. 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 (17