Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee Report NO.1, Resettlement of Bikini Atoll: Feasibility and Estimated Cost of Meeting the Federal Radiation Protection Standards

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Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee I Resettlement of Bikini Atoll: % Feasibility and Estimated Cost of Meeting 1 the Federal Radiation Protection Standards Submilted to the U.S. Congress, House and Senate CommIttees on Interior Appropriutions, November 15,1984, pursuant to Public Law No. 97-257 Depathnent of Inferior Account No. TLl587XO8,

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BIKINI ATOLL REHABILITATION COMMITTEE RESETTLEMENT OF BIKINI ATOLL: FEASIBILITY AND ESTIMATED COST OF MEETING THE FEDERAL RADIATION PROTECTION STANDARDS Submitted to the U.S. Congress, House and Senate Committees on Interior Appropriations, November 15, 1984, pursuant to Public Law No. 97-257,

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Copies of this report may be obtained on request from BARC, 1203 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA. 94709.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.2 Geography and Political Status ...................... 13 1.3 Radiation Exposure and Control ...................... 14 2.3.1 Rain Water and Coconut Fluids ............. 3.2 Internal Dosage: Food .............................. 24 3.3 Internal Dosage: Water ............................. 25 4. MEETING THE PROTECTION STANDARDS......................... 29 4.2 Treatment of Soil ................................... 30 4.2.4 Treatment with Potassium Fertilizer ....... 32 4.3.2 Disposal of Spoil ......................... 34 5. REHABILITATION: CIVILIAN REQUIREMENTS................... 41

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) LIST OF TABLES Islands of Bikini Atoll: Area, Exposure Rate, Bikini and Eneu Islands: Cesium-137 in Soil (1987). Analysis of Soil From Bikini and Eneu Islands..... Federal Radiation Protection Standards............ Resettlement Without Decontamination: 30-Year (from 1987) Adult Planning Doses for Eneu and Excavation Required On Islands That Do Not Meet the Cesium-137 Standard for the Rooting Zone........ Unit Costs (1984) of Excavation Bikini Island: Decontamination By Removal of Total Cost of Island Extension and Berm........... LIST OF FIGURES Location of the Marshall Islands .................... Bikini Atoll Cesium-137 Isolpleths Are Shown For General Assessment Model ............................ Cs-137 As A Function of Soil Depth (1987) ........... Causeway to Connect Bikini and Eneu Islands ......... Construct ion and Berm .........ion of Island Extens

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) A GEOLOGY, OCEANOGRAPHY AND HYDROLOGY (F. L. Peterson and C SUNKEN SHIPS AND OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE LAGOON *Available on request, circa January 15, 1985, from: BARC, 1203 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709.

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The Bikini people wish to resettle Bikini Atoll, from which they were removed in 1946 to make way for a U. S. nuclear weapons testing The hazard of resettlement stems almost entirely from cesium-137, a radionuclide in the soil which may contaminate the ground water and food crops. The waters of the lagoon and surrounding ocean are "clean". Strontium-90 plays a minor role, but some details are still under Contamination aside, only two of the atoll's 23 islands are physically and historically suitable for permanent settlement, Bikini (2.4 km'), the traditional site, and Eneu (1.2 km2) which has been an ancillary one. On the basis of the Federal radiation protection standards, all islands may be visited now. Eneu may be resettled, but depending on population size some food at least would have to be imported, especially during the initial years of resettlement. Bikini may be resettled with the proviso that no foods are to be grown nor ground water consumed for a period of 80 years, by which time spontaneous decay will have reduced cesium-137 to permissible levels. The Bikini-Kili Council has informed the Committee (August 14, 1984) 7 that the foregoing alternatives are unacceptable because Bikini Island would not be decontaminated. The Committee has considered courses of action that attack the problem directly by removing the top 30 cm of Bikini's soil. The ?!Y il would be . disposed of either by the creation of a narrow, peripheral land strip on the seaward side of the island, or by dumping it into a crater in the lagoon. The execution of such plans would take 2-4 years and

