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Amchitka…WWII & Nuclear Test Site

The Island

Amchitka, so named by the Aleuts who've inhabited the Aleutian Islands for at least 9000 years, is one of the North Pacific Aleutian Chain's Rat Islands. It is located approximately 1340 miles west southwest from Anchorage, Alaska, and 870 miles east of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, of the Russian Far East. It is 35 miles long, and almost 3 miles wide. Early Russians referred to this island as Ostrov Amchitka.

Access

The Amchitka nuclear testing facility was closed in 1994, accompanied by an on-going U.S. Government effort at cleaning up the residual radioactive, chemical, and other hazardous waste left on the island. While there is an airstrip on Amchitka, as of this writing it is currently restricted to U. S. Government flights only.