7.2.2 Elmer Background Island Elmer (Marshallese: Medren) lies just south of the Deep Passage in the southeastern area of the Atoll, and has an area of 80.0 hectares. Elmer was one of the main support islands during nuclear testing operations, so many buildings, concrete pads and other facilities were constructed on the island. Most of these remained until the cleanup. The metal debris and structures were uncontaminated except for parts of a few former laboratory buildings. There were no ground zero sites on Elmer, no known or suspected burial sites, except possibly for an old decontamination area. Elmer's accumulated H +1 hour exposure rate of 2.6 R/h resulted from fallout from five events. 1972 Survey Results Soil samples were taken at 51 locations on Elmer, with 0-125 em profile samples taken at eight locations, and 0-15 em core samples at the remaining 43 locations. Several animal and vegetation samples were also taken. One location on Elmer showed unusually high gamma exposure readings in the 1972 aerial survey results. This was determined to have been caused by a 60Co source which had been left behind when test operations ended; the source was subsequently removed. Other areas of the island which had somewhatelevated activity were near old decontamination and laboratory facilities. The depth distributions of 137Cs, 90sr and 239,240py activities were all roughly similar, either decreasing slowly with depth or Tan8 constant,at,a very low activity. Tables 7-1, 7-2, and 7-3 summarize the 0-15 em data for! Sr and 2 240pu, respectively. Characterization Results IMP measurements were taken at 25 m spacing in the area of Elmer where the laboratory and decontamination facilities had been. A total of 91 locations were measured in October and November 1978, and no significant concentrations of TRU activity were found. Six soil samples were also taken using the standard procedure (see Section 4.2.1), and the activities of 137Cs and TRU were less than 1.0 pCi/g in all the samples. Soil was removed by Joint Task Group personnel in the summer of 1978 This contamination appeared to have been caused by laboratory or technical activities during testing operations. Portable instruments were used to locate the contamination and define the cleanup boundaries. No other soil removal was required for Elmer to satisfy Condition C. The data from the 1972 survey were determined to be sufficient for the dose assessment (see Section 6.11), so Elmer was not sampled in the Fission Product Data Base Program. The island average transuranics value reported in the Certification is 0.3 pCi/gm for surface soil, and the transuranics classification is Residence. 7.2.3 Fred Background Island Fred (Marshallese: Enewetak) is the largest island in the Atoll at 130.0 hectares, It was one of the main support bases during nuclear testing operations and also was a support area for various programs after nuclear testing including the cleanup of the Atoll There were many structures, concrete pads, and an 8,000-foot runway on Fred when the cleanup began. A numberof the buildings were rehabilitated for use by the people of Enewetak, and the runway was also left in place. Because of the numerous buildings, Fred had only sparse vegetation. 208