7 ry «2. Introduction The impetus for development of this program comes from t,e@ long-expressed desire of the People of Enewetak to return to their homeland. Although resigned to their nearly thirty. vear exile at Uieclang Atoll, returning to Enewetak, sufe for them to do so. they havenever given up hope of if but only if,.it is radiologically They are aware of the substantial social and economic problems which necessarily attend the xelocation and resettlement of their more than 400 persons, but the difficulty. of assessing the risk from the extensive radioactivity present at the Atoll as a result of the nuclear weapons testing program there is by far the most troublesome. — It is difficult enough for the layman to comprehend what the q@ - eperts in the various radiological science fields are saying atout the effects of radioactivity, but that difficulty is . compounded manytimes over the differences of opinion found among the experts, by the realization that even the experts agree that the long term effects of some of the more dangerous radionuclides are not known by anyone at this time and may not become known for many years to come, and it is unsettling to learn that the standards used for the kinds and amounts of radionuclides to be tolerated in the environment and in man are criticized by reputable experts as unreliable and inadequately conservative. _Their individual .and collective desire to return to their ancestral homeland is difficult for Americans to fully appre- Ciate. cttoe Ft To them land is not a commodity, a thing apart, to be ge comenpen a Leeper nahe wt ah URE, .,