CHAPTER6 SOIL CLEANUP PLANNING INITIAL STRATEGY The cleanup of contaminated soil involved many more management anc technical problems than did the cleanup of contaminated debris. The initia strategy was to develop andtest soil survey and removal techniques during the Mobilization Phase so that there would be no delay in beginning the actual cleanup phase on 15 November 1972. The basic guidance had beer set forth in Field Command Operations Plan (OPLAN) 600-77 and, ir May and June, Field Command began developing priorities and schedule: for the island-by-island cleanup operations.! Basically, the planners in the Field Command’s Hawaii office and their counterparts in the 84tt Engineer Battalion of the U.S. Army Support Command Hawai (USASCH), working on atoll with the Environmental Research an Development Agency (ERDA)-Enewetak Radiological Support Projec (ERSP) managers, developed and refined proceduresfor inclusion in th USASCH cleanup phase operations order. These procedures wouk employa strategy of testing soil survey and removal techniques on Enjeb (Janet) and then continuing cleanup work there to reduce plutoniun concentrations to levels below 40 pico curies per gram (pCi/g), thereb qualifying the island for residential/agricultural use once fission product decayed to safe levels.2,3 Concurrent debris and soil surveys and cleanu| then would proceed to the next island, Boken (Irene), then Lujor (Pearl) then Aomon (Sally), leaving Runit (Yvonne) until last. Unknowns (o which there were to be many) would be dealt with on a pragmatic basis a: they were encountered. By conducting debris and soil cleanu concurrently whenever possible, channel clearance, logistics, anc transportation problems would be minimized.4.5-6 It was envisioned tha all contaminated debris, including that from Runit, could be collected o: Runit before tremie operations began so that it could be encased in thi slurry. Concurrently, contaminated soil from the other islands would bi stockpiled on Runit. When the stockpile was sufficiently large to sustail operations, the tremie operation would begin. As the placement o contaminated soil and debris and slurry reached the water line, an attemp would be made to determine the amount of contaminated materiz remaining to be contained so that a determination of the final size an shape of the dome might be possible.’.8 It was assumed that, if thi jee ee strategy were followed, some resources would remain in the closin monthsof the cleanup to tackle Runit surface contamination. The Defens 265