The Navy chose Bikini Atoll partly for its tiny indigenous population

Evidence

In Rivero’s search for nuclear test sites, he considered more than a dozen potential locations around the world’s oceans. Officials ruled out most of them because the waters surrounding the islands were too shallow, the populations too large, or the weather undependable. Rivero even considered the Galápagos, but the Interior Department struck Darwin’s famed islands from the list. Eventually he settled on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, then under U.S. control as a UN “trust territory.” The Navy was particularly pleased that Bikini had an indigenous population of only about 170 people. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 190

Categorization

• XREF: Sets up the parallel between Bikini and Diego Garcia selection criteria — few residents made islands attractive sites.