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Introduction

‘The impetus for development of this program comes from
the long-expressed desire of the People of Enewetak to return
to their homeland.

Although resigned to their nearly thirty

‘ear exile at Ujelang Atoll, they have never given up hope of
returning to Enewetak, if but only if,.it is radiologically
safe for them to do so.

They are aware of the substantial

social and economic problems which necessarily attend the
relocation and resettlement of their more than 400 persons,

but the difficulty of assessing the risk from the extensive
radioactivity present at the Atoll as a result of the nuclear
«2apons testing program there is by far the most troublesome.
It is difficult enough for the layman tuo comprehend what the
experts in the various radiological science fields are saying
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about the effects of radioactivity, but that difficulty is
compounded many times over the differences of opinion found
among the experts, by the realization that even the experts
agree that the long term effects of some of the more dangerous
radionuclides are not known by anyone at this time and may not
become known for Many years to come, and it is unsettling to
learn that the standards used for the kinds and amounts of
radionuclides to be tolerated in the environment and in man are
criticized by reputable experts as unreliable and inadequately

conservative. |

‘

Their individual and. collective desire to return to their
ancestral homeland is difficult for Americans to fully appreciate.

To them land is not a commodity, a thing apart, to be

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