64 RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL beginning of DNA’s involvement in the Enewetak Cleanup Project3 Shortly after the conference, DOI formally notified President Nixon's personal representative for the MSN, Ambassador Franklin Haydn Williams, of the following decisions: a. The United States was phasing down research programs to permit an early return of the atoll to the TTPI. b. Cleanup and rehabilitation of three islands— Medren (Elmer), Japtan (David), and Ananij (Bruce) —could begin in 1973. c. Subject to TTPI permission to continue the four test programs then scheduled, the United States was prepared to release the atoll at the end of 1973.4 These decisions were made public on [8 April 1972 in a joint statement by Ambassador Williams and the High Commissioner of the TTPI, the Honorable Edward E. Johnston. The announcement stated that, prior to actual resettlement of the atoll, it would be necessary to carry out the same type of survey, cleanup, and rehabilitation that had been carried out at Bikini. It also stated that the United States planned to commence the surveylater that summer. The survey did begin in 1972; however, due to unforeseen events which are described in subsequent sections, the atoll was not released until 16 September 1976, and formal cleanup operations did not begin until 1977. DETERMINING THE SCOPE OF WORK: MAY 1972 On 10-24 May 1972, a preliminary radiological survey and initial reconnaissanceof the atoll was madeby representatives from AEC, DNA, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Western Environmental Research Laboratory, and the University of Washington. They were joined on 18-20 May 1972 by representatives of the U.S. Air Force, TTPI, and the dri-Enewetak and their attorneys, Micronesian Legal Services Corporation (MLSC), for conferences and tours of some major islands. Dri-Enewetak representatives included Iroij (Chief) Johannes Peter of the dri-Enewetak, Iroij Lorenzi Jitiam of the dri-Enjebi, and the Ujelang Community Council. This was their first visit to their homeland since they were removed in 1947. The tour party included several key participants in the subsequent planning and cleanup efforts, such as Mr. Peter T. Coleman, the Deputy High Commissioner of the TTPI, Mr. Oscar DeBrum, the TTPI District Administrator of the Marshall Islands, Mr. Roger Ray of the Nevada Operations Office of the AEC (AEC-NV), and Mr. Theodore R. Mitchell, Executive Director of the MLSC. What they found were badly deteriorated test and supportfacilities, which had been evacuated in 1958 almost as if for a fire drill rather than the end of an era. On Medren,