468 sy RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL FIGURE 8-52. SECOND EXTENSION, CACTUS CRATER STRUCTURE. EXCESS ATTAPULGITE DISPOSAL As the container cap was being completed, another disposal problem becamecritical. Only 38 percentof the attapulgite anticipated in the design was used. This resulted in the need to dispose of over 14,000 bags which remained on the atoll. After several months of seeking local solutions, the JTG reported the excess in June 1979, 139 i - Attempts were made to find other government agencies with a requirementfor the attapulgite. One was located in Louisiana; however, it was determined that the cost of repackaging the bags, which had deteriorated badly at Enewetak, and shipping them to New Orleans would exceed the cost of new attapulgite. Other disposal methods, such as lagoon dumping or spreading it on the Fig-Quince area of Runit, were rejected on environmental grounds. On 13 September 1979, the JTG was authorized to seal the excess attapulgite in existing concrete bunkers on Runit. The bunkers were marked to identify permanently the material they contained, !40 co