Preliminary design of a landfill and revetment on Bikini Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6508566

Smith, O P; Chu, Y H

Topsoil on Bikini Island, located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii at 113 deg 35 min N, 165 deg 25 min E, was contaminated by radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons tests in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The uptake of this radioactive fallout, primarily cesium-137 in plants, has prevented resettlement of the island by the native population. One alternative solution proposed by the congressionally appointed Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee involves removal of the contaminated topsoil and placement of the excavated material as a landfill on the 2,500-ft-wide reef flat adjacent to the eastern (windward) shore of the island. This paper explores that alternative by first developing an extremal wave climatology offshore of Bikini Island from 21 years (1959-1979) of typhoon data published by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center on Guam. Deepwater wave conditions just offshore of the reef are estimated and transformed to the point of breaking at the edge of the reef. Storm surge is estimated based on these same parameters. Wave setup on the reef flat is estimated based on the simulated breaking conditions. Given an estimate of the elevated water level across the reef caused by storm surge and wave setup, depth limitations and fractional decay are estimated to define wave conditions at the toe of the proposed revetment. A rubble-mound revetment design stable in these conditions, armored by coral limestone quarried from the reef flat, is then formulated and corresponding material quantities estimated.

• Research Organization: Coastal Engineering Research Center, Vicksburg, MS (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6508566
• Report Number(s): AD-A-178304/2/XAB; CERC-87-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BIKINI
SOILS
CLIMATES
DATA ANALYSIS
FALLOUT
GROUND DISPOSAL
SANITARY LANDFILLS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
DECONTAMINATION
ARMOR
CONTAMINATION
DECAY
DEPTH
FRACTIONATION
LIMESTONE
MARSHALL ISLANDS
REEFS
STORMS
SURGES
CARBONATE ROCKS
CLEANING
DIMENSIONS
DISASTERS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
ISLANDS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MICRONESIA
OCEANIA
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
400702* - Radiochemistry & Nuclear Chemistry- Properties of Radioactive Materials
510300 - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage