FURTHER RELEASE CF THIS REPORT MAY
NOT BE IN THE SEST I[NTERES?T OF HE
GOVERNMENT FO" SEASONS STATED HEREIN
COMPTRCLLER GENERAL'S
TO THE CONGRESS
ENEWETAK ATOLL--CLEANIN
UP NUCLEAR CONTAMINATION
The United States acauicec Enewetax Atoll
from tne Trust Territory of the Pacific
Isiands in i347 to use as a nuclear weapons
proving ground.
Before the testing oecan,
the United States relocatec the people of
Enewetak, then numbering 142, to Ujelang
Aroll, a smaller less desirable atoll where
they still reside.
Fortv-three nuclear
tests were held at trewetak
from 1948
to
1558 leaving contaémin..cec soi. and scrap.
The people of Enewetak,
displaced now
for
more shan 30 years because of nuclear contamination on their island, suffered the
physical hardship of
living on a much
smaller atoll with increasing numbers cé
people and
the osychological harcship cf
Deing removed from their traditional land.
Lana
is
importént
to
the
people of
the
Marshall Islancs because it is the cnly
scurce Sf subsistence, social stetus,
ana family unity.
when asked at a congressional hearing why a monetary settlement instead of returning to Enewetak
was not acceptable,
Enewetax representatives
replied that money was not and never couleé
be a substitute for their islands.
(See
pp. 1 and 2.)
,
In 1972,
precvacec
the Uniced States announced it was
to
release Enewetak Atoll
Trust Territory assuming
to
the
it would even-
tually be cleaned up and resettled.
projzect is underway and is expected
This
to ce
cemrlecec in 1980 at a cost cf about $140 mili2icm tO S105 miliicn.
($42 on. 2 ard :.)
in@ ororect new escut $0-cercent com
g.¢tec, the Cetense Neclear Acencv i3 orctTectin¢g tnact all méser cleanse corectives
t
t.
on
\e
9001 48b
oO
cr exceecec
)
|
CE Met
"yy
th
Wlo.