Utirik Atoll

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Utirik or Utrok or Utrik ( German outdated: Kutusowinseln ) is an atoll in the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 2.43 km ² with a lagoon area of ​​55.73 km ². The total area including the Riffplattform is 91 km ². The lagoon has depths up to 49 meters on .. The Utirik passage ( Tolap ) to the west is the only navigable lagoon access. There are also three smaller boat passages, also on the west side of the atoll ( Tomouj, Toejamkan, Toreinpo ).

The six largest islands are: Utirik, Aon, Bikrak, Pike, Allok, Nalap. Only the main island Utirik is inhabited, at the west side of the lagoon facing is the only village of the same name. The airfield of the atoll ( IATA code UTK ) is located along the south side of the main island.

Nine kilometers southwest lies the uninhabited atoll Toke, which is regularly visited by the inhabitants Utiriks.

History

In 1954, the 157 residents of the island have been suspended after the Bravo test of Operation Castle radioactive fallout, which had been carried over after 22 hours from the Bikini Atoll. The average radiation exposure was 14 Roentgen. The residents were brought together with the even more contaminated residents of Rongelap and 28 soldiers from a weather station to Kwajalein, where a team of Haematology Department, Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Md, she examined and tested. "It was important to find out as soon as possible the extent of the radiation each patient had received. "