BIKINI ISLAND The island of Bikini is the largest in the atoll], having an area of about 0.6 square miles and has traditionally been the "home island" of the Bikinians. the ocean. Individual land rights extend from the lagoon to It is anticipated that the village will be rebuilt along the lagoon shore with community buildings bheina located about midway along the length. The island was prepared for agricultural redevelopment by cutting parallel strips through the vegetation along the lenath of the island. cut on 56-foot centers, were approximately 20 feet wide. The strips, The vegetative cover was knocked down and left in place to provide additional orqanic matter for the soil. The strips were surveyed and background aamma radiation levels recorded at 250-foot intervals along their lenath. Figure 2 illustrates the background variation by depicting the range and average of radiation measurements for areas consisting of approxi- mately four strips. Although a large amount of debris was found on Bikini (from testing program and WW-II) with one exception, none was radioactive. One pile of roofing paper scraps contaminated primarily with 137Cs was located northwest of center on the lagoon side of the island. This material which showed a contact reading of approximately 200 yR/hr was loaded into 55-gallon drums and disposed of in the ocean south of Eneu. The measured exposure rates were 10 uR/hr or less along the beaches, and ranged from 20-120 uR/hr inland. Soil samples taken at three locations having measured backgrounds of 20, 70, and 100 yR/hr showed 137Cs and ©°Co to be the major gamma emitting contaminants. These were present in Cs/Co ratios of approximately 25/1, 50/1, and 30/1 respectively for the three samples, and thus the projected exposure rate decay will very closely approximate the decay of !37Cs. In addition, 9°Sr was present in amounts ranging from 10-50% of the 137Cs concentrations. Both 137Cs and 2°Sr are very significant contributors to the potential internal exposure which may result from eating locally grown food items.