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taminated debris — that length of
Last of three articles.
mutated creature .will oe saying:
time for the radioactivity to natural-
“Runt.”
By BRUCE. BENSON© 2200" ‘ly reduce itself by one-half — ranges:
Aclvectiser Sctence Writer . spietes
RUNIT ISLAND, Enewetak —
a ee, ee ee ee,
wat f 108.
White: moths danced;in. and out of
from five years for cobalt 60 to 24.c00 years for plutonium, Theoretically, the amount of plutonium on Runit
woud have to go through.10
the shrubs of scaevola as a truck
lives, or 240.000- vears, before
jogglecdl clown a rutted road in low
tebaved to an environmental
gear toward ground zero. It's a-safe. - safe for people tolive here. .
place for a casual visit, said Capt.
After a cleanun operation
Chuck Bay, but everyone nervously
kent glaticing
Geiger counter.
anyway toward his
Runit was the site of several nuclear explosions in the U.S. weaponstesting program of the coid war. One
fell an overwhelming desire to suddenly Jearn more about alpha, beta
and gamma rays as the truck
bounced
toward uvo craters at the
northern end of the little island.
The radioactive half-lives of conee Nem mem Ne Sr Aeeeerne” nce fee eeee
a
half-
level
”
ads but it will remain quarantined to
prohibit permanent residents.
To ease tension aboard the truck,
several bad jokes are told. The
troops assigned to clean up the
radioactive debris at Enewelak are
ordering a speciat T-shirt, says
someone. It will have a (ros ~- with
two heads — and beneath, the
sorked on Runit before without any >
proactive clothing, out today every-
one ts fitted oulin rubber boots and
two face masks made of paper. one.”
ever ite other.
ue
Runit ts the ‘‘hottest’’ of the 40 is-
iands in the Enewetak atoll, partly because of large arnounts of twisted
Metal debris and partly because two
explosions blew a pood deal of plutonium across its landscape.
One Hawaii scientist who cantped
at ine craters for a mormlth was call.
ed to the Mainland recently for
whole bedy count of radinnuchides.
See RUNIT on Page 465
ZUEE Nit 1GFF
woHOM OL ULLi ADYEN
sane
t
says,another.
.
Survey parties have camped and
it is
now
under way, limited access to the island will be allowed for short peri-
Foe 0&0=
“Hey, Chuck, we'rejust radiant
th enthusiasm about this visit.’
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