-3-

.

ae

-

~

On a related issue,

the committee warned that "although the, hazard presented

a

dome is negligible, the same cannot be said for Runit Island as a whole."
4
by the

Runit

Island has been placed off-limits forever because of the possibility of highly toxic
a RNASLAEanGa
costesea
plutonium particles in the soil there. WiSPETTERR
TahertSeongSENTSeereats
totess ranewee
areal

"It may well be that an important future function of the containment structure will be
to serve as a reminder to everyone that the island is to be avoided," states the report.

.

The committee also examined the situation on nearby Enjebi Island.

Although

originally not cleaned up to bea residential island, Enjebi. is the traditional home of
One of Enewetak's two tribal groups,

and the committee examined the radiation hazards

associated with the possibility that the dri-Enjebi might wish to resettle their island.
It concluded that "the calculated (radiation) doses for living on Enjebi are somewhat
higher than the total 5 rems that is the maximum allowable limit for a,large population
in the United States."

The committee stressed, however, that the question of resettling

Enjebi can be made only after a realistic and informed comparison of the estimated
radiation risks with the other risks to which the Enjebi are exposed in their normal
life.
The Advisory Board on the Built Environment's Committee on Evaluation of
Enewetak Radioactivity Containment, located in the Research Council's Commission on

Sociotechnical Systems, was chaired by Robert W. Morse, senior scientist, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, Mass. Other members were: John P. Gnaedinger,
chairman, Soil Testing Services, Inc., Northbrook, Ill.; Steven Kim, executive vice
president, Radiation Management Corp.,

Philadelphia; Colin A. Mawson, Atomic Energy of

Canada (retired), Ottawa, Ont.; William F. Merritt, health sciences division, Chalk
River Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, Ont.; Frank L. Peterson, department of geology
and geophysics, University of Hawaii; John H. Wiggins, Jr., J.H. Wiggins Co., Redondo
Beach, Calif.; and Alfred A. Yee, Alfred A. Yee and Associates, Inc., Honolulu.
The principal staff officer was James R. Smith.

5008309

Select target paragraph3