diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ee50259f9..a413df10b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -214,8 +214,7 @@ KOKKOS_CMAKEFLAGS := -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$(KOKKOS_INSTALL) \
                      -DKokkos_CXX_STANDARD=14 \
                      -DKokkos_ENABLE_SERIAL=On \
                      -DKokkos_ENABLE_LIBDL=On \
-                     -DKokkos_ENABLE_PROFILING_LOAD_PRINT=On \
-                     -DKokkos_ENABLE_IMPL_DESUL_ATOMICS=Off
+                     -DKokkos_ENABLE_PROFILING_LOAD_PRINT=On
 KOKKOS_IS_SHARED :=
 ifndef KOKKOS_DEVICE_PARALLEL
   KOKKOS_CMAKEFLAGS += -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++
diff --git a/src/kokkos/KokkosCore/AtomicPairCounter.h b/src/kokkos/KokkosCore/AtomicPairCounter.h
index df8190f70..f5477e7f0 100644
--- a/src/kokkos/KokkosCore/AtomicPairCounter.h
+++ b/src/kokkos/KokkosCore/AtomicPairCounter.h
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@ namespace cms {
   namespace kokkos {
     class AtomicPairCounter {
     public:
-      using c_type = unsigned long long int;
+      // unsigned long long caused performance issue with Desul atomics in Kokkos 3.5
+      //using c_type = unsigned long long int;
+      using c_type = unsigned long int;
+      static_assert(sizeof(unsigned long int) == sizeof(unsigned long long int));
 
       KOKKOS_INLINE_FUNCTION AtomicPairCounter() { counter.ac = 0; }
       KOKKOS_INLINE_FUNCTION AtomicPairCounter(c_type i) { counter.ac = i; }