The United States conducted 66 atmospheric nuclear weapons

tects im ihe Marshall lslands. Twenty-two years later toe autnorities continue
to cisagree on when the islands will be safe for resettlement.
GIFF JOHNSON

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The U.S. government is now attempting to prove at Enewetak what
it couldn’t at Bikini: that ic 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
Marshail islands—site of 43 nuclear
tests—-ihe United States says it is safe
for the pecpie who were moved out to
return (0 certain islands. But while
the cleanup has been hailed in some
quarters as a ‘‘remarkable success,’’
controversy is develoning over
whether or not people should return
to any cart of the atoll.
The Marshall [slands are part of a
U.N. “stratezic’’ Trust Territory of
the Pacific, which has been administered by the United States
since World War Hf. The nuclear
weapons testing pregram ended in
1958, after 12 years of 66 atmospheric tests.
The Defense Nuclear Agency.
coordinator of the cleanup, has said
it would be impossible to lower atoll
radiation to pre-test levels. But the
cleanup guidelines called for residence islands to be cleaned to a

such sites is extremely likely to have
tragic consequences. particularlyfor
the younger members of the inhabitants. Progressively worse consequences are to be expected for
each successive generation in the
affected population group.”"!

259-240 per gram of soil, agriculture
islands lo ©0 ptcocunes per gram and
food gathering islands to 160. To accomplish this. thousands of cubic
yards of contaminated soil were
scraped off the small islands. mixed
with cement and encased tn a massive concrete dome in an atomic
bomb crater at Runt Island.
The basis for the cleanup was
strongly questioned in 1974 by i researcher who had been mvolved in
the L9SQs weapons testing program

Martell’s questions ond recommendations were ignored and the
cleanup itself was plazucd oy shoddy
safetv standards.
The Defense Nuclear Agency
maintained that ‘the most important
considerauion in the cleanup operatons was the radiological safety of
the individuals involved in the operations. “= But Agency policies have
been inconsistent. and information
supplied Oy soldiers involved in the
cleanup and by independent report-

level of 40 picccuries of plutonium

at Bikini and Enewetak. Edward
Martell. of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research. writing to
Micronesian Legal Services, a U.S.
government organization representing the Enewetak people. expressed
concem over the
“highly questionable recommendauons regarding acceptable
levels of plutonium in the soils and
the very doubtrul merits of proceeding with the resettlement of
Enewetak Atoll on the basis af the
recommendations of a Task Group
assembled by the Atomic Energy
Commission and the Department of
Defense... . The recommendation
that plutonium soils. with levels not
exceeding 40 pCi of plutonium 240/
241 per gram of suil averaged over [5S
em depth. :s suitable for human
habitation. can be very seriously

questioned... . The resettlementof

Paradise lost
ers do not substantiate its claims.
One of many reports from
Enewetak was publicized in an ex.
clusive television interview, in
which a mechanic stated that he and
others had worked without protective gear underneath dozens of trucks
returning from the plutoniumcontaminated islands. He said “the
tires and underside of the vehicles
were usually covered with dust and
dirt.”” but the workers were given no
respirators for protection.3
Press visitors to Enewetak in Apal
1980 noticed similar flaws in Defense
Nuclear Agency safety standards.

Standing on any part of Runit Is-

land.”” said a reporter, “‘you must
wear rubber boots and a paper reSpirator 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 at all.’”4

Runit Island will be quarantined to

the Marshallese forever, because of
high concentrations of plutonium in
the soil. More than 100.000 cubic
yards of radioactive soil and débns
have been encased in a massive cement deme on Runit, to isolate these
hazardous materials from the environment for thousands ofyears.
Nevertheless, islands within three
miles of Runit have been designated

as safe for “picnics and food

gathering.’ This prompted a Marshallese observer to comment:

“What will happen if birds, crabs.

turtles and other animals that land on
the off limits island are eaten by the
people?”

Despite this atrnosphere of in-

cons.stent sifety measures, many of
the 450 Enewetak people have

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