The testing of atomic weapons began in the Nevada desert during the final months of World War II. As it intensified during the Cold War, the testing was shifted from a barren stretch of the US to sparsely populated atolls in the Pacific. Bikini and Enewetak were the sites chosen for the 80 tests that occurred between 1946 and 1958. Other nearby islands also suffered from the testing. Rongelapese were evacuated for a time, and many persons affected by the fallout required medical treatment years later. The populations of these atolls, shunted as they were from island to island, could justifiably be called “nuclear nomads.