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cost $36-42 million. They would entail perhaps 10 years for the mature revegetation of the denuded island at an additional cost of some $6-8 The Bikinians have requested that the spoil be used to build a causeway between Eneu and Bikini islands (September 21, 1984). Such construction would double the overall cost and has been questioned Some additional information will be required to assist the United States and the Bikinians to reach a final decision. A more refined estimate of external dose that specifically considers the beta-ray component should be made. The contribution to internal dose of strontium-90 in fish bone and in foliage should be examined further. Pilot studies within the next two years are recommended to determine the following: (1) the cesium-137 content of plants grown in locations where 30 cm or more of topsoil have been removed; (2) if the loss of topsoil and the compacting effects of the excavation operation peg se willmaterially impair the eventual productivity of Bikini soil; (3) the limitations of ground water supply on both Eneu and Elikini; (4) the possible loss of Bikini's seaward beach as a result of creating the peripheral landstrip; (5) the effectiveness of high-potassium fertilizer in . blocking the uptake of cesium-137 by plants, a technique of potential ancillary use. However, preliminary civil engineering planning may begin now, as well as work on a proposed draft environmental impact statement. Aside from the immediate problems of decontamination., the committee sees the need to initiate planning with the Bikinians for housing and community facilities, and for the eventual subsistence, agricultural and economic activities that will be essential for the maintenance of their

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BIKINI ATOLL REHABILITATION COMMITTEE HENRY I. KOHN, Ph.D., M.D., Chairman, David Wesley Gaiser Professor Emeritus of Radiation Biology, Harvard Medical School; current address: 1203 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709 (415-526-0141) Applications, The BDM Corporation, 7915 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA FRANK L. PETERSON, Ph.D., Professor of Hydrogeology and Chairman of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, EARL L. STONE, Ph.D., Charles Lathrop Pack Professor Emeritus of Forest Soils, Cornell University; current address: Department of Soil Science, 2169 McCarty Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

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JAMES E. MARAGOS, Ph.D., Chief, Environmental Resources Section, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Ocean Division, Building T-l, Fort ROBERT W. MORSE, Ph.D., Scientist Emeritus, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; current address: Box 574, North Falmouth, MA 02556 WILLIAM L. ROBISON, Ph.D., Section Leader, Terrestrial and Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Sciences Division, Mail Stop L453, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P. 0. Box 5507, Livermore, CA 94550 (415-422-3884). (Dr. Robison's Section is supported by the Department RALPH WALTZ, Bikini Liaison Agent; P. 0. Box 208, Majuro, Marshall Islands JONATHAN M. WEISGALL, J.D., Chartered, Legal Counsel .to the People of

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The Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee was authorized by Congress to report independently. on the feasibility and cost of rehabilitating Bikini Atoll (lN)*. The Committee was initiated two years ago through the Office of Territorial and International Affairs, Department of the Interior, working with the Bikini people. Planning for rehabilitation involves two separate tasks. The first one deals with how the contamination of the Atoll by radioactive fallout can be reduced or otherwise controlled to meet the Federal radiation protection standards, while at the same time respecting the atoll's biological and environmental integrity. The second task deals with the civilian needs of resettlement per se -- revegetation and agriculture, water supply, housing, community buildings, etc. The Bikinians should be given the opportunity to participate in such work that follows. In thi s report (No. l), the Committee approaches and techniques for contamination approaches are based on (1) the spontaneous (2) the remolval of contaminated soil. planning and in the actual defines and evaluates the control. The two major decay of radioactivity or In 1946 the U. S. Government removed the 167 inhabitants of Bikini Atoll so that the atoll could be used for the testing of nuclear weapons. That program ended in 1958 after 23 tests which had rendered the atoll unsafe for human habitation (2). The Bikini people were settled first (Figure l), then briefly on Kwajalein, and finally Kili Island, some 425 miles south of Bikini Atoll (3). on Rongerik Atoll in September 1948 on *References with an N (e.g., 1N) contain a note as well as a citation.

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In 1968, President Johnson was advised by the Atomic Energy Commission that the main islands of Bikini Atoll were safe (but should be monitored in the future), and permission for resettlement was given. In 1969, therefore, the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission cleared the atoll of brush, debris, and abandoned equipment, and during 1970-73, thousands of coconut trees and some breadfruit and pandanus were planted on Bikini and Eneu Islands with the help of a number of Bikini people who had begun the resettlement (3). In 1978, however, an examination of the settlers on Bikini Island by a team from Brookhaven National Laboratory revealed significant body burdens of the radionuclide cesium-137 (4). As a result of these and additional findings by the Department of Energy (5), the 139 settlers were evacuated in August 1978, and settlement has not been allowed by the U. S. since that time. Studies by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team, especial,ly during the past 6 years, have accumulated extensive information on the radioactivity of Bikini soil, plant products (6) and water (7). The validity of these data was questioned by the Bikini people on the basis that, coming from a government laboratory, the testing may have been biased. A review in 1982 by independent consultants selected by the Bikini people (Epidemiology Resources, Inc.) confirmed the Lawrence Livermore The scarcity of land in the Marshall Islands and the cultural significance of land ownership make resettlement of Bikini Atoll a matter of overriding importance to the Bikini people. There are today approximately 1120 Bikinians, of whom some 500 dwell on Kili Island, about 200 on Ejit Island in Majuro Atoll, and the rest elsewhere in the Marshalls. The Committee estimates that more than 75 percent of the population is under 30 years of age, and the majority is well under 20, perhaps even under 16. The population has been increasing at a rapid rate.

