(4)
~ Bikini IslandersLose Out Again
died of leukemia. another of cancer of
Geatinned from 3th Page
the stomach. believed to have been
caused by the Bravo fallout.
Bikina Island. although unoccupied,
was intensely irradiated, a fact which
would have consequences which will
be felt for generauions.
The Bravo disaster and the worldwide publicity given to it played a
in the eventual suspension of nuclear testing in 1958—the year of the
23rd
and final shot at Bikini—and ia
projects and wrecked tne Jail cotothe nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963,
ny.
which ended atmosphene testing by
After that, according to Tobin, the
_ the United Slates, Britain and the Soheart seemed to go out of the exiles.
_ viet Union.
With the end of testing. pressure
mounted to return the exies to Buuni.
On March 1, 1354, test shot Bravo,
William
Norwood, now living in rean H-bomb 750 times more powerful
than the first atorme bomb, was extirement in Hawaii, setved as high
ploded al Bikini with tragic results.
commissioner of the Trust Territory
An unpredicted wind shift after the
from 1966 to 1969.
In a recent internew with The
blast had sent the 20-mile-high cloud
of radioactive particles drifung in the
Times, he said, “We had, of course.
vide a_ transportation link to Jaiuit
Atoll, where a colony of Bikinians had
been established as part of the com™murmity development project: At first
the scheme prospered, morale improved and some thought the Bikinians mightlearn to adjust io Kili.
Then, late in 1957, and early the
nent year, typhoons sank the copra
boat, destroyed the new agriculiural
wrong direction, across Bikini {sland
and beyond The plumestretched 240
mules long and 40 miles wide, over an
area far outside the restncted danger
zane.
.
The experts warned
Rongelap, Rongenk and Utlrik
that the coconut crabs
should not be eaten.
osed a3 cancerous Thirty-five have
had their thyraids removed One has
In May, 1967, some umeafter a formai requem by Secretary af the in-
atolls, ail inhabited by Marshallese
and U.S. multary personnel, were in OSarcsoneche
Une path of the failout, which in some
places fluttered down like anowflakes, “phen under pressurefrom the Buuni
ie themselves to ge! them off of
Twenty-eight Amencans, 244 MarIL They were constantly asking to
shallese and—although it was not
known unul sometime tater—23 be pul on some other island. They
crewmen of the Japanese fishing boat hoped first and foremost for Buluru.
Fudcuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon) were ... | remember being introduced to
Semously irradiated. One crewman Chief Juda, who very emationaily and
persuasively, and almost Learfully,
med of complications. The rest spen
eaded with me to ether get them
a year in hospitals.
.
‘
ck Lo Bikini or, failing that. to get
The Amencans and the Marshalthem a better place than Kili.”
lese. evacuated and treated on mulitaNorwood said that dbout the same
ry hospitals almost immediately, did
not seem at the lime to have suffered lime a representative of the Atomic
manent harm. No one seems to Energy Commussion—he does not recall his name—told him that monitorwhat happened to ihe Americans. But over the years. 47 of the ing of Bikinis radiation levels indiMarshallese have developed thyrad cated il might now de safe once again
abucrmalties, seven af them diagn- for permanent reoccupation.
radiation levels in the interior of the
island were too high to pernnt peopie
to buiid and live in homes there.
“We didn't really find any surpnses
ts that external radiation field.” smd
Tommy McCraw, who had been invotved in both the 1967 and the 1975
surveys,
However, al the same time. it was
determined for the first time that locally grown breadfruit and pandanus
—two popular ilems of diel—were Lao
fadiogclive to be safely consumed
over the long term. Coconuts, even
Se
The internal dose had
risen dramatically between 1974 and 1977.
SE
more of a stapie in the local diet, were
reported to be safe.
‘Then last summer, 2 Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory study done for
the Energy Research and Develop-
ment Agency. an AEC successor
agency, found that well water on Bikind exceeded federal standards for
Tadioactive stronuum 90.
Other levels of radiation on the island were so high, according to the
report. that there was liltie margin
for safe absorption of any addjuonal
doses from the food chain.
