ee eee a | CHAPTER 2 PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING 1972 - 1977 DECISIONS FOR THE FUTURE: APRIL 1972 The agreement under which Enewetak was used by the United States for nuclear testing required a review on 30 June 1961 and every 5 vears thereafter to determine the need for its continued use.! During the June 197] review, it became apparent that the need had dramatically declined and that the atoll could be returned to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Nuciear testing at Enewetak had ended in 1958 when it was realized that atmospheric testing, even at that remote atoll, was affecting much of man’s environment. Enewetak’s remoteness then became a liability for most other test programs, in that it was less economical and less practical than other available sites. For example, Johnston Atoll and Christmas Island replaced Enewetak as the main bases for a series of nuclear tests the United States conducted in 1962 after Russia had resumed nuclear testing in the atmosphere in violation of the 1958 moratorium. By 1971, only two military test programs were still scheduled at Enewetak: (1) a U.S. Air Force space research program; and (2) the Defense Nuclear Agency’s (DNA’s) proposed Pacific Crafering Experiment (PACE). Both were to be completed in 1973. There also were two long-term biological studies being conducted by civilian agencies; however, they did not conflict with the return of the atoll to the TTPI. Based on the June 197! review, the decision was made to terminate use of Enewetak as a test range and return the atoll to the TIPI.2 Under the original agreement, the United States had 30 days to remove any improvements and structures it desired to retatn, after which everything remaining reverted with the land to the TTPI. Since immediate departure would have left much debris, many dilapidated buildings, and numerous radiologically contaminated islands, the United States recognized a moral, if not legal, obligation to restore the atoll to a more habitable condition. An interagency conference on the return of Enewetak Atoll was held in February 1972 in Washington, D.C., and attended by representatives from the Office of Micronesian Status Negotiations (MSN), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Atomic COMmmiosonTAL. DNA oso was Tepreocmicd, once managed the cleanup of Bikini Atoll and was preparing to use Enewetak for one last weapons-related experiment, the PACE program, before return of the atoll by the United States. This conference marked the 62 63