Utirik Atoll Utirik Atoll Utirik Atoll or Utrik Atoll (Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 10 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area of . It is located approximately east of Ujae Atoll. The population of Utirik Atoll is 409; it is one of the northernmost Marshall Islands with permanent habitation. The larger islets are: Its first recorded sighting was by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on board of the ship "Florida" on
Enewetak Atoll cold war; in 1977–1980, a concrete dome (the Runit Dome) was built on Runit Island to deposit radioactive soil and debris. The Runit Dome is deteriorating and could be breached by a typhoon, though the sediments in the lagoon are even more radioactive than those which are contained. The U.S. government referred to the atoll as "Eniwetok" until 1974, when it changed its official spelling to "Enewetak" (along with many other Marshall Islands place names, to more properly reflect their pronunciation by the Marshall Islanders). Enewetak Atoll formed atop a seamount. The seamount was formed in the late Cretaceous. This