But, at the same ume, ERDA enVironinental safety official Roger Ray
ee ee
terior Stewart Udall, the AEC sent a
team of technologists to make an intensive radiological survey of the
atoll.
On Aug. 12, 1968, President Johnson announced that Bikini was safe,
that it would be rehabilitated and resetUed “with al! possible dispatch.”
Glenn T. Seatorg, AEC chairman,
explained that the President's final
decision had been based on the recommendation of “eight of the most
highly qualfied experts available” cfter studying the 1967 survey results
and unammously concluding that Bikini [sland and Eneu Island, 10 miles
away, were radiclogicaily safe
enough to allow reestaplshment of
the Bikunians there.
The experts—all either AEC employes or employes of AEC contractors —warned that the coccnut crabs
showid not be eaten because of their
high content of strontium 90. There
were no warnings about anyother local foods, They recommended that
Tadiological checks be made periodicaily to determine how much radiation the people were being expesed to
from external environmental sources
and from ther deb
Chief Juda did not live to hear the
news. He had died—shortly defore
the Johnson announcement—of cancer, which he believed bad teen
caused by his exposure Lo the first Abomb test in 1946, 4 cluum scicnusts
are inchned to discount
ronically, especiully in view of
what was to be learned 10 years Inter,
several Bikinains expressed suspicion
about the foad growing on the contaMmnated atoll during a tour of the islands a few weeks after the Johnson
announcement
One of the Bilunians, named Jibaj,
even refused to Louch food from the
atcll, insisung It was porschous.
Another, Layo, made J forecast
that. from the perspecuve of 1978.
seems far mote acute and accurate
than the predictions of any of the U.S.
bureaucrats or scienusts, “It will take
said it would be
Nure to say Chat
the Blkinians ‘thould be mored—ofd
their atoll
By fall. though, there no longer
‘Was any question: Ray told a meeung
of the Bikini-Kilj Council in Mayuro
that Bikum Island “should no lon
be conmdered a permanent wile.
ment” and advised that considerauon,
be given to moving the settlement ta
eu.
It seemed the scientists had now
determined that the Bikinians were
absorbing rad:auion al a rate substanally above the federal safety standard of .5 rem per year, a measurement of radiauon dosage of any kind
producing biological effects in man.
According to the Department of
Energy (successor to ERDA) the external cose on Bikua Island in 1977
was 2, the same as in 1974 But the
internal dose, measured by an mstrument called the whale body oounter, had mscn dramaucally in three
years—froma a top reading of O67 in
1974 to a top of
in 1977.
And the coconut was nimed as the
Tatoaclive “villain,” ance it was the
only locay grown food then bemg
consumed in any quanuly. As one
SGenust put it, the coconut paims
Were "sopping up”radioactive cesium
137 and stronuum 90 at a ech
greater rate than anyone predicted,
Picase Tura to Page 10, Col 1
100 years before the islands are back
in shape a
" Tobin reported him
ag saying.“ . . . The asiands are com‘pletely runed now.”
Sul, despile their suspicions and
the obvious enormity of the job, the
Bikinians on the tour apparently were
convinced by the officals and scientists that at least the islands of Bixini
and Encu, 10 miles away, could be
made livable.
The Bikamians reported the ¢ond:.
tions they had seen and the plans that
were being made for rehabilitauon to
their fellow islanders on Kili. Only
two or three of the 200 then living
there voled against the sdea of an
eventual return to Biluni.
The cleanup began in February,
1969, using some Bilunians on the
work crew, The rest of the rehabibtation project—plowing up Bian and
Eneu Isiands, replanung them with
food crops, began jater the samme year.
A few families began moving baci Lo.
Bikini.
By 1974, the $325,000 cleanup and
the $3 million rchabilitguon program
was through its first phase. Forty of
the planned 80 homes had been erected.
Then. as planning for the second
phase was begnning, the Bikimans
said they wanted to locale some of
the new structures in the inlencr of
the island.
The following year, another AEC
radologicaj survey was made, this
Ume in more detail. It was found that