The United States conducted 66 atmospheric nuclear weapons
tests in the Marshall Islands. Twenty-two years later the authorities continue
to disagree on whenthe islands will be safe for resettlement.
GItrFF JOHNSON

Paradise lost
The U.S. government is now attempting to prove at Enewetak what
it couldn’t at Bikini: that it is possible for people to return safely
to an area devastated by nuclear
weapons. Following completion of a
three-year, $100 million nuclear
cleanup of Enewetak Atoll in the
Marshall Islands—site of 43 nuclear
tests—the United States says it is safe
for the people who were moved out to
return to certain islands. But while
the cleanup has been hailed in some
quarters as a ‘‘remarkable success,’’
controversy is developing over
whether or not people should return
to any part of the atoll.
The Marshall Islands are part of a

at Bikint and Enewetak. Edward
Martell. of the National Center for

Atmospheric Research, writing to

radiation to pre-test levels. But the
cleanup guidelines called for re-

sidence islands to be cleaned to a

level of 40 picocuries of plutonium
239/240 per gram of soil. agriculture
islands to 80 picocuries per gram and

food gathering islands to 160. To ac-

complish this, thousands of cubic
yards of contaminated soil were
scraped off the small islands, mixed
with cement and encased in a mas-

sive concrete dome in an atomic
bomb crater at Runit Island.

The basis for the cleanup was
strongly questioned in 1974 by a researcher who had been involved in
the 1950s weapons testing program
24

clusive television interview, in

Micronesian Legal Services, a US.
government organization representing the Enewetak people, expressed
concern over the

which a mechanic stated that he and
others had worked without protect-

‘highly questionable recom-

contaminated islands. He said “‘the

levels of plutonium in the soils and
the very doubtful merits of pro-

were usually covered with dust and
dirt,”’ but the workers were given no
respirators for protection.?
Press visitors to Enewetak in Apni
1980 noticed similar flaws in Defense
Nuclear Agency safety standards.
**Standing on any part of Runit Island,’ said a reporter, ‘‘you must
wear rubber boots and a paper re-

mendations regarding acceptable

ceeding with the resettlement of

Enewetak Atoll on the basis of the
recommendations of a Task Group

assembled by the Atomic Energy
Commission and the Department of

Defense. . . . The recommendation
U.N. ‘‘strategic’’ Trust Terntory of that plutonium soils, with levels not

the Pacific. which has been administered by the United States
since World War II. The nuclear
weapons testing program ended in
1958, after 12 years of 66 atmosphenictests.
The Defense Nuclear Agency,
coordinator of the cleanup, has said
it would be impossible to lower atoll

ers do not substantiate its claims.
One of many reports from
Enewetak was publicized in an ex-

exceeding 40 pCi of plutonium 240/
241 per gram of soil averaged over 15
cm depth, is suitable for human
habitation, can be very senously

questioned. . . . The resettlement of
such sites ts extremely likely to have

tragic consequences, particularly for
the younger membersofthe in-

habitants. Progressively worse consequences are to be expected for

each successive generation in the
affected population group.”"!

Martell’s questions and recom-

mendations were ignored and the
cleanup itself was plagued by shoddy
safety standards.
The Defense Nuclear Agency
maintained that *‘the most important

ive gear underneath dozens of trucks
returning from the plutonium-

ures and underside of the vehicles

Spirator

to

prevent

breathing

plutonium particles. But standing on

the concrete dome (a mere 15 feet

away) you are not required to wear

any protective clothing atall.""*
Runit Island will be quarantined to
the Marshallese forever, because of
high concentrations of plutonium in
the sot]. More than 100.000 cubic
yards of radioactive soil and debns
have been encased in a massive cement dome on Runit, to isolate these

hazardous matenals from the environment for thousands of years.
Nevertheless, islands within three

miles of Runit have been designated
as safe for ‘‘picnics and food

gathering.’’ This prompted a Mar-

shallese observer to comment:
consideration in the cleanup opera- “What will happen if birds, crabs.
tions was the radiological safety of turtles and other animals that land on
the individuals involved in the oper- the off limits island are eaten by the

ations.”** But Agency policies have

been inconsistent, and information
supplied by soldiers involved in the
cleanup and by independent report-

people?”
Despite this atmosphere of in-

consistent safety measures, manyof
the 450 Enewetak people have

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