In 1966, in Palomares (Almería), the government declared that the polluted and four thermonuclear bombs fell to the groundas confirmed by diplomatic sources to Europa Press.
Sources stated that The State Department referred the “official request” to the Joe Biden administration. and they will not comment further on this as there has been no official response from Washington.
As reported by ‘El País’ on Monday, The government has now decided to roll back the unwritten agreement reached in 2015 with the Barack Obama Administration. This puts the United States in charge of reclaiming accidentally polluted land on its territory.
In the midst of the Cold War, on January 17, 1966, two United States Air Force aircraft, a KC-135 tanker aircraft and a B-52 strategic bomber collided in the middle of a refueling maneuver in the hamlet of Palomares. , in the Caves of Almanzora (Almería).
As a result of the collision Seven of the eleven crew members carrying both aircraft died and the four thermonuclear bombs carried by the B-52 were separated, leaving 40 hectares of soil contaminated with americium and plutonium.
2015 deal
Almost half a century has passed since then, until the then-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, signed a statement of intent on October 19, 2015. Both countries have committed “Major rehabilitation” of Palomares surroundings and relocation of contaminated land to “appropriate location” in the United States.
At a joint press conference at the State Department, Margallo explained that the agreement would make it possible to “fix a mistake made 50 years ago”. “Everything that ends well is good,” he said.
However, then Neither implementation deadlines nor the country that will be responsible for funding the program were specified. rehabilitation, although both parties insist that they be willing to do it “as soon as possible”.
In that statement, the United States expressed its desire to “provide necessary assistance” to achieve its goal of “further rehabilitation” of the area around Palomares, and pledged to agree to “deliver the contaminated land in a suitable place”. North American country.
A little less than two years ago, Carlos Sancho, director of the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research’s Environmental Radiological Remediation Program, explained at a technical conference that removing pollution and moving it to American soil is tied to a political policy. despite the decision The technical aspects of the Rehabilitation Plan are “a lot discussed” with US authorities In addition, I “agree”.
“We discussed absolutely all technical issues at very extensive and lengthy meetings with the (US) Department of Energy in Spain and the US; we discussed it a lot and they agree,” he said.
In this context, he explained that CIEMAT has performed a three-dimensional condition diagnosis detailing the amount and radiological location in Palomares and the Rehabilitation Plan.