Suggestions for Inclusion in the Environmental Impact Statement for the Enewetak Atoll Cleanup

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The testing of nuclear detonation requires testing grounds that, other factors, are remote from po~ulated areas. Previously, two had been conducfid at Bikini Atoll in Juiie and July 1946 Operation Crossroads and, earlier,” near Alamogordo, New Nexico , July 1945 as Operation Trinity. However, for a continuing program of testing, Bikini suffered deficiencies in that the land ‘ This led to thewinds to permit construction of a major airstrip. selection of Eniwetok Atoll for testing nuclear detonations, a-.. — selection administratively approved by President Truman on 2 December ,, The selection of Eniwetok Atoll was based on a study of possible ocean sites made by Captain J. S. Russell, USN, Deputy Director of the Division of IOlilitaryApplications, and by Dr. Darol K. Froman of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. In regard to possible fallout, Eniwetok Atoll was well located by having hundreds of miles of open” sea lying from the Atoll in the westwardly direction of the prevailing winds.

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I:jcame into being on 18 October ground facilities on EniwetoL Atoll, the Task Force Seven operated fram their many surface ships. Three nuclear detone.tions were made in this Operation Sandstone, which occurred during April and May in 1948.3 The detonations were on 200.ft. toolers in the lagoon; the first off Engebi, the second off Aemon, and the third off Runit. The largest yield was the second with a yield of 49 kilotons. 4,5 This kiloton tertiinolo9Y means that the explosive energy of the nuclear detonation equals 49 thousand tons of high explosive. (For these and following tests, table at the end of this section gives the test name, date, time, location> height of burst, position (airdrop, barge, ground surface, or underwater) of nuclear explosive and yield). - In preparation for the next series of nuclear tests, the Atomic Energy Commission in mid-1949 decided to facilitate further testing by improving ground-based structures and by providing more adequate technical facilities at Eniwetok Atoll.5 This work was based on a survey submitted by Holmes and Narver, Inc., on 7 January 1949. The Commission approved the recommendation for construction in April 1949, and the contract was 4. Samuel Glasstone, The Effects of !!uclear kleac~, Department of the Federal Scientific & Tech Info, Springfield, Vs.)

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On 31 January 1950, President Truman niade public the decision to develop a thermonuclear bomb, a decision which, of course, was to have great inpct on Eniwetok Atoll. Tests of v:eapons with such large increases in yield and fallout radiation are not suitable for t!~e’continental United Stcites, but are better suited for the remoteness of the Pacific Proving Ground. To facilitate tests of devices that at first were limited to the 20-kiloton nominal yield of the Hiroshima weapon, the Nevada Proving Ground, near ~!s Vegas, Nevada, was additionally established in the autumn of 1950. The first tests there were in a 1951 series starting on 27 January. The Eniwetok Atoll test series also planned for 1951 was-designated : as Operation Greenhouse and included, among other tests, activities related to thermonuclear research,’ but not yet involving a full thermonuclear explosion. Between 7 April and 24 May 1951, four tests from towers were conducted at Enivietok, with the second one called Easy announced as 47 A full thermonuclear explosion was achieved the following year in the 1952 test series Operation Ivy at Eniwetok Atoll,~ This involved onlY two tests, but the first had considerable significance and consequence. The first was Test Mike, the first thermonuclear detonation and a ground level explosion amounting to 10.4 megatons (equivalent of 10.4 million tons of high explosive) on 31 October 1952 on a small island, Elugelab (Eluklapin in Marshallese, and Flora by the U.S. code name), at the north end of the Atoll . Being a surface explosion and having this large yield, Test Mike actually removed this small island from the Atoll chain. A large .- reinforced concrete building built on the nearby large island of Engebi to test effects of pressure was partly damaged. “The second test of

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north of the n~i-thti(est tip of Runit Island. Associated with the grcatcr yield of Mi&j which was dozens of times greater than previously experienced yields, was a corresponding increase in the I Contrary to the usual direction and contrary to expectations, / the winds prevfiiling at the time were from” the south or southeast,~ and-so I most of the r~clioactive debris fell on the open seas to the north and ’northwest. i Nevertheless, local fallout did occur on the northern islands of the Atoll. . ~ Since these islal~ds continued to be uninhabited, no harm resulted to humans ~ from this local fallout. , U.S. tests were conducted only at the Nevada Proving Grounds in 1953, I1thereupon starting the pattern of tests entirely at the Nevada Proving Grounds 1 or the Pacific Proving Grounds, each on alternate years. The next series ~ ~ of tests in the Pacific was.in 1954 under the name Operation Cistle.. It involved [ a task force, which retained the number Task Force Seven of the 1947 force. “. IIFive out of the six tests in this series were at Bikini Ato+l, which had not !: been used for nuclear tests since 1946, and one of these had consequences i affecting all testing in the Pacific. The 15-megaton thermonuclear tests Bravo in this series was conducted on the surface in Bikini Atoll on 28 IFebruary 1954.~ I The radioactivity of this Bravo event was particularly troublesome by unexpectedly being carried to the east, rather than to the north as had been foreseen. Harmful amounts of radioactivity fell out on the inhabited atolls of Rongelap, Ailinginae, and F?ongerik and on the Japanese fishing ship (Lucky . IDragon). These events resulted in sharply renewed interest in radiological 1 consequences, with principal focus on the Bikini series of tests. The Atomic Bomb Casualty Cormnission which had been established after the atomic t. bomiiing of Japan, became involved. The Shunkotsu Maru of the Japanese I

