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RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL

level established for surface contamination on Runit.!2° The suggestion

was nearly identical to the original alternative c proposed by Field
Command earlier in March 1979. The suggestion was rejected again on the
grounds that the EIS did not specifically authorize the spreading of lowlevel excised soil from one island on another island. The Commander,
Field Command issued new guidance to the effect that maximum effort
should be exerted to excise, transport, and encapsulate Lujor soil and to
transport and encapsulate soil and debris from Enjebi and Aomon. No
more soil from Runit would be encapsulated at this time. To carry out this
guidance, the CJTG would be required to insure selective excision of

Lujor soil and optimize usage of boats for soil transport to Runit.!2!

The Director, DNA and the Commander, Field Command anticipated

that future action to reduce transuranic levels on Runit would be possible,

at least to reduce the “‘hot spots’’; i.e., the areas which indicate increased

levels of activity after the first excision. The CJTG was tasked to develop a

plan for the selective excision of hot spots on Runit, with the focus on the
Fig-Quince area. In preparing the plan, full consideration was to be given

to: impact of additional work on Runit on the soil removal effort on Lujor;

availability of equipment, personnel, and time to complete the soil

removal plan for the Runit hot spots; and, the impact of the plan on crater
fill and crater capping operations. !22

As a separate but related matter, the CJTG reported that excavation of
the Cactus Crater lip on the island side of the containment structure would
be necessary to permit adjustment in the keywall alignment and proposed

that this soil be encapsulated as it was excavated. This soil was initially

thought to be highly contaminated. Field Command guidance directed
stockpiling of any soil from the crater lip until such time as the
determination was made on the disposition of all Runit soil.!23 Actually,
this crater lip soil proved, in subsequenttests, to have very low transuranic

levels; i.e., 5 pCi/g.

By mid-May, Boken and Enjebi soil excavation and transport to Runit
were complete. The Aomon crypt had been cleaned andbackfill initiated.
All Aomon debris had been hauled to Runit, and Aomon soil transport
operations were underway, with 8,300 cubic yards of soil remaining to be
transported. Soil excavation was almost complete on Lujor, and 4,900
cubic yards of an estimated 16,000 cubic yardsof soil had been transported

to Runit. Considering dome space remaining and estimatedsoil yet to be
encapsulated, it appeared that there still would be approximately 5,600
cubic yards of space available for Runit soil when that operation was

renewed,!24

On 25-29 May 1979, the Commander, Field Command visited Enewetak
to review the cleanup progress and conduct a change of command. Colonel!
Kenneth E. Halleran, USA, replaced Colonel Robert Bauchspies as the

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