29 April 2018
(Ground Zero Café)---Following file extracted from the archives-- 11° 32′ 42″ N, 162° 21′ 10.8″ E
Honolulu Star-Bulletin-- (13 April, 1980)--Text decoded by OCR--
Nuclear burial ground
By FLOYD K. TAKEUCHI Advertiser Editorial Writer
RUNIT, Marshall Islands — From the air, Runit Is-land's 370-foot wide concrete dome looks like a ground-ed spaceship or an oversize upside-down saucer. But this unusual structure, so out of place on this barren. wind-swept spit of sand and coral, serves a deadly pur-pose. It caps over 110,000 cubic yards of highly radioactive soil and debris. The plutonium-enriched waste was literally scraped off the top of many of Enewetak Atoll's 40 islands where 43 nuclear bombs were ex-ploded between 1947 and 1958.
INDEED, THE DOME sits over a crater blown out by a 1958 explosion code-named "Cactus." A similar crater now is a tidal pool next to the dome. Runit is a fitting place for a nuclear burial ground. Nineteen tests were centered around the island, which is situated halfway up the eastern end of the atoll. It is so contaminated with deadly radioactive ele-ments — plutonium, strontium-90 and cesium-137 — that it will be off-limits forever. Anyone who walks over the island's sandy surface must wear a protective gauze mask and special boots. Even those who only walk on the 25-foot high dome must be checked for radiation on their hands and feet. The Cactus crater dome is supposed to shield the surrounding environment from the radioactive waste. It will have to do the job for a long time. While the half-life of strontium and cesium are around 30 years, plutonium's is 24,000 years. That means in the year 25,980 there will still be half as much plutonium radiation there as at present.
The concrete cap, which required over 43,000 bags of cement to build, is between 16 and 21 inches thick. In an effort to slow erosion from the sea, Army engi-neers built a seawall of sand and coral on the ocean side of the dome. They also have to contend with corro-sive salt spray, a common occurence on the low-lying island. Asked if the dome, which was completed last year: could survive the elements for 24,000 years or more, an Army spokesman said no damage is expected. A scientist with the Enewetak cleanup project joking-ly said, "I'd bet on it " The Runit dome is an awesome sight, from both the air and ground There is only sparse vegetation on the small island, and the only other structures are the re-mains of two bunkers.
WITH THE EXCEPTION of occasional visitors who arrive by helicopter, the only mammals on contaminat-ed Runit are the rats. Their hardy ancestors survived the nuclear testing by hiding in underground burrows. This latest genera-tion scampers in the underbrush, eating vegetation that is chock-full of strontium and cesium. Rats also have survived on Enewetak's other islands. According to resident scientists at the Mid-Pacific Marine Laboratory on Enewetak island who have been studying the atoll's rat population, the only observable mutation they have discovered so far is a slight abnor-mality in some rat palates. Dr. Steve Vessey, who heads the project, added they have found "no real scare stories, no two-headed rats."
Honolulu Star Bulletin--13 April 1980
(Ground Zero Café)---Following file extracted from the archives-- 11° 32′ 42″ N, 162° 21′ 10.8″ E
Honolulu Star-Bulletin-- (13 April, 1980)--Text decoded by OCR--
Nuclear burial ground
By FLOYD K. TAKEUCHI Advertiser Editorial Writer
RUNIT, Marshall Islands — From the air, Runit Is-land's 370-foot wide concrete dome looks like a ground-ed spaceship or an oversize upside-down saucer. But this unusual structure, so out of place on this barren. wind-swept spit of sand and coral, serves a deadly pur-pose. It caps over 110,000 cubic yards of highly radioactive soil and debris. The plutonium-enriched waste was literally scraped off the top of many of Enewetak Atoll's 40 islands where 43 nuclear bombs were ex-ploded between 1947 and 1958.
INDEED, THE DOME sits over a crater blown out by a 1958 explosion code-named "Cactus." A similar crater now is a tidal pool next to the dome. Runit is a fitting place for a nuclear burial ground. Nineteen tests were centered around the island, which is situated halfway up the eastern end of the atoll. It is so contaminated with deadly radioactive ele-ments — plutonium, strontium-90 and cesium-137 — that it will be off-limits forever. Anyone who walks over the island's sandy surface must wear a protective gauze mask and special boots. Even those who only walk on the 25-foot high dome must be checked for radiation on their hands and feet. The Cactus crater dome is supposed to shield the surrounding environment from the radioactive waste. It will have to do the job for a long time. While the half-life of strontium and cesium are around 30 years, plutonium's is 24,000 years. That means in the year 25,980 there will still be half as much plutonium radiation there as at present.
