Letter W Weyzen, Subject: Summary of Marshall Islands Committee Meeting, September 22, 1977

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Depart rnent of Ene r gy Those on Attached List SUMMARY OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS COMMITTEE MEETING, SEPTEMBER 22, Burr summarized past actions : LLL Workshop, Review Commi ttee, Transfer o f Narshall Islands programs OES t o BER, Creation o f conmittee t o advise AES on A memo is i n progress t o establish a'committee composed o f BER and OES and Wachho'lz t o meet frequently and t o be i n place befGre 20E. T h i s first meeting i s ad hoc since no formal approval Bob Catlin introduced - Assistant Director f o r Special Projects, BER. Relationship o f committee t o DO1 i n question. Deal t o assume respcnsi h i 1ity for coordinating conimi ttee acti vi ties The committee will : 1. Be aware ofall Pacific program activities and will act as the point of coordination within the agency for all 2. Be responsible f o r program review - program directors will be asked f o r briefings. Ad hoc groups may be generated by the committee. 3. Advise AES on matters i n the Pacific. Coinmittee will riieet not less than once each 6 weeks and more often for. parti cul ar problems.

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Burr summarized background of AEC/EF.DA problems in Pacific: 1. Took land, displaced people, accepted jobof returning people t o an environment acceptable for health and safety and with an economic base. 2. In the process, environment was altered appreciably and people were injured: a ) Medica7 followup needed t o look for radiation effects. (1) DOD responsible for cleanup; ( 3 ) ERDA t o provide technical advice t o DOD and Provide cleanup criteria and recommendations; Support DOD field operations (reimbursable); Long term radiological followup of people and ERDA t o conduct 13 Atoll survey t o establish whether there is impact of testing i n the rest of the Marshalls: ( 1 ) Conduct aerial screening survey, documentation of (2) DO1 obtained $2.6M for DOD logistics support of (3) Depending on findings - do or do n o t do more. (1) Garden on Enjebi Island Enewetak Atoll; ( 2 Garden on Eneu Island 6 i k i n i Atoll ; (3 Liverman suggested economic program on what happens i f coconuts not usable for copra. Part of ERDA role is t o determine i f advice i s sound and t h a t precautions work and is resettlement proper

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Those on Attached Lfst 3 I . Weyzen asked, i s the ERDA role strictly advisory to DOI? Answer - Strict interpretation isto advise, but ERDA must sometinies do more such as i n the medical area. ERDA has responsibility t o make sure our advice i s understood. The people most affected must understand also (Deal). There must be feedback from people and we must followup on recomlogi sts are needed. area of endeavor but we should do not.hing that would appear t o re1 ease TT from their responsi b i 1i ty for we1 fare of peopl e i n the Marshalls. The committee should be responsible for developing policy for DOE and t o coordinate closely with UOI. We should take every opportunity t o influence Trust Territory economists we go beyond just EEDA's responsibilities (Ray). Winkle, the new High Com, expects continuing advice from ERDA i n dynamic situations t o help him make decisions. Although much time has been spent trying t o inform DO1 and TT, many times they go ahead w i t h their plans without us. Question asked whether programs involving socioAgreement that experts are needed i n every However, when we talk about sociologists and Fifty more people want to go back to Cik fn i. The pressure Lo return is on CeErum from the people themselves. Ne d o n ' t expect to learn irruch more about B i k i n i and Eneu Islands from the aerial survey b u t more will be learned about other islands i n the atoll for which there i s now little info. This aerial survey has been cited as something t h a t must be done before people return to Bikini (McCraw). As for urgency t o move people from Bikini to Eneu Islands, there is no crgency i f people are not relying on a Bikini Island diet. I t should be relatively easy t o provide food (Ray). There was disagreement on this point. No fresh foods are being provided, only dry products. When body burdens of 137Cs are again measured i n December they will probably be as high or higher than in May and some people are already a t or above the MPC r i g h t now (McCraw). A short term solution to the fresh food problem i s needed. The High Com should be informed of this. F?egarding Pu in Bikini urine, when Greenhouse, BNL, goes out i n October, five people will live on the LCU while urine i s sampled t o get better control of sample collection conditions. Concerti was expressed for what impact this may have on the people and whether

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Those on Attached List 4 an understandable explanation can be given. i s needed. Someone from DOI/TT should go along on these vis-its. Need for a bilingual person was stated, possibly someone on the TT staff paid by ERDA. lator. There is need t o review protocol for this work. An education program I'lidu a t BNL could help i f he has a trans-. There isa need t o evaluate the problem o f radionuclides i n BER will see what can be done. Question on whether U. of Washington could study t h i s . The problem should be brought The status of 13 Atoll survey was reviewed. There i s a new Navy contact - have met with him three times trying t o get the planning done that is needed t o do the job. There must be a minimum number of ground samples collected t o verify aerial data and some quantity o f marine, terrestrial food and ground water sampling i s needed t o calculate dose. After designing the aerial survey, will use what i s available i n time and resotirces t o get the rest of the data. should eat its costs o f 1.2Md which one half is flying costs. The problem i s , OMB has said ERDA Enewetak cleanup was discussed. Question - How do we influence the DNA approach t o cleanup wherein the cleanup commander will place the highest priority for cleanup of Pu (in soil) on Runit Island? Cleanup of soil Pu is to start on islands in the north. DNA will hold back funds t o cover Runit cleanup such that another more important cleanup job such as En jeb i,a prospective village island, may n o t be sat-isfactorily completed. Question - If Enjebi is not cleaned up, what has been accomplished for the people? N V will host (not chair) a DNA meeting i n early October to try to better define Runit cleanup. ERDA staff had never expected such ahigh priority be given to,Runit cleanup, particularly a t the expense o f cleanup of other areas more important t o the Question - Should we talk to DNA, write letters, what? Possibly the best approach i s t o have DO1 ask DNA the right question. approach to try is to get DOI, staff to setup a briefing for Winkle and surface the issue that way. Fellwup on this is needed quickly Regarding revalidation ofEPA agreement with AEC cleanup criteria, Wachliolz has a draft memo - Liverman t o Costel. The committee briefly reviewed this draft. Comments are t o be provided lo

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Japtan people are leaving Enetaetak October 1 for Ujclang. hundred fifty people will rotate in fifty man visits to Japtan in6month cycles until cleanup i s completed (Ray). OES will have a group periodically review MV support of Enewetak cleanup and particularly certification of cleanup (Deal). ERDA will get Coast Guard Bldg. a t Enewetak fora lab facility. 25K will be needed for modifications t o make a quick move from the old lab facility (Ray). The question of information and education f o r various Karshall Islands groups was again discussed. has proposed t h a t baseline information be obtained on where these people are in their understanding o f what ERDA is doing. Communications across cultural 1iries are extremely difficult.A joint info-education program with DO1 i s needed. Trimble letter will be sent t o bJeyzen and Ray. Conard has found 11 to12 thyroids that should be sent back t o Hawaii for operations (not among the exposed people but once found something nust be done). operations done on Kwajalein will be investigated by 6ER. Trinible, Battelle, Seattle, The possibility of having the The next committee meeting will be scheduled i n mid-November. Any corrections t o these notes may be made at that time.