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Fisheries Training Institute ci!i>ed the ;hr:$hdll Island crea for survey purposes; this was fcllo~fed by a 1!.S. Ci’ui$+cn the Coast Guard Cutter Roger B. Taney under the narw operation Ti.)11.~ Operation Castle contin[:col\/ililother tests at Bikini Atoll, but yith an enlarged exclusion of the ocr~nic areds of possible fallout. Thecnly detonation of Operation Castle nl~.dein Eni\;ctok Atoll was the Nectar shot, detonated cn 14 Ikry 1954 on a barge itithe lagoon over the Mike crater. By 1954 the large island of Engebi (Janet in the U.S. code name) had become a barren, sandy island from which the coconut palms and other trees had long since disappeared. This major island of 291 acres had been subjected to Morld Mar II bombardment and, by 1954, to four series of nuclear weapons tests. The nuclear explosions produced blast and irradiated the island by; . initial radiation from nuclear detonations and by residual radiation of fallout. Nevertheless, colonies of rats continued to thrive on this isolated island in The 1S56 series of tests in the Pacific Proving Ground was called Operation Redwing. These took place at both Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls, with eleven at Eniwetok Atoll. Part of Bokou Island (Irene in the U.S. code name) was removed on 6 June 1956 by test Seminole, which was positioned on the land surface. This Seminole crater is on the east side of the remainder of Bokou Island. The other surface test in Operation Redwing was Test Lacrosse, which formed a crater at the Northern tip of Runit Island (Yvonne is the U.S. code name) in the tide lands on the ocean side of the island.

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Early in 1558 a motztorium agaitist furt!ier testing cf nticlear explosions was under c.ollsideration,partly in response te international awareness about the world-wide fallout of radioactivity from nuclear tests by the several nuclear. nations. Before the moratorium, ho’;cver, an intensive series of tests called Operation Hardtack was conducted. operation }Iardtack took place in 1958 4 both at Eniwetok Atoll iis ptlase 1 and at the Nevada proving Grounds as Phase II, ti]ereby bre~king the pa~~~rn of alternate testing years at the Sites. Between 5 May and 26 July 1958, twenty-two tests were conducted at Eniwetok under Operation Hardtack, Phase I. This one intense period of testing thereby constituted over ha-if of tlie43 total tests conducted at the Atoll. : over the entire ten years of testing. Following Operation Hardtack: the U.S. moratorium on testirig started on 31 October 1958 and was followed in a few days by a U.S.S.R. moratorium. inis markea LileeliCiUf tii~ nuclear tests at Eniwetok. The intervening 15 years until the present time have allowed some natural restoration of vegetation on affected islands and have provided the time for a tremendous decrease in the residual radioactivity resulting from the tests. Two islands were altered in this Operation Hardtack, Phase I. The test Koa was a surface explosion on the small island Dridrilbwij (Gene by the U.S. code name), This test removed the island from the Atoll. The other was Test Cactus at the northwest tip of Runit Island (Yvonne by the U.S. code name) . This produced a crater nearby and to the Southwest of-the 1-aCrosse

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~urther tests did occur in LlleFat;.flit,Lut they were in the vicinity of Johnston lsl:Ind and Chris tuns Island,– so far to the east that there Tias no effect upon Eniwctok Atoll. Ill (’s c tests foil.owed the 1 September 1961 accouncemcnt. by the USSR of its intcntjon to resume nuclear testing. The USSR tests occurred within dcys of this ~nnouncerncnt. Many months later the United States st~rtcd tc~ting under a series called Operation Dominic, but, as just stated, not at Kxi.wetok Atoll. This test szries was completed by the end of 1962 and was followed by the Limted Test Ban Treaty, which was signed in September 1963.. This Trt?aty permitted only those tests that did not result in radiation going beyond the national boundaries, and so effectively limited tests to being underground. Although underground tests have been conducted in the continental United States and at lunchitka ~ in Alaska, none have been conducted at Eniwetok Atoll. In these test series, a “total of at nuclear detonations have been made tests either on individual islands or for the total of 43 tests at Eniwetok Number of Board of 43 nuclear detonations or attempts at Eniwetok Atoll. The number of closest to these islands is as follows Tests Gee. Name Marshallese Other US Code Name 18 Runit Runit Yvonne 10 Enjebi Enjebi Jane t 3 Aomon Aomon Aranit Sal ly 2 Eberiru Aleleron Ruby 1 Bogeirik Bokaidrik Helen 1 Rujiyoru Lujor Pearl 1 Buganegan Flut Miu Henry 1 Began Bokon Pokon Irwin ,.. $:This island no lonSer exists. It was removed by test Mike on 1 Nov 52. +~~,lccuallylocated on &lie coral reef to the southwest of this island. ~f:;+’[l]isisland no longer exists. It was’removed by test Koa on 23 May 58. . l’hc underwater craters from Mike and Koa overlap each other,

