Future A-Tests
p. 41 · Read in the full issue
U.S. May Use Baker,
Howland Islands In
Australian Associated Press has re ported from Washington that the United States may use two new Pacific islands, Howland and Baker, to test nuclear weapons —if a decision is made to resume testing in the atmos phere.
Such a decision could be made if the current test ban treaty, outlawing all but underground tests, is broken by any of the signatories. The signatories include Britain, Russia and the United States, but not France or China.
Howland and Baker Islands are isolated atolls near the Equator about 35 miles apart. Both were discovered by American whalers in the early 19th century, but both were shown on most charts as British until the United States claimed them, without objection by the British, in 1935.
The nearest island groups to How land and Baker are the Gilberts to the west and the Phoenix Islands to the south-east. Brisbane is about 2,800 miles away to the south-west, and Johnston Island, the land base for any future US low-altitude or high-altitude nuclear test blasts in the Pacific, is about 1,000 miles north east, Australian Associated Press says that in any new American nuclear tests in the atmosphere, Howland and Baker would be sites for monitoring instruments to check on blasts at Johnson Island.