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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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DRAFT WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT ON BIKINI AND STATEMENT BY The Department of the Interior hopes to transmit the memo randum to the President this week. The draft of the Interior Department memo, the proposed White House announcement, and the proposed AEC statement have been reviewed by the Chairman, and by the Office of the Assistant General Manager for Research and Development and the Divisions of Biology and Medicine and Operational Attached are copies of a draft memo from Secretary Udall to the President concerning return of the Bikini Islanders to their atoll and a draft White House announcement of this Chairman Seaborg on behalf of the Commission which would be issued after the White House has announced the decision to john A. Harris, Director division of Public Information US DOE ARCHIVES
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Subject: Return of the Bikini People ; In 19^6 the United States removed the people of Bikini from their ‘ • atoll in order to permit it to he used for atomic testing. These people, •* originally about 150, vere ultimately settled on Kill island in the southern Marshalls. They have never adjusted to Kill, 'which is small and has no lagoon, but have retained an intense desire to return to Bikini. In early 1967, at my request and that of Trust Territory High Commissioner Norwood, the Atomic Energy Commission made a special survey of the atoll ■- 1 in order to determine whether radiation levels were such as to enable | people safely to live on its islands. Following this intensive survey of 1 ^ the atoll and a review by a special committee of consultants, an affirmative conclusion was reached. Attached is a copy of the special committee’s ; report which states that "... Bikini Atoll, site of more than 20 nuclear tests between 19^6 and 1958/ is once again safe for human habitation." ■. ; At my request, the Secretary of Defense has pushed ahead with a special1' ' study of security requirementSj in that part of the Pacific and has advisedi i me that return of the people tjo Bikini is compatible .with those requirements!) The Defense Department may wish to install some unmanned devices, such as ;j , radar towers, and on a limited scale station personnel on the atoll, but !; these activities will not prevent resettlement by the Bikinians nor be ' ' inconsistent with the re-estabiishmeni of their normal life on the atoll. |j Department of Energy
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The 1967 AEC survey team undertook an Intensive study of the atoll measuring external radiation levels and the radioactivity content of soil, vater and plants and of animal life. The last previous survey had "been made in 1964 as a part of continuing studies of the atoll since The survey team noted that vegetation on the islands of the atoll is dense and that the populations of birds and the marine life of the lagoon vere large. However, the coconut trees which are the baais of human’ life and the economy of coral atolls had been destroyed during the tests. ! The density of the new vegetation has largely checked their recovery. ■ The results of the survey .-have been analyzed by a special committee > of consultants. The consultants concluded that: 1 "The exposures to radiation that would result from . repatriation of theBikini peopledo not offer a significant j threat to their health and safety." ; Although the consultants have judged the radiation levels on the atoll now to be acceptable, they made several recommendations for reducing j (1) Restrict living areas to the major islands of Eneu (Enyu) and JBikini for the present and cover the village area with a layer of coral rock to reduce further the low [level of radiation from the soil; (2) Clean out the presenj; population of strontium 90-bearing coconut crabs, which form a part of the diet of Pacific Islanders; (3) Remove the radioactive scrap metal which still remains on some ' j! of the islands near the test sites; and . Denarlment of Energy
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(4) Maintain a continual monitoring of the islands and the population to assure that they do not, in 'some unforeseen vay, accumulate a greater radiation dose than predicted. ' The committee of consultants also recommended that resettlement he initiated on Eneu island because of its very low contamination level. "No radiological precautions will be needed on Eneu," the committee reported.il. We would propose to follow the recommendations of the consultants in .j:l . developing a resettlement program. A copy of their report is attached n ; ■ Return of the Bilcini people cannot be immediate although we should 1 take immediate steps to begin their return. A comprehensive plan must be ‘ developed; any remaining sources of major contamination removed; the ' overgrowth of uneconomic vegetation cleared; the land planted to productive crops; and new housing and community facilities built". We propose to do thisj with the active participation of the Bikini people in both the planning and ■ execution stages. It will, however, also require the active cooperation of the Department of Defense, the Atomic Energy Commission and, in seeking ; funds for the resettlement project, the Bureau of the Budget. ; Our tentative time table calls for the High Commissioner within the •; ! next few weeks to ask the Bikini people to name a group of their leaders to f work in the planning stage. The second step is an on-island survey of thef.' ; ! j i:atoll to select those sites required by the Defense Department and to planr ; the location of the new village. At this stage, it is expected that the preliminary resettlement plan will be drafted with the Bikini leadership participating. The visit to Bikini should take place in the last half of August or in early September. During the fall the plan would be completed ^ Department of Energy
