An atoll in the Marshall Islands, west central Pacific. It was the site for 23 US nuclear bomb tests (1946–58). Despite expectations that it would be fit again for human habitation in 1968, the atoll remains too contaminated for the return of the Bikinians, who have been relocated on surrounding islands. In 1985 the USA agreed to decontaminate the atoll, a process that would take 10–15 years. By 1996 radiation levels were considered low enough for tourism to be permitted.