2
Soil Cleanup
Planning
ommand
eld C
othel Fi
directorates Continued to provide staff management
roject in their functional areas of responsibility, while the Special
:
lor the Pes primary concerns were radiological studies and the
Aanization of Runit.
though the minutes of the Runit Cleanup Conference were far from
“sy
completed, Field Command instructed the CJTG on 2! October 1977
me ‘a the soil characterization of Runit as soon as possible. The
(0 OE ons were
untimely,
because they arrived just as
the
Field
ation Support Team (FRST) members—who would have to survey
a mark the 50-meter grid, then search out and remove plutoniumcontaminated metal fragments #9 —_were completing their 179-day
remporary duty (TDY) assignment. The original team was trying to
complete several other island surveys before they departed, and the new
foam was just beginning initial training at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Theinitial
survey of Runit could not begin until the second week in November
1977 0.31
The JTG Radiation Control Division (J-2) developed a schedule to
coordinate FRST, ERSP, and United States Army Element (USAE)
efforts for the characterization of Runit (Figure 6-l). Machetes, chain
saws, and other hand tools were used by the FRST and USAE to clear
brush around original survey markers and in the Fig-Quince area, while
ihe USAE used bulldozers to debrush larger areas. A 50-meter grid was
surveyed and marked on the island north of the hot line. The grid was
intensified to 25 meters in the Fig-Quince area. Extraordinary radiological
protection measures were employed during this and all subsequent
operations on north Runit.
Once the grid was established, the FRST conducted a search for the
muilligrant-size and larger fragments of plutonium-contaminated metal
which had precipitated the earlier quarantine of Runit. The search was
made with Field Instrument for the Detection of Low-Energy Radiation
(FIDLER) probes. Hot spots were excised with a shovel and placed in
plastic bags, which were held for future burial in the crater. This operation
was intended to minimize the contribution of the hot fragments to in situ
readings and minimize the volume of soil to be excised. In practice, the
procedure was slow and the value of its results was questionable,
considering the cost in time and manpower diverted from cleanup
operations.
Soil profile samples were taken using earth augers operated by the
USAE and probes operated by the FRST. Backhoes were usedto cut 12 pits
in various areas and to cut 4 trenches across the berms in the north central
the walls of the pits
, Soil samples were taken at intervals in
chest.
und tren
of Runi
area
R
r