Marshall Islanders sue US over atomic testing

Hundreds of Marshall Islanders sued the United States for injuries and damages they said were caused by 12 years of atomic testing in the US-administered archipelago in the western Pacific. Lawyers representing the islanders said the 341 individual suits against the federal government for personal injury, property damage, and "cultural disruption" would involve billions of dollars.

THe US, which has administered the Marshalls under a United Nations trusteeship since the end of World War II, detonated at least 66 atomic and thermo nuclear devices in the area between 1946 and 1958.