396 RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL | with coral pinnacles, the landing area was a narrow point of sand, and the current through the funnel was extremely strong. DOE-ERSP re-1My Peg the island and estimated that 24,500 cubic yards of soil, muchof it in the brush windrows, was over 80 pCi/g. The consensus on Enewetak was that Lujor could not be cleaned if the target date for completing the crater cap were to be met.8 However, the JTG Commander, Western Command Project Officer, and the new Director of Enewetak Operations at Field Command (Colonel! Robert L Peters, USA, who had replaced COL Treat in November 1978) believe it ' ‘ was possible to clean Lujor, as well as Runit.69 Review of the amount of soil remaining to be encrypted from Boken, Enjebi, and Aomon determined that sufficient volumn remainedin the Cactus Crater dometg accommodate all of that soil plus that to be removed from Lujor without exceeding a dome height of 25 feet. Even then, up to 12,000 cubic yards from the highest areas of contamination on Runit; i.e., Fig-Quince still could be accommodated. The alternative was to devote all resources to seme cleanup of Runit, to do no cleanup of Lujor, and to risk—after moving significant amounts of soil and excavating in depth—no changein the overall island status for Runit. Favorable aspects of the Lujor proposal included: (1) the Lujor effort would have a significant impact since its status would be changedto the benefit of the dri-Enewetak; (2) the final status of Lujor would meetthe original agreed position/condition in the EIS and Master Plan; (3) excavated soil could be transported and accommodated in the Cactus Crater as designed within current time schedules; and (4) intensiveeffort could be applied simultaneously to both Runit (to keep the soil-cement ‘ operation in high gear) and Lujor, to the benefit of the total project. Despite the expected problems with access to Lujor, soil trafficability, additional bulk-haul boat configuration requirements, and increasedstrain : f on already over-taxed and worn equipment, the Director, DNA decidedat a March 1979 meeting to attempt the cleanup of Lujor soil over 80 pCi/g and, concurrently, to clean Runit using the remaining resources.’ Within a week, the USNE’s WBCT and EOD teamsbegan operations to widen and deepen the channel. Using thousands of pounds of explosives, the channel eventually was altered to accommodate both LCM-8 and LCU craft. Channel improvement operations were completed in mid-April 1979. Initial attempts to bring LCM-8s into shore were hazardous, but successful. The strong tradewinds, in combination with the swift currentin the channel, demandedthe highestskills on the part of the boat coxswains | and crews. Thedifficulties experienced by the LCM-8s indicated that even greater hazards would be experienced by the larger LCU craft. Underclose supervision, and using the best boat operators available, an LCU, using full power, negotiated the channel with extreme difficulty after four eee i