Roger Ray, NV
(702) 295-3553
FTS 575-3553
September 5, 1984
Draft Letter to the Secretary of the Interior
Dear Mr. Secretary:
This is in response to your request that the Department of Energy update its
1979 evaluation of the habitability of Eneu Island in Bikini Atoll and inform
you of what conditions, if any, should be imposed upon a population which may
resettle on that island.
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Since the writing of the May 15, 1979, letter from Assistant Secretary Clusen,
referred to in, your letter to me, we have continued our environmental studies
at Bikini Atoll and elsewhere in the Marshall Islands.
We have a high degree
of confidence in the technical data upon which our evaluations are made,
There remain uncertainties, especially regarding human behavior (viz:
What is
likely to be the composition of the diet of a resettled Eneu population?) and
some unknowns, especially as to the response of individuals to given doses of
radiation.
Customarily, these latter--the unknowns--are dealt with by
building conservatism into our radiation protection guidance.
The behavioral
uncertainties can be treated similarly--that is, by adding yet another degree
of conservatism in the application of the guidance, as was done some years ago
in setting criteria for the Enewetak cleanup at 50 percent of the annua}
DTO1H
DRAFT
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