Planning and Programming
113
The Deputy Secretary of Defense also requested that the Chairman, JCS
have the military departments designate, at the earliest practicable date,
the military support units to be deployed forthis project, in order to permit
the initiation of detailed operational planning.233 The Joint Staff decided,
however, tO wait until CONPLAN 1-76 had been revised to reflect all
changes in the concept before formally tasking the Military Services. The
Jointstaff did nottask the Services until 24 January 1977,234
After reviewing the 2 July 1976 CONPLAN, the Joint Staff
recommended that it be modified to include helicopters for medical
evacuation and an annex on communications support.235 Commentsalso
were received from CINCPAC236 and the Air Force Surgeon General.237
Based on these comments and on the provisions of the FY 1977 MILCON
Appropriations Act, CONPLAN I-76 was revised as of 15 September
1976.238 Several annexes were added to conform to the JCS Operations
Plan format. This CONPLANwasresubmitted to the JCS, who approved
it with a few final refinements. These refinements were incorporated as
Change Number| on | February 1977. The final CONPLAN1-76 contained
all the basic policy and concepts and most of the procedures required to
execute the project in accordance with the will of Congress and the
direction of the Secretary of Defense and the JCS.239
THE MISSION: SEPTEMBER 1976
The mission, as authorized by Congress240 and approved by the JCS,24!
was to conduct a full Case 3 EIS cleanup;i.e.:
a. Physical hazards will be removed from all islands.
b. Obstructions to development of habitations and agriculture will be
removed.
c. Unsalvable nonradioactive material will be disposed of in accordancewith appropriate procedures.
d. Boken, Lujor, and Runit plutonium concentrations greater than 400
pCi/g will be excised, and all other concentrations between 400 and
40 pCi/g will be dealt with on an individual basis (seven islandsare in
this range). Concentrations of less than 40 pCi/g will not be
disturbed. Cleanup of plutonium is expected to be performed
—™ Oo
iteratively until a sufficiently low concentration level is attained.
. Plutonium will be removed from the burial crypts on Aomon.
Radioactive scrap will be removed from all islands in the Atoll.
(Radioactive scrap has been identified on nine islands.)
g. Radioactive materials will be disposed of by crater containment on
Runit.242