The concrete cap, which required over 43,000 bags of cement to build, is between 16 and 21 inches thick. In an effort to slow erosion from the sea, Army engi-neers built a seawall of sand and coral on the ocean side of the dome. They also have to contend with corro-sive salt spray, a common occurence on the low-lying island. Asked if the dome, which was completed last year: could survive the elements for 24,000 years or more, an Army spokesman said no damage is expected. A scientist with the Enewetak cleanup project joking-ly said, "I'd bet on it " The Runit dome is an awesome sight, from both the air and ground There is only sparse vegetation on the small island, and the only other structures are the re-mains of two bunkers.
WITH THE EXCEPTION of occasional visitors who arrive by helicopter, the only mammals on contaminat-ed Runit are the rats. Their hardy ancestors survived the nuclear testing by hiding in underground burrows. This latest genera-tion scampers in the underbrush, eating vegetation that is chock-full of strontium and cesium. Rats also have survived on Enewetak's other islands. According to resident scientists at the Mid-Pacific Marine Laboratory on Enewetak island who have been studying the atoll's rat population, the only observable mutation they have discovered so far is a slight abnor-mality in some rat palates. Dr. Steve Vessey, who heads the project, added they have found "no real scare stories, no two-headed rats."
Honolulu Star Bulletin--13 April 1980
THE GYRE QUAGMIRE--Eniwetok Atoll H-Bomb Test, 1952--PHOTO COMPARISON, THEN & NOW
29 April 2018
(Ground Zero)-- Following photo illustrates the atoll crater 66 years later--
Decoded (OCR) text from the accompanied article at The Waterloo Iowa Courier (01 April 1954)
1952 Eniwetok Atoll H-Bomb test--
(OCR decoded, see image for actual text)
ISLE HALF ilLE LOU IS NO A CRATER
AEC Releases Blast Pictures Because "People Must Know the Facts."
WASHINGTON (AP)—The government disclosed Thurs-day details of the world's first hydrogen explosion—a sear-ing and crushing fury that wiped out an island in the twinkling of an eye and spawned a gigantic fireball big enough to engulf the heart of New York City. The official motion picture film of the thermonuclear test in No-vember, 1952, conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and Defense Department at Eniwetok atoll, was made public—in some-what censored form—by the Fed-eral Civil Defense Administration. Must Have the Facts. That agency said it "firmly be-lieves it is necessarr for the Amer-ican public to know the facts about the destructiveness of nuclear weapons." And it quoted from the speech of President Eisenhower before the United Nations Assembly last De-cember which said: "Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts Of today's existence." Awesome as it was, the 1952 test has been described by Eisenhower as only a first step in this nation's hydrogen weapons program.
I
TWO more masts.
There have been two announced thermonuclear blasts in the Pacific proving ground since then, and both have been semi-officially de-scribed as much more powerful. One was set off March 1, the other last Friday. Here are some of the things the motion picture of the 1952 test and the official narration accompany. ing it disclosed: 1. The test device was exploded in a "cab," a small workshop jammed with recording and deton-ating gadgets, on the islet of Elugelab. at the northern rim of Eniwetok atoll. 2. The island, about a half mile long and a quarter mile wide and protruding from the barrier reef of the atoll, vanished. Crater 175 Feet Deep. In the place where it stood there was a crater 175 feet deep, a mile in diameter. The deep blue water of the Pa-cific rolled where the island had stood. Into the yawning submarine crater, on the shelf of the reef where it drops off into 400 fathoms of ocean, was a great hole equal to the height of a 17-story building, capable of containing 14 buildings the size of the Pentagon at Wash-ington. 3. Created was the largest fire-ball of the more than 40 atomic explosions set off until that time-3Y4 miles in diameter. The heat at the core of that churning, brilliant man-made star presumable shot to a momentary
• a -
The Waterloo Iowa Courier 01 April 1954
(Ground Zero)-- Following photo illustrates the atoll crater 66 years later--
1952 Eniwetok Atoll H-Bomb test--
(OCR decoded, see image for actual text)
ISLE HALF ilLE LOU IS NO A CRATER
AEC Releases Blast Pictures Because "People Must Know the Facts."
