terminating on IS September 1979. Phase Ht, Demobilization, was scheduled for seven months, completing on [5 April 1980. Dol's rehabilitation effort was to start subsequent to DoD's Mobilization Phase, but was scheduled to complete concurrently with DoD on I|5 April 1980. These schedules were established in 1976, during preliminary planning, and the entire project has remained on schedule all the way through to completion. Mobilization began in the spring of 1977. The base camp on EnewetakIsland, which had served as the home of the caretaker force for many years, was expanded manyfold to accommodate the support forces, the cleanup forces who would clear the southern islands of uncontaminated debris, and the Dol contractor who would carry out the rehabilitation effort. An advance camp was constructed on the island of Lojwa in the northeastern chain. Residual radiation levels on Lojwa were very low, and the island was of adequate size to accommodate the cleanup force of about 400 men who would clear the northern islands of uncontaminated debris, contaminated debris, and soil with the highest levels of transuranic contamination. Lojwa also served as the base for the sizeable force which carried out containment operations for contaminated material on the island of Runit. Throughout the summer and fall of 1977 on-atoll personnel levels rose and construction activity increased, until by the end of the Mobilization Phase on [5 November 1977 the camps on Enewetak and Lojwa were completed and the on-atoll force numbered about 900. During the planning stages it had been recognized that the People of Enewetak--then exiled from their homeland for 25 years--longed to return to their atoll as soon as possible; yet the cleanup and rehabilitation efforts would keep them away for three more years. To accommodate their desires to the maximum extent possible, an "early return" program was established whereby some 50-60 of the people could return at the start of the Mobilization Phase and live on Japtan, one of the uncontaminated islands in the south. The people selected those who would first return to Japtan (generally the older individuals, some of whom might not survive for three more years), and the U.S, Government established austere ternporary housing facilities. The results were highly successful, in that it meant a reat deal to the people (who rotated residents between Japtan and Ujelang every ew months), and if created no problems for cleanup and rehabilitation forces which could not be worked out, The complexity of the radiological environment on Enewetak Atoll! required DoE to employ highly sophisticated methods in its soil characterization efforts. A laboratory complex was established on the atoll, incorporating modern equipment and methods for fhe rapid analysis of many thousands of samples. possible the timely use of laboratory results in day-to-day planning. This made Noteworthy was the method employed by Dol to identify the plutonium content of soil. Plutonium is an emitter of alpha particles, a form of radiation that is not penetrating. For example, alpha radiation can be stopped by a few inches of air, or a sheet of paper, or tiny particles of soil. Thus it was entirely impractical to measure directly for plutonium in the soil by attempting to detect alpha radiation.