Fifty years ago, an underwater atomic blast shot radioactive water a mile into the air, sank a dozen or more empty warships and rained radioactivity on scores of U.S. naval vessels standing nearby.
It was part of Operation Crossroads, a much ballyhooed Pacific Ocean atomic test in the summer of 1946 designed to learn more in the dawn of the nuclear age about the destructiveness of the atomic bomb - especially on warships.In the weeks after, thousands of sailors - some shirtless and wearing shorts - were put aboard the target vessels to decontaminate them.
After examining volumes of medical records, a panel of scientists has concluded there is no evidence the increased exposure of radiation contributed to a higher death rate among the 42,000 military men, mostly sailors, who took part in the test on the Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands.
The panel said there was no statistically significant increase in deaths from either cancer or leukemia, two categories where elevated mortality should be expected as result of radiation exposure.
The report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine said the research did show a 4.6 percent higher death rate among the atomic test participants, compared with a control group of sailors who were nowhere near the two atomic blasts.
The researchers, who studied more than 40 different causes of death, could find no reason for the higher overall mortality rate but concluded that radiation does not appear to have been a cause. It said a yet-to-be identified health factor other than radiation might be the reason.