2 Soil Cleanup Planning ommand eld C othel Fi directorates Continued to provide staff management roject in their functional areas of responsibility, while the Special : lor the Pes primary concerns were radiological studies and the Aanization of Runit. though the minutes of the Runit Cleanup Conference were far from “sy completed, Field Command instructed the CJTG on 2! October 1977 me ‘a the soil characterization of Runit as soon as possible. The (0 OE ons were untimely, because they arrived just as the Field ation Support Team (FRST) members—who would have to survey a mark the 50-meter grid, then search out and remove plutoniumcontaminated metal fragments #9 —_were completing their 179-day remporary duty (TDY) assignment. The original team was trying to complete several other island surveys before they departed, and the new foam was just beginning initial training at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Theinitial survey of Runit could not begin until the second week in November 1977 0.31 The JTG Radiation Control Division (J-2) developed a schedule to coordinate FRST, ERSP, and United States Army Element (USAE) efforts for the characterization of Runit (Figure 6-l). Machetes, chain saws, and other hand tools were used by the FRST and USAE to clear brush around original survey markers and in the Fig-Quince area, while ihe USAE used bulldozers to debrush larger areas. A 50-meter grid was surveyed and marked on the island north of the hot line. The grid was intensified to 25 meters in the Fig-Quince area. Extraordinary radiological protection measures were employed during this and all subsequent operations on north Runit. Once the grid was established, the FRST conducted a search for the muilligrant-size and larger fragments of plutonium-contaminated metal which had precipitated the earlier quarantine of Runit. The search was made with Field Instrument for the Detection of Low-Energy Radiation (FIDLER) probes. Hot spots were excised with a shovel and placed in plastic bags, which were held for future burial in the crater. This operation was intended to minimize the contribution of the hot fragments to in situ readings and minimize the volume of soil to be excised. In practice, the procedure was slow and the value of its results was questionable, considering the cost in time and manpower diverted from cleanup operations. Soil profile samples were taken using earth augers operated by the USAE and probes operated by the FRST. Backhoes were usedto cut 12 pits in various areas and to cut 4 trenches across the berms in the north central the walls of the pits , Soil samples were taken at intervals in chest. und tren of Runi area R r