Atolls after nuclear blasts

Much of the public's fear of nuclear energy derives from books and movies depicting a post-apocalypic barren world. In point of fact, nature is more resilient that such simple models suggest.

"Three islands of Bikini Atoll were vapourised by the Bravo hydrogen bomb in 1954, which shook islands 200 kilometres away. Instead of finding a bare underwater moonscape, ecologists who have dived it have given the 2-kilometre-wide crater a clean bill of health...

Richards and colleagues report a thriving ecosystem of 183 species of coral, some of which were 8 metres high. They estimate that the diversity of species represents about 65% of what was present before the atomic tests...

The ecologists think the nearby Rongelap Atoll is seeding the Bikini Atoll, and the lack of human disturbance is helping its recovery. Although the ambient radiation is low, people have remained at bay..."

There's an obvious irony in the observation that in a relatively short time a coral reef can recover from nuclear bombs, but not from the presence of people...