WASHINGTON (AP)—The government disclosed Thurs-day details of the world's first hydrogen explosion—a sear-ing and crushing fury that wiped out an island in the twinkling of an eye and spawned a gigantic fireball big enough to engulf the heart of New York City. The official motion picture film of the thermonuclear test in No-vember, 1952, conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and Defense Department at Eniwetok atoll, was made public—in some-what censored form—by the Fed-eral Civil Defense Administration. Must Have the Facts. That agency said it "firmly be-lieves it is necessarr for the Amer-ican public to know the facts about the destructiveness of nuclear weapons." And it quoted from the speech of President Eisenhower before the United Nations Assembly last De-cember which said: "Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts Of today's existence." Awesome as it was, the 1952 test has been described by Eisenhower as only a first step in this nation's hydrogen weapons program.
I
TWO more masts.
There have been two announced thermonuclear blasts in the Pacific proving ground since then, and both have been semi-officially de-scribed as much more powerful. One was set off March 1, the other last Friday. Here are some of the things the motion picture of the 1952 test and the official narration accompany. ing it disclosed: 1. The test device was exploded in a "cab," a small workshop jammed with recording and deton-ating gadgets, on the islet of Elugelab. at the northern rim of Eniwetok atoll. 2. The island, about a half mile long and a quarter mile wide and protruding from the barrier reef of the atoll, vanished. Crater 175 Feet Deep. In the place where it stood there was a crater 175 feet deep, a mile in diameter. The deep blue water of the Pa-cific rolled where the island had stood. Into the yawning submarine crater, on the shelf of the reef where it drops off into 400 fathoms of ocean, was a great hole equal to the height of a 17-story building, capable of containing 14 buildings the size of the Pentagon at Wash-ington. 3. Created was the largest fire-ball of the more than 40 atomic explosions set off until that time-3Y4 miles in diameter. The heat at the core of that churning, brilliant man-made star presumable shot to a momentary
• a -
The Waterloo Iowa Courier 01 April 1954
Other crater(s)-- The Runit Dome--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runit_Island
http://eyelessoncampus.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-runit-dome-eniwetok-nuclear-burial.html
THE GYRE QUAGMIRE--Radioactive Fallout in the Pacific---THE POISONED PEOPLE, 1954
29 April 2018
(Fukaru Maru Tuna Co.)-- Following from the archives surrounding atomic testing in the Pacific Ocean in the early Fifties of the last century--
ARIZONA REPUBLIC--13 June 1954--
IMO
Burned Group Wants To Go Back Home
(Editor's Note—A shifting wind cast radioactive ash along an uncharted path after the March 1 testing of the hydro-gen bomb. The result was in-jury to two score natives—and a petition to the United Nations. To get the facts at the scene, AP Correspondent IViWant J. Waugh went from Honolulu to the Marshalls and spent 10 days interviewing in-jured persons and their lead-ers, and personnel who run the atomic tests).
By WILLIAM J. WAUGH KWAJALEIN. Marshall Islands (AP)—They call themselves "the poisoned people." There are the 82 natives "f Rongelap Atoll who were show-ered by radioactive ash from the March 1 explosion of a hydro-gen bomb.
One of them, John Anjin, said' the ash rained down for 24 hours. "It looked like salt," he said. "It came down like a light rain. You could feel it strike your skin. It burned when it touched." SOME OF the "poisoned peo-ple" lost their hair. Others were burned. Almost all of them are cured now—but they can't go home for a year. They are among the Marshall Islanders who have petitioned the United Nations to end Atomic experiments in this area—or at least to see that the United States observes closer pre-cautions. The Marshall Islands, midway between Hawaii and the Philip-pines, came under U.S. control in the war 10 years ago. In 1947 the United States became their trustee under U.N. authority. The islands are low coral atolls with a population of about 11,000. Natives of Bikini and Eniwetok atolls were uprooted in 1946-7 to make way for atomic experi-ments. In the March 1 blast the 82 persons on Rongelap and 154 on Utirik were exposed or en-dangered to such an extent that they were removed from their home atolls. The Utirik people have gone back, but the Ronge-lapers must wait a year—until their atoll is considered safe.
Arizona Republic 11 June 1954
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