316

RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL

contaminated
soil would
have to be removed to bring it. to res idenyj
.
op

transuranics level,: while
little or . no cleanup106
was required up der Mal
oer
the

current transuraniccriteria for agriculture use.!9°
Becauseof its distane
from Runit, removal of the estimated 58,286 cubic yards from Enieb
t
would require all available boat assets, leaving none for Aomon, Boken
and Lujor. It was suggested that Enjebi might be cleaned to 50 pCi/g then
plowed to dilute the contamination, however, no decision could be Made
on that proposal until the results and acceptability of plowing were better
known.

As a possible alternative to Enjebi for northern residence, the three.

island complex of Aomon-Bijire-Lowja was considered. It appeareq that
Aomon could be cleaned to residential levels by removing approximately
3,500 cubic yards more soil than that required to bring it to agriculture
levels. That would qualify the Aomon-Bijire-Lojwa complex for residentia|
use, assuming the dri-Enewetak could resolve the problem of Ownership

of those islands.

It was decided that no change could be made at present to the long-

standing policy that residence would be on the southernislands only,
Future residence on Enjebi would depend on the results of transuranic
cleanup and the plowing experiment, plus the eventual decayof strontium

and cesium. !07

meee bee

BULK-HAUL DECISION
The next key issue was whether to modify some landing craft for bulk

haul to increase the total capability to approximately 80,000 cubic yards per
year or to accept the limited capability of hauling loaded trucks. Navy
representatives expressed concern about the reconfiguration required and
the possible contamination that might occur to the boats, which the Navy
had on loan from the Army with the stated understanding that the boats
would be returned to the Army at the end of the operation in an ‘‘asreceived’’ condition. However, Captain David MacClary, the senior Navy

representative (from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations), pointed

out that it appeared that the Army would give the boats to the Navy so the
problem of boat rehabilitation might be easily resolved.

Commander Theodore Krumm, COMNAVSURFPACrepresentative,

expressed concern about contamination hazardsfor the craft and the crews
which would operate them. It was pointed out that, with the proposed
bulk-haul configuration, craft decontamination problems would be
minimized. This would, of course, be verified on scene during the weekly
maintenance and decontamination of eachcraft.

fr

It was suggested that additional boats and trucks might solve the soil
transportation problem. Lieutenant Colonel Howard Miller, of USASCH,
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