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

Select target paragraph3