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Chapter 3

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BIKINI OPERATIONS

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Facilities and Services

Operations similar to those at Eniwetok were carried out at Bikin!.

Control points were established as required, primary points being the boat
landing and the helicopter pad. In addition, for afloat operations, check
points and radiological-safety centers were established on the USNS Ainsworth,
the USS Curtiss, the USS Badoeng Strait, the USS Estes, and the USS Catamount. These rad-safe centers included plotting and briefing areas, clothing
and equipment issue points, and personnel-decontamination stations. Radex
areas were established as required in a manner similar to that discussed
for Eniwetok,
3.1.1—Personnel-decontamination facilities, which were a duplicate of
those on Eniwetok, were established on Enyu Island adjacent to the Rad-Safe
Building. Approximately 3400 people were processed, Laundry services
necessary to maintain the protective clothing were provided by H&N personnel
using the laundry facilities that were installed on the rad-safe barge. This
barge provided complete personnel-decontamination facilities as well as
laundry facilities and was to be used only in the event that operations were
to be conducted entirely from shipboard. Only the laundry facilities were
ever used,
$.1.2—The equipment-decontamination station on Bikini processed approximately 100 vehicles during the operation.

In addition, several helicopters

were decontaminated for the Marines. Army Chemical Corps decontamination
trucks were used for all equipment-decontamination operations as no steam
generator was available at Bikini.
3.1.3-As at Eniwetok, the Plotting and Briefing Section was responsible
for all surveys. These surveys were conducted by helicopter. A pre-entry
survey was flown at H+2 to H+4 hr, with a detailed one following at approximately H+6 hr.

Other detailed surveys of the entire atoll were flown on

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