In 1966, in Palomares, Almería, the government disclosed that the polluted site and four thermonuclear bombs fell to the ground, a fact corroborated by diplomatic sources to Europa Press.
Sources reported that The State Department referred the official request to the Joe Biden administration and will not comment further, as there has been no official response from Washington.
As reported by El País, the government has decided to roll back the unwritten agreement reached in 2015 with the Obama administration. This shifts responsibility for reclaiming contaminated land on U.S. soil under American supervision.
During the Cold War, on January 17, 1966, two United States Air Force aircraft, a KC-135 tanker and a B-52 strategic bomber, collided during a refueling maneuver near Palomares, in the Caves of Almanzora, Almería.
As a result of the collision, seven of the eleven crew members died, and the four thermonuclear bombs aboard the B-52 separated, leaving 40 hectares of soil contaminated with americium and plutonium.
Remains of damaged aircraft in Palomares, Almería, on January 17, 1966, photograph by agencies
2015 deal
Nearly half a century later, José Manuel García-Margallo, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, signed a statement of intent on October 19, 2015. The two countries pledged a major rehabilitation of Palomares surroundings and the relocation of contaminated land to an appropriate location in the United States.
At a joint press conference at the State Department, Margallo explained that the agreement would help correct a mistake made fifty years earlier. He stated that everything that ends well is good.
However, no specific deadlines were set, and no party clearly defined who would fund the program, even though both governments expressed a willingness to move forward as soon as possible.
In that statement, the United States voiced a commitment to provide necessary assistance to achieve further rehabilitation of the Palomares area and to deliver the contaminated land to a suitable site in the North American country.
About two years ago, Carlos Sancho, director of the Environmental Radiological Remediation Program at the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research, explained at a technical conference that removing pollution and moving it to American soil is tied to broader political policy. He noted that the technical aspects of the rehabilitation plan were widely discussed with U.S. authorities and that there was general agreement.
He added that extensive meetings with the U.S. Department of Energy in both Spain and the United States covered all technical issues, and there was alignment on the path forward.
In this context, CIEMAT has completed a three-dimensional diagnostic of conditions, detailing the amount and radiological location in Palomares and outlining the Rehabilitation Plan.