MINUTES OF CONFERENCE
1.

<A conference convened at Las Vegas, Nevada, 4-5 October 1977 to examine

means of meeting requirements for a more definitive, quantitative characterization of the scope of work involved in the radiological cleanup of Runit
Island, Enewetak Atoll.
The message convening the conference is enclosure

1.

A listing of participants and observers is enclosure 2.

2.
The conference opened with introduction of participants and observers,
and brief remarks by BG Grayson D. Tate, Jr., Commander, Field Command,

Defense Nuclear Agency, and Mr. Roger Ray, Department of Energy, Nevada

Operations Office, DOE Project Officer.
General Tate stressed the overall
importance of Runit in the cleanup, the necessity to obtain a better
definition of the scope of work involved, and the desire to explore alternative methods of meeting cleanup requirements.
Mr. Ray addressed the purpose of the conference and the possible alternative of performing cleanup
of Runit first in order to determine resources remaining for use on other
islands of the atoll.
3.
The chairman briefly reviewed the background of the cleanup, the
cleanup requirements, the plan of operations to achieve cleanup, and the
specific problem relating the scope of work on Runit to total resources

and the availability of resources for cleanup of other islands (enclosure
3).

Mr. McCraw questioned the FCDNA position that cleanup of all soil

contaminated to levels of greater than 400 pCi/g is mandatory and has

priority over cleanup of contamination levels between 40 and 400 pCi/g.
Mr. McCraw stated that the intent of the AEC Task Group had been to place

both conditions at equal priorityso long as resources were available.
LTC(P) Sanches read an extract from the AEC Task Group report on this
subject (enclosure 4).
(More explanation of enclosure 4 can be found

on pages 8 & 9 of Appendix III.) (See also enclosure 7)
The chairman
reiterated the FCDNA position and the fact that resources are constrained,
limiting the total amount of work which can be done.
This condition

forces consideration of reducing the scope of work involved on Runit

and the placing of priorities on tasks considered to firm requirements.
4.
Dr. Bramlitt reviewed the available data, how the data was obtained
and showed views of the island as it appeared during test operations and

as it appears now. Printed data is enclosure 5. There were discussions
of Plutonium/Americium ratios, plutonium 238 to plutonium 239/240 ratios
and uranium contamination levels.
Dr. Bramlitt reviewed the work done
on the Erie test site and sampling methods used on areas of southern
Runit.

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