this place is the bomb - digital display

Travel south in the only north of Christmas Island.
Fifty years ago, Tonga Fou and I went to the British military to detonate two hot nuclear weapons.
The 81-year-old Fou smoked 100 American-Gold cigarettes.
When he crossed his forehead with a tough hand, he recalled his experience in a test explosion.
In the case of an emergency evacuation, he was crowded with his wife and two children.
The explosion shook the boat as if it had been pushed by God, and everyone retreated when their ears popped up.
About a minute after the explosion, Fou strolled on the deck and looked up to think the world was coming to an end.
"It's terrible," he said . "
"The mushroom cloud began to rise, with these bright colors, like the fire that broke the waves, getting bigger and bigger until the sky was all red.
"Between 1957 and 1962, the former British colony in the equatorial Pacific unconsciously hosted 30 nuclear explosions in Britain and the United States. S. militaries. Code-
The British Christmas test is called action Grapple (
Also known as Kiritimati)
And the neighboring Maldon Island from 3,000-
Kiloton exploded 8,200 feet kilometers in the air and 24 kilometers at sea.
"Balloon"
Suspended air exploded on land. " (
By contrast, there were about 15 bombs dropped in Hiroshima-kiloton yield. )
There are thousands of troops, spraying pesticides every week to control the number of flies, and a steady stream of ships and planes providing more food, to be sure, the Cold War tenure on Christmas Island did not fully follow the motto of the heart traveler: only taking pictures and leaving only footprints.
But things have changed, even where weapons of mass destruction have disastrous consequences.
The Partial Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty signed in 1963 ended the United States nuclear test. S.
And the UK's testing in the region.
At the age of 70, the British government took a "serious look" action at Christmas to investigate whether radioactive dust may be found on the island and, if possible, how to deal with it.
Although there is no shortage of garbage, they did not find any garbage-
In a humid climate, most of the abandoned vehicles and drums quickly rot.
In 1975, American surveyors came to the same conclusion about the residual radioactivity.
Nevertheless, in good faith, in order to avoid responsibility for the future, or both, the British have recently carried out a clean-up operation on Christmas Day, taking away a large amount of goods for decades.
The old pieces, mostly concentrated in a dump next to the banana village, have a total of more than 30,000 cubic-sized materials.
On last May, the last batch of waste was loaded on ships bound for the United States. K.
Fou is the last living man on Christmas Island, and he is here when nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons scientists and soldiers come to town.
Now there are only fragments of that era: old truck tires stacked on temporary fences between country huts, concrete platforms once erected in buildings, rotten wooden backplates on metal rods ---
Used to be a basketball stand for rebuilding soldiers--
A crumbling church built of dead coral and concrete.
However, what can be found in abundance is nature.
In the decades since the nuclear era
The natural world rebounded quietly with weapons testing.
Today, Christmas Island, Bianca Atoll and other Cold War test sites, such as Montebello, north of Perth, Australia, constitute some of the most complete corners of the world's ecology, sending out no radiation, but a special temptation;
This is an atomic tour of naturalists.
Marine biologists diving in bikini bring back glowing reports.
Check a mile
The huge crater left behind after the hydrogen bomb explosion was 1,000 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. researchers recently found that the lagoon was covered with 80% coral, and some species grew into a huge tree structure.
Karen Cortes, expert coral USAS.
The Interior Ministry says coral reefs around places like bikini "are one of the few examples in the world of what an ecosystem would look like without human existence and development. " (
Scientists sometimes inadvertently use the word "primitive" to satirize. ")This nature-despite-
In other former test sites, such as the waters around the island of anchitaka in Alaska, the comparison of nuclear weapons can be seen. S.
Three underground explosions.
The same happened on the desolate dunes of a former French test site, and even the bushes inside the fence of the Nevada Test Site.
Very long radioactive material
This made them both scared and misunderstood.
The smoke detector in your home may contain a radionuclides called amer.
But the reason for worrying about them has nothing to do with the radioactive material, and has nothing to do with whether the detector's battery is working.
Contrary to what is widely believed, in the next 50,000 years, the previously bombed geographic location did not become a toxic landscape without life.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like other bustling Japanese cities, crawling on the grass in the city park, which is no different from doing so in Seattle, Milan, Italy or Auckland, at least in terms of radiation hazards, this is the case in New Zealand.
But that's not to say everything is bad at the former nuclear test site.
Radioactive dust, as well as dazzling and complex research, depends on factors such as micro-climate, local geography, wind, explosion height, size of bombs, and environmental conditions on the ground (such as soil, rock type and vegetation.
There are places in the Pacific that you don't want to go, or you may not. -
That's why they were banned.
The same is true in parts of the Nevada test site and other detonation sites.
Once or before-
The Pacific Islands are hit hard and the problem of harmful radiation depends on where you go and who you ask.
As far as anyone knows, Christmas Island is always safe because the wind brings radiation to the sea.
In the ocean--
Not just around Christmas, anywhere-
The radioactive material is rapidly diluted and is basically harmless.
