CO/MMENTSAND RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE MARSHALL ISLANDS ADVISORY GROUP The Marshall Islands Advisory Group provides the following comnents and recommendations on issues discussed at a meeting on October 3-4, 1978 concerning the cleanup and rehabilitation of Enewetak Atoll. Planting of Coconut Trees on Northern Islands of Enewetak 1. The Advisory Group concurs with the DOE letter of September 29 to Vice Admiral R. R. Monroe from L. J. Deal. A final decision-concerning the permissible degree of occupancy of the northern islands can be made only after conclusion of the present cleanup effort and after acquisition of additional information on applicable living h its and food chains and the movement of Sr, 137cs, 239Pu and 24~Am through these food radionuclides such as !ll chains. Pending this evaluation it would be unfortunate if steps were taken that would encourage the Enewetak people to believe that a decision had already been made. (We assume that it has not been stated or implied to the people that they can expect to return to the Northern Islands at the completion of the cleanup effort.) This is particularly cogent in view of the unfortunate experience at Bikini. That experience suggests that coconuts grown on the northern islands might not be suitable for human consumption and might not be suitable for copra production. To plant coconut trees on the northern islands at this time might, therefore, require their early future destruction, which could haye unfortunate repercussions. Alternatively it might require restricting their consumption, which the Bikini experience would indicate to be ineffective. Therefore, the Advisory Group reconrnendsthat coconuts not be planted now and that decisions to plant in the future be delayed until dose assessments and evaluations are completed. 2. Cleanup Guidance for Subsurface Contamination In some situations, such as those with the subsurface contamination _at Boken and Enjebi, it is not appropriate to apply a generic ; plan such as the operation plan. Instead, in situations as well defined as these, it is better to reply on judgments specific to these situations. We would, therefore, recommend that the identified pockets of contamination on Boken be removed and that the contamination on Enje6i be left, unless further –defin-itionofthe subsurface pockets indica” pocketsexceeding 160 pCi/gm. Consideration should be given to removal “of the asphalt under the soil on Enjebi so that vegetation will grow. With regard to the Aomon Crypt, the Advisory Group would be pleased to review any plan proposed by the DOE or JTG. Based on the few data made available to us and our observations during our visit, we continue to believe it is an engineering problem that can be handled by CO1. Bauchspies. Removal of the .