RESETTLEMENT OF PEOPLE 1974 JUNE Kwajalein: The total Ameri- is extremely likely to have tragic consequences, particularly for the younger members of the inhabitants..." can population in Kwajalein Atoll is 4,114, including dependents, of which only 36 are military. 3,737 Americans live on 900 acre Kwajalein Island, 1975 APRIL Enewetak: Iroij (chief) Jo- with the remainder on Roi Namur (292) anej Peter of Enewetak, appeals to a U. S. Senate Armed Services subcommittee to provide funding for the cleanup project, so the people can return home. and four other islands. American civilians work on Kwajalein as techni- cians involved in the missile testing, medical corpspeople, security guards, mechanics, electricians, bartenders, Enewetak: Lt. General Warren D. Johnson, head of the Defense Nuclear Agency, asks cooks and other jobs needed for the operation of the missile range. the U.S. Congress to furd the cleanup his agency will carry out. Bikini: Representatives of the Kili Council return to Bikini to inspect the new houses and review the rehabilitation progress. He cites the U.S.‘s “moral commitment" to return the people to Enewetak. the "Draft Environmental Impact State- JUNE Bikini: During regular monitoring of Bikini, radiological tests discover "higher levels of radioactivity than originally thought" and it "appears to settlement of Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands.'' The EIS states that radioactivity is much greater in the northerm islands because a majority of the Bikini: An AEC survey points out that SEPTEMBER Enewetak: The AEC releases ment - Cleanup, Rehabilitation and Re- be hotter or questionable as to safety,’ states an Interior Department representative. 43 nuclear blasts were conducted near these islands. Therefore, the EIS suggests no habitation in the north, some wells on Bikini Island are too radioactive for drinking purposes. although about half of the people wish AUGUST Bikini: AEC data on local foods to return to the northern island of Enjebi, their ancestral home. The EIS proposes dumping radioactive soil and debris from the other islands in Enewetak into an atomic bomb crater on Runit Island. The radioactive material would then be mixed with cement to form a massive concrete dome. grown on Bikini Island point to the need to prohibit consumption of pandanus, breadfruit and coconut crabs. Enewetak: The U.S. Congress refuses to approve funds to cleanup the radioactive debris on Enewetak Atoll. Bikini: During medical tests,urine — — samples from the 100 people living on DECEMBER Enewetak: The Environmental Bikini show the presence of low levels Protection Agency in a review of the cleanup plan, states: "The fact that crater entombment is only a semi-per- of plutonium 239 and 240. Dr. Conard of Brookhaven comments that these find- Enewetak: The cleanup plan is questioned by Edward Martell, a scientist for- OCTOBER Bikini: The Bikinians file a program in the Marshalls. ing that a complete scientific survey manent solution should be recognized." “merly involved in the nuclear testing He expresses concern over the ''very doubtful merits of proceeding with the resettlement of Enewetak Atoll on the basis of the recommendations of a Task Group assembled by the AEC and the Department of Defense. The resettlement of such sites 25 5002620 ings "are probably not radiologically significant." law suit in U.S. federal court, demand- of Bikini and the northern Marshall Islands be conducted. The law suit maintains that the U.S. possesses and has used highly sophisticated technical equipment to measure radiation at Ene(continued on page 27)