(Pete, I have no idea whether or not any real thought has
been given to the reoccupation of Bikini.
It seems to me that
with the population expanding rapidly in the Pacific it is only
a matter of time before pressure develops to do so.
your opinion?)
What is
As I see it, the project should be primarily under the
direction of the Trust Territory Agriculturalists working with
Marshallese as much as possible, but with the cooperation of
groups such as ours and with the financial support of another
agency such as the AEC.
As you are no doubt well aware, funds
for new projects are very difficult
to come by in these days of
cutbacks of established projects.
It is therefore important
that all possible ammunition for justification be assembled before
seriously exploring possible avenues of support and that the
planning be such that the potential results would serve as broadly
aS possible.
I want to make it clear that this is still just at the
"thinking about it" stage.
Our participation, if desirable,
would have to be very limited.
If you have a strong feeling
that it should be done I would be glad to take up the matter in
detail with our Director, Dr. Donaldson.
He has given some
thought to the idea and I feel sure that if a strong enough case
can be made he would be most helpful in advising on the draft of
a proposal and in getting the proposal into the most receptive
channels,
Mr. Allen has probably told you that the test plots at
Rongelap are showing positive differences between treated and
untreated plots in the growth and condition of coconut seedlings.
The most spectacular differences continue to be in the sand near
the shore at Kabelle Islet, but are also very definite at the
Rongelap Islet plantation.
The levels of radiocesium and radiostrontium in the land
organisms
However,
continue to decline slowly in most areas at Rongelap.
the radionuclides in fish have declined much more
rapidly and are now so tow in some fish as to be undetectable
by methods we have used in the past,
Best regards,
EEH:jhp
Edward E. Held
Research Professor