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 410305 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 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