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The positioning of 35 of these. nuclear explosives before \ Of course, land surface tests were the most destructive to the physical condition of the islands by producing still-existing craters or by removing an island entirely. All barge tests were offshore on the lagoon side,/off the isLands~ of Runit (Yvonne) and Enjebi (Janet). king generally west of these islands, the tcsrs Droduced radioactivity that the prevailing winds from the northeast generally carried away from the island and over the lagoon. In either the case of a successful nuclear detonation or the case of an unsuccessful nuclear detonation, a spread of radioactivity results in addition to physical damage to t,he land, vegetation, and animals. In the case of a successful detonation, the following principal radioactive results are: 1. fission products resulting from the fission of the uranium or plutonium used for the nuclear explosive, with significant fission products being cesium-137 and strontiom-90. (Their 30- and 29-year half lives, respectively, roughly correspond to human lifetimes, sotkydo not decay appreciably in an acceptable waiting period, nor do they decay sufficiently slowly to result in a low amount of radioactivity.

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G. cobolt-6(J, largely from zcti~’ity induced in iron used for towers, etc., in Llle tests. (its S-year lifetime makes waitins times 3. v<?rious is!nCapcs of plutonium pro(!uccd from the capture of 4. The uncons[!:wclpltitoni~lmand/or uranium used for the nuclear explosive but not havj.ng underxcne fission. (~filennuclear the chemicu.1.-typehigh explosive used for assembling these nuclear components instead spreads them). 5. Tri.tium induced in water by neutrons and from “thermonuclea~ reactions. (However, the mobility of the water in the ocean quickly dissipates this hazard.) Misfires, near misfires (iow yieid), or “one-poinc:i safety tests of nuclear explosives result in a spread of radioactivity, as mentioned in Item 4. In these misfire cases, the residual uranium or plutonium is a much smaller area than for the case of the spread from a nuclear explosive (perhaps square yards of spread in the former case, but worldwide or at least square miles in latter). A particular concern in these cases is the spread of plutonium-239; the lower radiological hazard of uranium-235 causes very much less of a radiological concern when used as the nuclear material. This plutonium concern is complicated by its long 24-thousand year half life for decay, which is far too long to enable nuclear decay over time to eliminate the hazard.

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Just such difficulties of plu~uniurn contarnj.nationhave occurred around Runit Island. For example, the tesb Scaevola in Operation Hardtack I was a one-point safety test. Therefore, it was planned only to explode by high explosive ‘but l~ot by a nuclear explosion. Local sprc’ads of plutonium exist near the mid(!le of this long, narrow

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s[l~GIZsTIONSFOR INCLUSION IN TIE 3& Present Condition of Islands - Results of Radiological Survey ~ Defense Nuclear Agency The radioactivity on the nucle?.r explosions at the Atoll from results almost entirely from activity results from fallout from nuclear explosion tests conducted else-. where in the atmosphere, but this is probably insignificant compared to radioactivity produced by tests on Eniwetok Atoll. The minimum radioactivity observed on any island on Eniwetok Atoll in 1973 was more than an order of magnitude greater than that of world-wide fallout and of local natural radioactivity trom cosmic ray~ ~iid r,~zcr~ls. (Beir, 1972) Although the southern islands were the scene of only two underwater tests off Henry, an island downwind from most other southern islands, this low residual activity on the southern islands of Eniwetok Atoll are thus seen to result almost entirely from local fallout from tests conducted at Eniwetak Atoll. Only after many decades, and in some places only after centuries, will the local radioactive debris from these tests undergo natural nuclear decay to the extent that the remaining radioactivity is as low as the radioactivity from natural causes, principally cosmic rays at this location. For the case of the plutonium-239 residual, actually many, many millennia would correspondingly be required. ‘Of course,

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Lncotintcrcd e.lscvhere in the Radioactive Isotopes of Concern—. When present illthe top few centimeters of soil, its gamma rays externally result in whol.c-body exposures for inhabitants : of less …