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Article: Marshall Islands: you can't go home again.
- Article from:
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- Article date:
- September 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL Islands is a nation composed of more than 1,100 of the smallest, flattest, most fragile, numerous, and remote islands one can imagine--glorified sandbars anchored to coral reefs by stands of coconut and pandanus, surrounded by bright blue water. They're scattered among 29 coral atolls, perched along their narrow rings like beads in an irregular necklace, the tropical islands of cartoons and travel posters. The atolls in turn are spread over three-quarters of a million miles of the central Pacific, thousands of miles from a major land mass. Add all the Marshall's dry land together and it's about the size of the District of Columbia.
The ...