this approach shortened the project by several years and saved tens of millions of dollars. Because of the isolation and lack of facilities at Enewetak, any productive effort in any of the three phases required establishment and maintenance on the atoll of such supporting infrastructure as: an electrical power generation and distribution system; a fresh waterdistillation, storage, and distribution system; a complete airhead for air transportation; cargo-handling piers; regular sealift and airlift to and from the atoll; a tank farm for receipt, storage, and distribution of various types of fuel; living and messing accommodations for about 1,000 individuals; large-capacity refrigeration facilities for storage of food; extensive medical facilities up to the operating-room level; satellite and high-frequency long-haul communications; an inter-island communication network; an extensive fleet of Navy landing craft and boats for inter-island water transportation, backed up by major boat maintenance facilities; vehicles for land transportation; helicopters and associated maintenance facilities for medical evacuation and other emergency use; underwater demolition and ordnance disposal capabilities; a large maintenance and repair facility for heavy construction equipment (bulldozers, graders, rock crushers, frontloaders, trucks, backhoes, cranes, etc.); a postal system; austere recreation facilities; etc. Many of the early planning decisions addressed the problems of radiological contamination. It was recognized that a distinction had to be made between two types of soil contamination, "transuranics" and "suburanics." Transuranics are elements above uranium in the atomic table, such as plutonium. They typically have very long half-lives, e.g., 24,000 years in the case of plutonium. Suburanics, such as strontium-90 and cesium-137, have much shorter half-lives. These two, for example, are 28 and 30 years, respectively. The AEC's radiological survey had disclosed that, except on the island of Runit, most high transuranic concentrations were in the top few centimeters of soil. This was not the case with suburanics, which, because of their water solubility, were distributed to considerable depth. Since the near-surface transuranics had the greatest potential for ingestion or inhalation through resuspension, and since their threat was long-term, it was recognized that the cleanup would have to deal with them. Excision of soil contaminated with suburanics, however, was simply not practicable. To do so would require such extensive soil removal as to render the island useless for habitation or subsistence agriculture. However, by the same token, cleanup of suburanics was less essential because contamination levels were declining measurably year by year. Thus it was determined that, insofar as contaminated soil was concerned, the radiological cleanup would address transuranics. Another key decision concerned the method for disposing of, or containing, contaminated debris and soil. Various options were developed and analyzed: lagoon-dumping, ocean-dumping, spreading over the surface of Runit, etc. The method selected--after extensive debate on the EIS--incorporated the following elements: o All contaminated debris and soil on all islands would be transported by boat to the island of Runit.