de
“SECREL
Julius
H.
MAR
ahe
Rubin
Ms
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Ambassador Williams and his staff are preparing a statement of position
that will include the return of Eniwetok to its former residents, to
be release publically about April 2. Because of the sensitivity of
the Eniwetok situation, AEC has received approval to visit the atoll
but is cautioned to be discrete in discussing the matter with Trust
Territory or local officials. - Accordingly, AEC's expressed position
regarding this trip will be in terms of involvement with the PACE pro-
gram.
.
Even without the PACE experiments, Eniwetok presents a more difficult
problem for cleanup and rehabilitation than Bikini. There were more
nuclear tests at Eniwetok then Bikini. There were 35 announced plus 8
unannounced at Eniwetok versus 23 announced at Bikini. Among the 8
unannounced tests at Eniwetok was one safety test fired on land and two
others giving zero yield, one at the water surface and the other on the
surface of the reef.
The levels of plutonium in soil at Eniwetok are
known to be higher than at Bikini. Additionally, there are plutonium
burial sites in the Eniwetok Atoll and DOD conducted two beryllium
rocket tests on Engebi with’contamination of a portion of this island
which is one of the largest in the atoll.
The effort and cost for moni-
toring and cleanup of contaminated scrap and soil at Eniwetok can be expected to exceed that for Bikini.
A meeting has been scheduled with Ambassador Williams or his staff on
March 16, 1972, to discuss tanis matter. At that time, our views will be
asked on the April 2 s«-::-ont regarding the feasibility of the schedule
for return of Eniweto!
:
~itives. You may wish to bring this meeting
to the Commission's at ........ particularly if Ambassador Williams will
be present. Ambassac
deputy has indicated the Ambassador's
intent to request di:
as was provided for bi
-ssrt in survey and cleanup of Eniwetok
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Crie’rruecee by
Feit teks ela
Martin B. Biles, Director
Division of Operational Safety
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