UNITESTATES ATOMIC ENERGY congission © NEVADA OPERATIONS OF . PLO. BOX 14100 ; ee ok , LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 841 rh as “4 tees edigig a R. E. Hollingsworth General Manager, HQ ENIWETOK ta approximately one year, NV has become aware of, c facts: a. increasingly coucerned about, certain conditions ‘at Enivetox Atoll. My concern stems from three It has appeared probable that Eniwetok, which has not yet had a Bikini-style radiological cleanuo, would soon be a candidate for rehabilitation and return to the Marshallese. Since mid-April 1972, this probability has become reality, with a public commitment by the United States to return Eniwetok to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by the end of 1973. (See Encl. 1). | b. It has been known, due to the nature of the testing vhich was conducted at Eniwetok, that cleanup and rehabilitation when it did occur would be significantly more difficult and more costly than had been similar activities at Bikini. It was also suspected that increased environmental sensitivity and political and public visibility would be complicating factors in an Eniwetok rehabilitation. ce There were and are on-going activities of the Department of Defense and other public and private esencies which could aggravate the known (and unknown) radiological problems and which could subject their participants to unnecessary and unacceptable radiological exposures. The following is a chronology of recent NV actions pertaining to Eniwetok: July 1971 A NV and EPA participated with Air Force PACE Program personnel in e preliminary site -selection visit to Enivetok. ‘The Aix Force CONFIRMED 0 BE UNCLASSIFIED AUTHORIY: ‘DOE/SA~20 BY G.R. SCHMIDT, DATE: i bbb iq Jl 10H © A