A diver swims among a school of fish in the Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, in this undated photograph.

Some marine animals, including several species of coral, have begun to thrive again on the atoll following more than a decade of U.S. bomb tests in the 1940s and 1950s.

The reef today represents a "pristine laboratory" in which to study how coral can recoup from vast devastation, Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies said in a statement.

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