4/11/70 STAFF REPORT ON BIKINI ATOLL ENVIRONMENTAL LEVELS OF PLUTONIUM 1. Background of Bikini Program Evacuation and Test Operations. Early in 1946 it was determined that Bikini Atoll was a suitable site for nuclear weapons tests. The Bikini population, numbering 166, agreed to leave the atoll. After living some time on Rongerik Atoll and Kwajalein Island, By the Bikini people were relocated to Kili Island where they still live today. The Bikinians were promised the return of their atoll when it was no longer needed as a testing site. The Bikini Pield operations and test activities occurred period-~ ically from 1946 through 1958. During this time, areas of the islands were cleared for camp sites and there was construction of housing, docks, towers and instrument bunkers. An aircraft runway and parking ramp was built on nearby Eneu and another runway was constructed on a string of islands connected by man-made cause- ways along the southern rim of the reef. ‘A total of 23 devices of both fission and thermonuclear types was detonated during 1946, 1954, 1956, and 1958. The islands of Bikini Atoll received fallout from these tests to varying degrees. The largest islands, Bikini and Eneu, located at the Eastern end of the atoll, were generally upwind of the detonation sites and CONFIRMED ''O BE UNCLASSIFIED AUTHOFRIT:: DOE/SA-20 BY §.R,ott Yihy