They can be dangerous when they are concentrated.
In places like the Marshall Islands bikini and the Rongelap Atoll, the photos become even more blurry.
In his 1950 s, locals on Rongelap looked at the aftermath of the wind and spilled it like snow. (
This is written by someone who has never seen snow. )
Residents of the island were evacuated, but years later, they returned because of concerns about radiation hazards, and then evacuated again.
Today, the people of Rong elap plan to relocate their homes again.
The government of the Marshall Islands wants the United StatesS.
Provide financial and medical support for cancer and damage caused by the nuclear test era. The U. S.
He said the $0. 15 billion settlement previously reached should work, and the conflict remains controversial, at least for jalallese.
For the existing radiation hazards, the United StatesS.
Independent scientists say no, although you don't want to eat on certain local plants that accumulate radioactive material month after month.
Nevertheless, one of the things that has been reported by the government is that the announcement of a place that used to be used in the practice of hot nuclear targets is radiation --
It is free for your health and there is no danger.
It's another thing to go there for a holiday.
With the Geiger counter in my hand, I jumped down from the small boat and came to the Coral Beach on the island of nemotota, the lagoon of Christmas Island.
The showers allow for a mixture of rolling clouds and intense equatorial sunlight.
As I approached, the shrill voice of the seabirds group intensified, but thousands of nodi and black terns did not leave their posts and stood in front of the black terns --speckled eggs.
I met animals in the Galapagos Islands that were so unaccustomed to human tourists that I thought of Darwin.
I turned on the cover leather counter and squinted at the digital display.
The reading is small--0. 008, 0. 003, 0. 006 milli-
Lunqin every hour-
These figures show only background radiation from the sun, significantly lower than the background radiation levels in typical American cities.
For an unconventional island adventure far from everything, the bikini may have a name recognition, but Christmas is easier for most Americans ---just a three-
One hour from Honolulu
The largest coral atoll on Earth, Christmas is 124 square miles of land, set in the shape of a spherical cross, with two thorns on the north end that surround the lagoon. (
When the captain appeared, the island was first known to the Western world.
James Cook found it on Christmas Eve, 1777. )
This island is perfect. -
What's not ridiculous is-flat.
The highest point is 35-foot-
Joe's Hill is built by a British soldier who is shoveling coral and tar sands to build a road that runs through the island.
According to one statement, he used the miniature mountain as a habitat for camping, and he preferred the loneliness of the seaside to the barracks.
The rest of the island is made up of palm trees, a ubiquitous plant called a salt bush, edible crabs that are everywhere and will keep you at T-shirt.
In 1979, the British gave up their possession of the island, and Christmas became the easternmost outpost of the scattered island state of kirimas.
The country spans the international date line, covering an area of the Pacific Ocean equivalent to that of the continental United States. S.
Although the islands are 311 square miles in total.
More than 5,000 people on the island live on international aid, tropical fish exports and scarce tourism funds.
They live in small villages made up of huts and yards that are patched with tin and Palm
The thatched roof and the street are all pigs with rusty canned beef.
The glory of this place is on the water and on the water. Fly-
Fishing enthusiasts coming to Christmas are on a pilgrimage to track the elusive torpedo
Fast and strong bon fish.
Christmas is home to the world's largest bon fish beach, a shallow water area where fish make a living from shrimp, sometimes by making a sound to the sand, and extend the glittering silver tail above the waterline to reveal their whereabouts.
When I called a fly
Fishing experts who have been to Christmas have asked a few travel tips and he said, "you should be shot if you don't have a fishing rod to go there.
"Holiday anglers, wearing $100 UV-
Long protective shirt
Billed hat and polarized sunglasses, spent 10 hours a day wading on the lower leg during the installation and handling of the rod, worth $1,500
Deep water in the lagoon, shrimp-
Shape flying towards prey
Visiting sports
Fishermen are so important to the almost non-existent island economy that locals are banned from eating bon fish on paper at least. (
In the eyes of most Westerners, bon fish is part of the Islander's regular menu. )But some non-fishing-
The Christmas-obsessed traveler did manage to get to Christmas.
One morning, kayaking at the far end of the lagoon, Gary and Kerry Phillips in Brisbane, Australia, it was nice to spend an afternoon in a place where they didn't see another soul for hours-
There is only the shoal of the taxi.
After traveling and diving
They sneaked into the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere and were shocked by the quality they saw on the nuclear explosive Island.
"When we looked into the trip, I did think about weapons," Gary recalled . ".
"I was wondering if it might look like a specific wasteland or something.
"But kayaking for a week in Aquamarine's apartment, snorkeling in Kaleidoscope reef fish, and then in the seabirds colony, enjoy the opportunity to discover rare birds such as Phoenix Haiyan and red-
The foot was booed, and Phillips laughed at his pre-
Travel first.
"Its contrast is amazing.
I mean, the hydrogen bomb is the strongest and most destructive thing there, right here, this place, and the coral reef we saw yesterday ---
It's so beautiful.