se
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erations
Soil Cleanup Op

iple turns made the
attempts. The wind, the current, and the mult
hed the beacharea, a 90ac
re
U
C
L
e
e
th
.
c
n
le
ch
O
oa
ib
pr
ss under full power to beach the craft. The exit from
ap
poed
imir
virtuaslly qu

separate

degree turn

YS

wa re

rea also was hazardousin that a full reversal of engine thrust
the beach a
4g require d. On the trial run, despite best efforts, the LCU was forced

as coral shelf when attempting to exit the channel. It was clearly
ge
spvious that the bulk-haul LCUs could not be used without major dama
to the craft.

From these trials, it was decided that all soil movement from Lujor

would be accomplished using bulk-haul LCM-8s only. Based on this
decision, and the constraint to deliver all soil to Runit in sufficient time to
complete soil-cement operations, the conversion of three additional LCM-

gs was requested and approved. All of the training and experience gained

~

in soil cleanup on other islands paid off on Lujor. Soil excision began on 7
April 1979 in the areas indicated in Figure 7-50. The noncommissioned
officer in charge of soil removal and his men removed6-inch layers of the
fine soil with the skill of surgeons. Cross contamination of layers was

reduced to a minimum bytheir careful efforts and by a highly effective
worksite layout. By removing the windrows and other high levels of
contamination first, the halo effect was reduced and the amount of
adjacent soil requiring removal was lessened. As a result of these actions,
soil cleanup to agriculture levels was achieved by removing only 14,513

cubic yards of surface soil as opposed to the 24,500 cubic yards estimate,

plus 416 cubic yards of subsurface contamination discovered during the
Fission Products Data Base Survey.

The Army provided an additional 5-cubic-yard bucket loader for the
Lujor operation, vastly improving soil removal and bulk-haul efficiency.
Army equipment operators, Navy boat crews, and Air Force FRST
members worked from first light until dusk to accomplish the mission, and
they set new soil transport records almost daily. They increased soil
removal rates from some1,500 cubic yards per week to over 4,000 cubic
yards, reaching a peak of 4,288 cubic yards during the week of 26 May-l
June 1979,

Crater containmenthad fallen 6 weeks behind schedule due to lack of
soil. The increased soil transport efforts, plus equally outstanding efforts

w

by the crater containment crews once they were provided working
material, soon put the operation back on schedule.

Theinitial soil cleanup of Lujor was completed on 8 June 1979. A second

cleanup of subsurface contamination discovered by the fission products

survey was completed on 7-8 July 1979.7! Figures 7-51 and 7-52 show the
island before and after cleanup. Theisland wascertified by the DOE-ERSP
as having no half-hectare averaging greater than 63 pCi/g of surface

contamination and less than 160 pCi/g subsurface, qualifying it for

Select target paragraph3