354
RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL
Soil removal operations on Boken could not begin until soi! Cleany
"criteria and priority issues were decided
at the . 4 May
1978 confe Ten p
:
.
Company B, USAE, began devegetation operations in late August 1978
and was prepared to begin excavation and removal of the contaminatey
soil when the island was suddenly invaded by tens of thousands of
seabirds, principally sooty terns. It was the beginning of the Nestin
season, and eggs were beinglaid and incubatedat a density of atleas; One
per square meter. Soil cleanup operations were delayed about 3 months1
allow time for the eggs to hatch and the youngbirds to become mobile, 4
photograph indicating the high bird density is shown in Figure 7-2.
Whensoil excavation began, it was accomplished primarily by dozer. In
areas requiring deeper excavations, a 2-l/2-cubic-yard bucket loader was
used. In late 1978, a high-tide channel was found and improved by USNE
Water-Beach Cleanup Team (WBCT) and Explosive Ordnance Disposaj
(EOD) personnel using explosives. This channel was able to accommodate
LCM-8 craft under extreme high tide conditions. The plan for movemen,
of soil to Runit was to take one or two LCM-8 loads per day when tide
conditions permitted. It was estimated that 2 months would berequired to
complete this soil movementoperation. This plan had to be abandoned jn
early January 1979 after Typhoon Alice drastically altered the shoreline of
Boken to the extent that there was no longer a usable channel for
watercraft, and it was not feasible to attempt to reopen the channel.
FIGURE 7-22. BIRDS ON BOKEN.