"The second series of tests in 1954 was codenamed
Operation Castle. The first detonation was
Castle Bravo, which tested a new design utilizing a dry-fuel
thermonuclear bomb. It was detonated at dawn on March 1, 1954. Scientists miscalculated: the 15
Mt of TNT nuclear explosion far exceeded the expected yield of 4–8 Mt of TNT (6 predicted).
[5] This was about 1,000 times more powerful than either of the atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II."
"Despite the promises made by authorities, these and further nuclear tests (
Redwing in 1956 and
Hardtack in 1958) rendered Bikini unfit for habitation, contaminating the soil and water, making subsistence farming and fishing too dangerous."