RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL CHAPTER 4 RADIATION SAFETY AND CLEANUP PREPARATIONS NONCONTAMINATED SCRAP REMOVAL BY CONTRACTOR Most of the noncontaminated material to be removed during the cleanup project was located on the three islands designated for residence: FIGURE 3-20. COMPLETED LOJWA BASE CAMP. ay ee a Japtan (David), Medren (Elmer), and Enewetak (Fred). This material consisted primarily of buildings and equipment acquired by the base support contractor during the nuclear test period. The Defense Logistics Agency agreed to have its Defense Property Disposal Service (DPDS) conduct a sale of this material and return a proportionate amount of any proceeds to the base support contract.! The scrap was monitored by Field Command, DNA to assure that it was free of radioactive contamination, markedfor identification to bidders, and then transferred to DPDS. The invitation for bid was issued in November 19762 and, on | 1 January 1977, 24 prospective bidders were flown to Enewetak for on-site inspections.+ Sixteen bids were received, the successful one being $544,000. To minimize interference with the early returnees’ settlement of Japtan, scrap removal was to be complete on that island by 4 May 1977. Scrap removal on the remaining islands was to be complete by 30 November 1977 to minimize interference with Joint Task Group (JTG) cleanup operations.4 The contractor began work in March 1977 and, after several extensions due to unforeseen circumstances, completed his operations on 11 September 1978. Within 18 months, with a work force of approximately 20 people working 10 hours per day, 7 days per week, and with government logistics and intra-atoll transportation support, the contractor removed most of the excess buildings, salvage material, and scrap fromthe three residential islands. The material removed amounted to well over 55,000 cubic yards, weighing in excess of 38,000 tong tons.° It was estimated that the scrap removal operation reduced the noncontaminated cleanup effort for the JTG by 117,971 man-hours. While the salvage contractor was starting cleanup operations on the southernislands and the base camps on Enewetak Island and Lojwa (Ursula) were being readied, radiological survey work beganin the northern islands. 2fe yd aT cUy Ty eye anpepeehenfah AFUE os cep ae OPLAN 600-77 called for the use of an Army helicopter to carry an Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) contractor's 179