![]() As such, the United States focused on removing the transuranic elements from the soil. Since suburanic elements are soluble and move more easily through the environment, they were dispersed deep within the earth. All the islands of Enewetak Atoll, except Runit Island, had transuranic contamination in the top layers of the soil. ![]() Examples of transuranic elements include plutonium, neptunium, and americium, and examples of subranic elements include strontium and cesium. ![]() Jim Androl from the US Army’s 84th Engineer Battalion recalled that they were ordered to “walk around and pick up loose pieces, and just gather up whatever we could, throw it in a pile.” As for the soil contamination, there were two types: transuranics, or any element with an atomic number greater than 92 on the periodic table and long half-lives, and suburanics, or any element with an atomic number less than 92 and short half-lives. The debris mostly consisted of military equipment and concrete left over from the nuclear tests. The focus for cleanup was on two areas: debris and soil contamination. The original estimate for the cleanup was $40 million, but Congress only allocated $20 million and stipulated that “all reasonable economies should be realized in the accomplishment of this project through the use of military services’ construction and support forces, their subsistence, equipment, material, supplies, and transportation.” As a result, approximately 6,000 servicemen from the Navy, Army, and Air Force participated in what would become “the first comprehensive project to clean up and rehabilitate a former nuclear‐test site.” The Navy was responsible for operating ships and creating waterways to less accessible islands the Air Force was tasked with communication, air supply operations, and health facility operations and the Army Corps of Engineers handled the actual cleanup of the islands. The cleanup of Enewetak Atoll began in 1977 and ended in 1980. Bikini Atoll was deemed too radioactive to clean and rehabilitate at that time. The main focus for cleanup was Enewetak, where 43 of the 67 nuclear tests were conducted. The meeting concluded with the AEC taking responsibility for conducting a radiological survey of the islands, the DoD conducting the cleanup operations, and Interior rehabilitating the land and resettling the people of Bikini and Enewetak. In 1972, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of the Interior met to discuss the US approach to the cleanup. ![]() The United States then began plans to clean up the evacuated islands. In 1962, these former residents of the atolls sued the US government, demanding either compensation for being forced from their homes or to be allowed to return. In advance of Operation Crossroads in 1946, the US government evacuated Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, claiming to do so for “the good of mankind and to end all wars.” They promised to allow the inhabitants of Bikini and Enewetak to return to their homes one day. Some of the most notable operations included Operation Crossroads, which examined the effects of nuclear explosions on Navy ships Operation Greenhouse, which focused on reducing the size and weight of an atomic bomb and decreasing the amount of fissile material used, while increasing the yield of the weapon Operation Ivy, which tested the Teller-Ulam design for thermonuclear weapons and Operation Castle, which tested the first deliverable hydrogen bomb. The Marshall Islands in the Pacific were subjected to 67 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958. ![]()
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