.
BEo
rT
COVINGTON & BURLING
MALAY
Dr. G. Drexler
June 22, 1979
Page Two
Copy
Cleanup and rehabilitation of Bikini began in 1969
in preparation for resettlement, and the AEC continued to
monitor Bikini's safety.
One AEC official stated in 1969
that "there is virtually no radiation left, and we can find
no discernable effect on either plant or animal life."
In
1971, the Directcr of AEC's Division of Operational Safety
reported that well water samples had been taken from several
locations on Bikini
Island over a period of time and that,
"from a radiological viewpoint,
the water is safe to drink."
Despite these assurances, the Bikinians expressed
increasing concern over the atoll's safety, and in 1975 they
brought a court action to seek an order directing the United
States to conduct a thorough radiological survey of the atoll
to measure and assess its safety.
In the court complaint, the
Bikinians openly conceded their ignorance as to Bikini's safety:
"For us to make an intelligent decision to
resettle Bikini Atoll, we must be able to
weigh our desire and return against the
radiological risks or returning.
We have
not been provided with that information
in a form that we can understand."
After several years of litigation and settlement discussions,
the United States agreed to conduct a thorough radiological
study, including aerial radiation surveys and terrestrial and
marine studies, of Bikini and thirteen other islands and atolls
-,1n the northern Marshall Islands that received fallout from
one or moreoftheU.S.nuclear tests in the Pacific.
The survey was conducted in late 1978, and some of the
results from the aerial surveys have been released.
Before ‘the
survey was even conducted, however, medical examinations conducted in April, 1978 on the 145 people who had been moved back
to Bikini in the early 1970's showed body burdens so high that cur
it was necessary to move them off Bikini Island.
DOEAR
Based on these medical examinations and preliminary
results from the radiological survey, the United States has
announced that Bikini Island will be off limits for habitation
Or agricultural use for approximately 60 years and that Eneu
Island in Bikini Atoll will be ofr limits for at least 20-25
years.
The Bikinians, who are confused by the conflicting
information they have received over the years, do not understand why earlier surveys of Bikini were erroneous.
They
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