so high that residents could not permanently live there. That forced the islanders to once again leave the atoll. With the 60th anniversary of the hydrogen bomb test approaching, there is still no indication of when the former residents can return. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)