410005 Draft Briefing Paper R. Ray 0/22/34 FTS 575-3553 R RESETTLEMENT OF ENcU ISLAND BIKINI ATOLL Request of the Secretary of the Interior Summary: The Secretary has received a request (Tab A) from Interior Secretary William Clark for advice regarding the possible resettlement of Bikini people on eneu Island in their home Atoll. in 1979, the DOE response to a similar request led to a decision by then Under Secretary of the [nterior James Joseph to place Eneu Island “off limits as a place of residence for the Bikini people for at least another 20-25 years" (Tab B). In view of recent developments, some of which are discussed below, a prompt review and response to Secretary Clark is in order. Background: The people of Bikini Atoll (167 persons) were removed from their atoll by the United States in i946 to permit Bikini lands and waters to be used for atmospheric nuclear testing. Having been relocated to areas which were remote from the testing sites, the people sustained no significant radiation exposures from the tests, but their home islands, and especially the main residence island, Bikini, were contaminated with radioactive test debris. After a cleanup and rehabilitation program and the release of the atoll from further U.S. use, a small number of Bikinians (about 140 of the Current population of about 1100) resettled Bikini Island during the period 1969-1978. DOr continued to monitor the Bikini environment and the resettled Bikinians during this period. By the mid 1970's, as locally grown foods became increasingly available, and as DOE studies established the importance of the food chain as the dominant contributor to radiation dose, DOE surveillance was intensified. Early in 1978, it became evident that under the conditions then existing at Bikini Island the resettled residents would not be expected to stay within the U.S. Federal guidelines for exposure to radiation. This led to the second relocation of Bikinians from their atoll in August i976. Recognizing the strong desire of the Bikini people to return to their homeland, the two departments (DOE and DOI) considered in 1979 whether Eneu Island, a somewhat smaller island in Bikini Atoll, six miles distant from Bikini, might be suitable for resettlement. On April 12, 1979, Under Secretary Joseph wrote to then Assistant Secretary of Energy Ruth Clusen and, in Secretary Joseph's words "...insisted that a definitive statement on the use of Eneu Island, Bikini Atoll, was an absolute necessity..." Secretary Clusen replied on May 15, 1979, with a lengthy and detailed analysis of the Eneu situation and, although she did not make a Categorical or definitive recommendation, her letter left the Vepartnent of the Interior little choice but to take a conservative position on Eneu resettlement. The wording of Secretary Joseph's decision--"off limits...for...2U-25 years"-~may be viewed as somewhat stronger than was justified, but is understandable, considering the popular sensitivities and apprehensions regarding radiation matters. BEST COPYAVAILABLE