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1.2 Geography and Political Status Bikini Atoll is located 4,000 km (2,500 miles) southwest of Hawaii, at 11°35'N, 165'25'E. It comprises a ring of 23 islands with a total land area of 8.8 km2 (3.4 square miles), including 1.6 km2 (0.6 sq. mi.) of intertidal area (Figure 2, Table 1). The lagoon of 630 km2 (240 sq. mi.) has an average depth of 45 m (145 feet); the maximum depth is 58 m. Of the 23 islands, only Bikini (2.41 km2) and, to a much lesser degree, nearby Eneu (1.22 km2) have been inhabited. In fact, they are the only islands that are physically suited for permanent settlement; all the others are too small and too low to be safe from inundation during times of high wave and storm activity. The geological structure of Bikini Atoll is that of a coral reef atoll resting on a submerged volcanic mass. The islands are made of reef debris, primarily of sand and gravel size, and reef organisms. The reef is continuously being built and eroded, but under present conditions the islands .and the passes that connect lagoon and ocean are fairly stable The atoll is similar in appearance to others in the Marshall Islands. The principal islands of Bikini and Eneu, as well as many of the other smaller ones, are thickly covered with vegetation. The sandy soil supports a variety of plants, shrubby thickets along exposed coasts, and coconut plantations over most of the two larger islands. A variety of other food plants can be grown, but because of the long dry season, they are not likely to become staples (Appendix B). Bikini Atoll is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which has a total land area of about 170 km2 (66 sq. mi.) scattered over roughly 700,000 kmL of the central Pacific Ocean (Figure 1). The Marshall Islands, together with the Caroline and Northern Mariana Islands, comprise the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which the United States has administered since 1947 under a Trusteeship Agreement with the United

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Nations. On September 7, 1983, the voters of the Marshall Islands approved a Compact of Free Association which, if ratified by the U. S. Congress, will grant self-government to the Marshall Islands, while continuing United States financial and program aid for the next decade. The population of the Marshalls numbers some 33,000 persons. The principal population centers are on Majuro Island, the capital (Majuro Atoll), and Ebeye Island in Kwajalein Ato 1 the jurisdiction of the U. S. Army. On January 24, 1979, the U. S. 1, which is a missile range under conveyed Bikini Atoll back to the Bikinians. Thus as a legal matter, they possess all the rights of ownership. However, since the decontamination program for the atoll would be paid for by the U. S., it might be subject to U. S. environmental law 1.3 Radiation Exposure and Control Studies by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory group during recent years have shown that unrestricted settlement on Eneu would conform to Federal radiation protection standards (6). However, on the main island of Bikini this would not be the case, as the Brookhaven National Laboratory team demonstrated by direct measurements on settlers in The radiation dose from resettlement today would result primarily from eating locally grown food (6) (Appendix D), plus a much smaller contribution from radiation emanating from the ground. More than 90 percent of the dose would stem from the radionuclide cesium-137, and the rest from strontium-90. These radionuclides are concentrated in the uppermost layer of the soil. Coconut products would account for some 80 percent of the ingested dose.

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In general, the following "rules" apply if the Federal radiation standards are to be met: (a) Unrestricted use of Eneu and several other islands is now permissible. Any island may be visited. (b) Bikini may be resettled only if all food is imported and only cistern (not ground) water is drunk. To permit unrestricted use of Bikini now would require a major program to render the contaminated soil innocuous. (c) In 80 years, Bikini agricultural produce and ground water should become safe, owing to the spontaneous decay of The direct approach to decontamination calls for the removal of concentrated) to expose a "safe" layer for planting. The resulting spoil (excavated soil) might be used to extend the island's seaward perimeter by 35-40 meters, or it might be dumped into the Bravo crater of the *lagoon, caused by the 1954 test. The Bikinians, however, notified the Committee (September 21, 1984) that they request the spoil be used to construct an 8 km-long causeway between Eneu and Bikini islands. The addition of this project would double the total cost. The removal of the top 30 cm of soil from a coralloid island raises questions regarding the settle this and other questions and the blockade of cesium-137 have requested support for pilot productivity of the remaining soil. To uptake by high-potassium fertilizer), we trials at the atoll. On the other hand, there is the "wait-it-out" approach. That is to say, resettlement would be effected on Bikini and/or Eneu, but the

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consumption of local food (except fish) and ground water would be prohibited for …