CRITERIA
Rather than establish firm, restrictive criteria for the removal of radioactive artifacts, or the elimination of high background areas from the
islands of the atoll, each situation was viewed in terms of the potential
exposure versus benefit.
All debris or artifacts having little or no
useful value were removed.
All scrap metal or concrete with contact
readings greater than 100 micro-R per hour (uR/hr) was treated as
radioactive waste and buried at sea.
Three specific locations were
selected for this burial (Figure 1).
In some cases, scrap reading less
than 100 ,,R/hr was buried on land together with non-radioactive debris.
This was only done on islands where areas exhibiting background levels
in excess of 100 ,R/hr were found.
No radioactive debris at any
Tevel of activity was buried on the islands of Bikini, Eneu, or
Aerokoj.
The exterior of several bunkers, located on the northern complex (Iroij,
Odrik, Lomilik, and Aomen) and Nam, exhibited levels of radioactivity
up to 7 milli-R per hour (mR/hr) (sty) at contact.
levels were 0.2 mR/hr maximum.
than 10 ypR/hr, however.
The net gamma
The levels inside the bunkers were less
Since the potential for personnel exposure
was negligible, and the bunkers were desired as typhoon shelters
and storage buildings by the natives, the larger bunkers were left
intact.
Several instances of high background levels, greater than 200 ,R/hr,
due to soil contamination were also encountered.
It was the consensus
that attempting to reduce these levels by removing the top layer of
soil would destroy the limited agricultural capability of the area,
therefore, most such areas were left essentially undisturbed.