1.4.2 Testing Effects on the Islands Test program effects of concern to this report are primarily those which led to the radiological condition that existed when the cleanup project began. In a broad sense, this must include: (1) construction activities carried on in preparation for a test; (2) the test and its direct effects; (3) post-test actions taken to reduce exposure hazard to workers entering the area, to recover specimens used in the experiment or to modify the area so collection of information by uncleared persons or persons with no need to know would be more difficult; and (4) post-test actions taken to place the proving ground in a caretaker status until the next series of tests. Many of the documents deseribing tests and immediate post-test actions remain classified; however, a useful picture can be constructed from unclassified sources. Test Preparations. Pre-test construction for the first test on each island is not of as much concern as for the second and succeeding tests on the same island because first construction on an island did not mix radionuclides downward into the soil. Test Easy on the west tip of Janet had virtually the same ground zero (GZ) as did Test X-ray three years earlier. Site preparation for Easy included regrading and paving the area, placement of new tower pads, placement of new anchor blocks for the tower cables, and laying of new signal cables used to arm, fire, and monitor the device. Photographs of the area taken from the top and the base of the tower, viewing east by southeast, show two long mounds of earth each about five feet high extending from the tower base to distant bunkers. Burial of coaxial cables was typically performed by digging a trench to a depth five feet above the water table, laying in the eable, backfilling the trench, then covering the cable run with a mound ofsoil five feet above grade. Cables were also sometimes excavated for re-use and the resulting trench again backfilled. Locations of the Test Easy cable runs are readily identifiable in aerial photographs taken in 1972, even though some of the mounds were no longer present when the photo was taken. Additional pre-test construction was performed in the X-ray/Easy GZ area in preparation for a test in Operation Redwing. Cable anchor blocks of concrete were poured but the tower base pad was never placed and the test was not conducted. Results from early testing led to speculation about the cause of certain measured phenomena. Specifically, there was a difference in exposure rates between vegetated and denuded areas when measured in the days immediately following a nuclear test over land. One experiment included in Test Inca on Pearl consisted of removing all vegetation from about half of the island while the other half was essentially undisturbed. The line of demarcation extended from the vicinity of ground zero east across the island. Radiation measuring devices were strategically placed throughout both cleared and uncleared areas at various heights above ground. Results and conclusions of this experiment are not relevant here; but of interest to the cleanup project is the knowledge that the experiment was conducted. Several nuclear tests were conducted upwind of Pearl prior to the Inca event, so fallout on Pear! should have been substantial prior to the devegetation. The act of brush clearing should have mixed the fallout contamination into the top several inches of soil whereas the insoluble fallout would have stayed on the surface in the uncleared area. Gamma-scan data eollected during 1977-79 do not show line of demarcation, possibly because the radioactivity from test Inca was high enough to mask the lesser fallout activity or possibly because of post-test actions that disturbed the surface soil. Test preparations on Irene were extensive prior to several tests. For the Mike event, an earthen causeway was built interconnecting Flora, Gene, Helen, and Irene. All evidence of a causeway has been obliterated by subsequent events. Ivy station 200, a large bunker at the east end of Irene, was built prior to Mike in 1952 and subsequently used for other tests. Material thrown out by the Seminole event in 1956 formed a ridge around the landward side next to the crater. This ridge was pushed aside by bulldozer to provide a line-of-sight (LOS) from Ivy station 200 to the Mike Crater where two more devices were tested a month after Seminole. It is not clear if some of the material was pushed back into the crater or just to the side on land. The surface topography found in 1977 gives no indication of a ridge next to the crater. Subsurface contamination in this area suggests extensive soil disturbance to depths of 100 em or more. The sequence of events that affected Sally is not entirely clear; however, helpful deductions can be derived from the limited records available. Test preparation on Ruby affected the radiological conditions on Sally, as these two islands were connected by an earthen causeway after the Yoke test of 1948 and before the George test of 1951. The roadway to Ruby passed next to the Yoke GZ area then onto the causeway which may have included contaminated soil scraped up in the vicinity of 13