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on
‘
cans. But over the years, 47 of the
‘“ Marshallese have developed thyroid
abnormalities, seven of them diagn-
gsed as cancerous. Thirty-five have
.» had their thyroids removed. One has
.. Gied of leukerma, another of cancerof
. the stomach, believed to have Seen
. caused by the Bravofallout.
Bikini {sland, although unoccupied,
was intensely irradiated, a fact which
* would have consequences which will
be felt for generations.
The Bravo disaster and the worldwide publicity given to it played a
part in the eventual suspension ci nu» clear testing in 1958—the vear of the
23rd and final shot at Bikim—and in
the nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963,
which ended atmospheric tesung by
the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union.
With the end of testing, pressure
mounted to return the ecules to Bikini.
William Norwood, now living im re-
tirement in Hawau. served as high
commissioner of the Trust Territory
from 1966 to 1969.
In a recent interview with The
Times, he said, “We had, of course,
been under pressure from the Bikini
people themselves to get them off of
Kili. They were constantly asking to
be put on some other island. They
hoped first and foremost for Bikini.
.. . 1 remember being introduced to
Chief Juda, who very emotionally and
persuasively, and almost tearrully,
pleaded with me to either get them
back to E:kin: or, failing that, to get
them a better place than Kil.”
Norwood said that about the same
time a representative of the Atomic
. Energy Commission—he does not recall his name—told him that monitoring of Bikini’s radiation leveis indicated it might now besafe once again
for permanent reoccupation.
In May, 1967, some trme aftera formal request by Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, the AEC sent a
team oftechnologists to make an in-
tensive radiological survey of the
atoll.
On Aug. 12, 1968, President John-
son announced that Bikia was safe,
that it would be rehabilit.ted and reSettled “with all possible dispatch.”
Glem T. Seaborg, AEC chairman,
explained that the President's final
decision had been based on the rec-
ommendation of “eight of the most
highly qualified experts available’ after studying the 1967 survey results
and unanimously concluding that Bikini Island and Eneu Jsiand. 10 miles
- away,
were
radidiogically
sate
” enough to allow reestapiisnment of
... the Bikimansthere.
The experts—all either AEC em-
- ployes or employes of AEC contrac-
+ ee
oe
ee
cally to determine how much radiation the people were being exposed to
from external environmental sources
and from their diet.
Chief Juda did not live to hear the
news. He had died—shortly before
the Johnson announcement—of cancer, which he believed had been
caused by his exposure to thefirst Abomb test in 1946, a claim scientists,
are inclined to discount.
Ironically, especially in view of
whatwas to be learned 10 yearslater,
several Bikinans expressed suspicion
about the food growing on the contaminated atoll during a tour of the 1s-
lands a few weeks after the Johnson
announcement.
One of the Bikinians, named Jibaij,
even refused to touch food from the
atoll, insisting 1t was poisonous.
Another, Laio, made a forecast
that, from the perspective of 1978,
seems far more acute and accurate
than the predictions of any of the U.S.
bureaucrats or scienusts. “It will take
100 years before the tslands are back
in shape again,” Tobin reported him
as saying.” . . . The islands are completely ruined now.”
Still, despite their suspicions and
the obvious enormity of the job, the
Bikinians on the tour apparently were
convinced by the officials and scienusts that at least the islands of Bikim
and Eneu, 10 miles away, could be
made livable.
The Bikimans reported the conditions they had seen and theplans that
were being made for rehabilitation to
their fellow islanders on Kuli. Only
two or three of the 300 then living
there voted against the idea of an
eventual return to Bikini.
The cieanup began in February,
1969, using some Bikinians on the
work crew. The rest of the rehabilitation project—plowing up Bikim and
Eneu Islands, replanting them with
food crops, began later the same vear.
A few famihes began moving back to
Bikini.
By 1974, the $323.000 cleanup and
the $3 milhon rehabilitation program
was through its first phase. Forty of
the planned 80 homes nad beenerected.
Then, as planning for the second
phase was beginning, the Bikinians
said they wanted to locate some of
the newstructures in the interior of
the island.
The following year, another AEC
radiolegical survey was made. this
tame in more detail. It was found that
radiation levels in the interior of the
island were too high to permit peopie
to buiid and live in homesthere.
“We aidn’t really find any surprises
in that external radiation fieid.” said
Tommy McCraw. who had been in-
volved in both the 1967 and the 1975
surveys.
However, at the same time, it was
determined for the first tume that lohigh content of stronuum 90. There
caily grown breadirut and pandanus
were no warnings about anyotherlo—1wo popular items of diet—were too
cal foods. They recommenced that “ radioacuve to be safely consumed
radiological checks be made periodiover the long term. Coconuts, even
lors —warned that the coconut crabs
- should not be eaten because of their
moreof a staple in the local diet, were
reported to be safe.
Then last summer, a Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory study done for
the Energy Research and Deveiopment Agency, an AEC successor
agency, found that well water on BiKini exceeded federal standards for
radioactive strontium 90.
Other levels of radiation on the island were so high, according to the
report, that there was little margir
for safe absorption of any additiona
doses from the food chain.
;
But, at the same time, ERDA en- .
vironmentalsafety official RogerRay
Said 1t would be premature to sav tha:
the Bikinians snould be moved off
their atoll.
:
By fall, though, there no longer
was any question: Ray told a meetinz
of the Bikini-Kili Council in Mayuro
that Bikim Island “shouid no longer
be considered a permanent settiement” and advised thet consideration
be given to moving ihe settlement to
Eneu.
.
It seemed the scientists had now
determined that the Bikimians were
absorbing radiation at a rate substantially above the federal safety standard of 5 rem per year, a measurement of radiation dosege of any kina
producing viological effects in man.
According to the Department c
Energy (successor to ERDA) the evternal dose on Bikini Istand in 1977
was .2, the same as in 1974. But the
Imternal dose, measured py an tnstrument called the wnote body counter, had risen dramaticaily in thr.
years—from a top reading of .067 i>
1974 to a top of .538 in 1977.
And the coconut was namedas the
radioactive “villain,” since it was th.
only locally grown food then be:r =
consumed in any quantity. As on:
scientist put it, the coconut palms
were “sopping up’ radioactive cesiu~
137 and stronuum ¥0 at a mu
greater rate than anvonepredictea.
High doses of radiation from the
isotopes are known to cause varie.
types of cancer in man. but scienu::debate the cancerrisk from reiative .
low doses sucn as those to which t>.
Bikimians have been exposed. In gen.eral, scientists have found that t>:
lower the dose, the lower the r.
that cancer will develop over a per:.
of years.
The people hving on Bikini we~
ordered eitner to eat no coconuls ¢r
ration themselves to one a day. tu
they were told the coconuts froo
Eneu werestll safe.
The Trust Territory governme”
initiated a feeding program. Exe:
for fish and fowl, the peopie were .
eat nothing but U.S. Department «
Agriculture surplus food.
By Februaryof this year. it was 0°
ficial policy: Bikini was unfit for pec
pie to live on.
In contrast to 1968, the news wi
not announced to the world by tt
President of the United States.