The Nation : Renovation of Bikini Atoll

The Reagan Administration agreed, if Congress goes along, to pay for removing radioactive soil from Bikini atoll, site of 23 U.S. nuclear weapons tests until 1958, so the Pacific islanders can go home again for a second time. Lawyers for the Justice Department and the 1,200 islanders signed an agreement to dismiss the islanders’ lawsuit seeking to force a cleanup of the remaining radioactivity. A scientific committee estimated last November that a cleanup--essentially removing 11 inches of topsoil and replanting the island’s vegetation--would cost about $40 million.