Amchitka Island is located near the far west end of the Aleutian Islands, approximately 1,340 miles west-southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. From World War II until the early 1990s, the island has been used by multiple United States government agencies for a variety of military and research activities. Amchitka is currently uninhabited and is part of the Aleutian Islands Unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

Three underground nuclear tests were conducted on Amchitka Island. The Department of Defense, in conjunction with Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), conducted the first nuclear test (named Long Shot, approximately 80 kilotons) to provide data that would improve the United States capability of detecting underground nuclear explosions. The second nuclear test (Milrow, approximately 1,000 kilotons) was a weapons-related test conducted by AEC as a means to study the feasibility of detonating a much larger device. The final nuclear test (Cannikin, less than 5 megatons), the largest United States underground test, was a weapons-related test and was detonated on November 6, 1971. The fission products from the tests remain in and around the subsurface cavities
at each test location. In addition to these three sites, drilling was performed at three other sites where nuclear testing was considered but not performed.

The activities at these six sites resulted in 12 drilling mud pits, where the drilling spoils were stored. The large-diameter emplacement boreholes were drilled using methods that employed large quantities of drilling mud - a mixture of bentonite, diesel fuel, and other compounds. The drilling mud was commonly stored near the drill sites in bermed pits excavated to hold large quantities of fluid produced from drilling the emplacement holes and exploratory boreholes.

In 2001, the Department of Energy (DOE) remediated six areas associated with Amchitka mud pits release sites. During remediation, each mud pit was stabilized by the removal of standing water and mixing solidifi-cation soils into the drilling mud. Once the drilling mud was stabilized, a geosynthetic cap constructed of soil layers and a 30-mil geomembrane cover was installed. All mud pit caps were revegetated using a seed mat product that consisted of a control blanket manufactured with an USFWS-approved seed mix built into the blanket.

To ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the remedial action, the mud pit sites are inspected every five years as part of DOE's long-term monitoring and surveillance program. In August 2006, the closure caps were inspected. The findings from the 2006 inspection were that total vegetative cover varied inversely with the elevation of the closure cap. The highest total vegetative cover (50 percent) was found on the Long Shot closure cap and the lowest vegetative cover was found on closure caps located farther north, and higher in elevation, on the island (8.0 and 7.9 percent, respectively).

Since Amchitka Island is part of the Alaska National Maritime Wildlife Refuge, the USFWS said the vegetation coverage of the caps located farthest north on the island was very thin and additional action would likely be required to prevent significant erosion at these three sites prior to the next five-year inspection in 2011. In 2007, DOE and the USFWS agreed to perform the revegetation task in 2008 with the help and support of the USFWS.

In late May 2008, the revegetation team of Mark Kautsky, DOE-Legacy Management (LM); Kent Sundseth, Manager of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge for the USFWS; Deborah Rudis, Environmental Contaminants Biologist for the USFWS; and Paul Darr, Project Specialist for S.M. Stoller, DOE-LM Legacy Management Services contractor; met at Adak, Alaska, to board the Tiglax, a USFWS research vessel, for the 20-hour passage to Amchitka Island.

Once on Amchitka Island, the team was required to establish a base camp for a seven-day encampment. All materials, supplies, and camp-equipment were disembarked on the island and the Tiglax departed for other USFWS work in the Aleutian Islands. Utilizing two all-terrain vehicles and a trailer, 3,500 pounds of fertilizer, and 350 pounds of grass seed mixture developed for the climate were transported 26 miles from the base camp on the island and spread over three sites covering an area of approximately seven acres.

The revegetation team also re-established the permanent monument marking ground zero at the Milrow Site, conducted several bird studies for the USFWS, and performed soil and surface water sampling at an U.S. Navy sewage lagoon site.

In August 2008, DOE, ADEC, and USFWS signed the Record of Decision for The Amchitka, Alaska, Site Surface Closure. This document addresses DOE's responsibilities to ADEC and USFWS for the long-term surveillance and monitoring activities of the surface sites. Currently the Long-Term Surveillance and Monitoring Plan is being finalized for the Amchitka Island sites.