Chapter 3
BIKINI OPERATIONS

3.1

Facilities and Services

Operations similar to those at Eniwetok were carried out at Bikial,
Control points were established as required, primary points being the boat
landing and the helicopter pad. In addition, for afloat operations, check
pointa and radiological-safety centers were established on the USNS Alnsworth,
the USS Curtise, the USS Badoeng Strait, the USS Estes, and the USS Catamount. These rad-aafe centers included plotting and briefing areas, clothing
and equipment issue points, and personnel-decontamination stations.

Radex

areas were established as required fn a manner similar to that discussed
for Eniwetok,

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$.1.1—Personnel-decontamination facilities, which were a duplicate of

those on Eniwetok, were established on Enyu Island adjacent to the Rad-Safe
Building. Approximately 3400 people were processed. Laundry services
necessary to maintain the protective clothing were provided by H&N personnel

using the laundry facilities that were installed on the rad-safe barge. This
barge provided complete personne|-decontamination facilities as well as
loundry facilities and was to be used only in the event that operations were
to be conducted entirely from shipboard. Only the laundry facilitles were
ever used,
3.1.2—The equipment-decontamination station on Bikini processed ap-

proximately 100 vehicles during the operation. In addition, several hellcupters
were decontaminated for the Marines. Army Chemical Corps decontamination
trucks were used for all equipment-decontamination operations as no steam

generator was available at Bikini.
3.1.3—As at Eniwetok, the Plotting and Briefing Section was responsible
for all surveys. These surveys were corcucted by helicopter. A pre-entry
survey was flown at H+2 to H+4 hr, with a detailed one following at approximately H+6 hr. Other detalled surveys of the entire atoll were flown on

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