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Depending upon the availability of funds, the initial contingent of returnees might be settled within a year. In the meantime, Bikini workers would be engaged in clearing, planting, and building, activities. Return of all of the Bikinians now living on Kill might be accomplished within two years. However, resettlement assistance will be required for a much longer period. The atoll is now virtually devoid of edible or ’i' • economic plants and a feeding program will be required until subsistence ,j ! foodcroos reach adequate levels and commercial crons come into production.-! j It takes approximately seven years for newly planted coconuts to become fully productive. The coconut Is essential to life on a coral atoll, providing food, drink, building materials, and, equally Important, virtually There Is attached a draft announcement regarding the proposed resettlement of the Bikini people. Bikini and the desire of the people on Kill to return j has recently been in the news and there continues to be widespread Interest 1 in these people. For these reasons, I request and urge your public announcement of the decision that the Bikini people can and will be relocated on their ! hone atoll of Bikini. Secretary of the Interior Department of Energy
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The President announced today that plana are underway to return the people of Bikini to their home atoll in the Marshall Islands. A special committee of expert consultants has reported to the Atomic ^ Energy Commission that Bikini Atoll, site of more than 20 nuclear tests ; hetween 19^ and 1958, is once again safe for human habitation. The Defense Department has reported after a special study that the 'I return of the people is consistent with security requirements. There - will be a continuing requirement for the use of some sites on the atoll ^ ' and there may be a need for Defense Department personnel to be stationed . on the islands from time to time. These, uses will not prevent the return of the people nor the re-establishment of their normal way of Bikini Atoll is a ring of 26 coral islands, 25 miles long and 15 . miles wide, on the northwestern fringe of the Marshall Islands. Before , 19^6, when the Bikinians vere moved to make way for nuclear tests, about1' 150 persons lived on the atoll. They moved first to Rongerik Atoll and since 1948 have lived on Kill in the southern Marshall Islands. The Kill population is now about 300 and a total of about 500 people regard j Bikini as their traditional home. - Because of the dense overgrowth of the islands and the lack of any substantial quantity of foodstuffs growing on the atoll, an extensive clearing and replanting program will be required. In addition, housing and community facilities, such as a school, dispensary, and a vater collection system, will be needed'before the Bikinians can return from j department of Energy "t?7T:ti-.i-.i, 1
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The Bikini people will actively participate in "both the planning ‘ j, and the execution stages of the resettlement program. The High . j 1 Conmissloner of the Trust Territory has heen asked to request the : < Bikini people to name a group of their leaders to work vlth Trust ' ‘I Territory Government personnel and representatives ofthe United States { j ’ : Government in developing a comprehensive resettlement plan. 5Mb vork | I . is scheduled to "begin with a visit to the atoll within the next few ; | weeks "by a team composed of Bikini representatives f and personnel from " I the Trust Territory Government, the Defense and Interior Departments and ■ the Atomic Energy Commission.‘ It Is the Intent of the United States and the Trust Territory Government to work with the Bikini people in building a modem ahd model community on their atoll. - , ■ Department of Energy.
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AEC CHAIRMAN SEABORG ISSUES STATEMENT ON BIKINI ■ Energy Commission, today issued the following state ment on AEC's role in the decision to allow the former residents of Bikini to return to their atollV) It has been greatly satisfying to my fellow commissioners and me to take part in the decision, announced today by President Johnson, to return the Bikinians to their atoll. ■ The attached AEC report on the radiation survey of Bikini was a cornerstone of that decision. ■ The report, which declares the atoll once again safe for human habitation, represents the work of many highly qualified men, including the scientific team which surveyed the islands in 1967 and the special consultant committee of experts who . produced the report. . It has been just over 10 years since the last nuclear test took place at Bikini on July 22, 1958. The intervening years have brought a remarkable recovery on the islands, as AEC sponsored research teams noted in both 1964 and 1967. The 1967 survey was made at the request of the Secretary of the Interior whose department is responsible for the wel fare of. the Bikini natives. The Bikinians were moved from their atoll in 1946 before the first nuclear test took place. The team which visited the atoll in 1967 included radio logical and health physicists, marine biologists, a tropical
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agriculturalist, an anthropologist and representatives of the Pacific Islands Trust Territories, .Department of the Interior. Eight of the most highly qualified experts available were asked to review the survey material. After meeting with mem bers of the survey team and examining their reports, these consultants reached the unanimous conclusion that it would be radiologically safe to allow the Bikini people to return to their home atoll. Their report was forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior earlier this month. While Bikini is best known as a weapons testing site, it has also contributed significantly to man's knowledge of the long term effects of radiation on an environment. During the years when radiation levels were too high for people to live there permanently, the AEC sponsored several scientific studies on the atoll. In fact, Bikini truly served as a living ecological laboratory. Before it was either a proving ground or laboratory, though, Bikini was a home land. Having been closely associated with nuclear energy, and Bikini, for all these years, I find it particularly gratifying now to take part-in the atoll's return to usefulness as a home for the Bikinian people. Copies of the technical data from survey are available for examination at the Public Document Room in AEC's Washington • office at 1717 H Street