Madrid asks Washington to clean up accident site

Madrid — Spain says it has asked the United States to begin procedures to remove soil contaminated with radioactivity after a mid-air collision dumped four US hydrogen bombs near a southern Spanish village nearly 60 years ago.

None of the bombs exploded, but the plutonium-filled detonators on two went off, spreading several kilograms of highly radioactive plutonium 239 across the landscape around Palomares, a fishing village.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said no more details would be given on the petition until a reply is received from the US.

The two countries signed a statement of intent in 2015 to negotiate a binding agreement to further restore and clear up the Palomares site and arrange for the contaminated soil to be disposed of at an appropriate site in the US, but for several reasons no agreement was ever signed.

The bombs fell on Jan 17, 1966, when a US B-52 bomber and a refueling plane crashed into each other, killing seven of 11 crew members. Nobody on the ground died.

The aircraft and hydrogen bombs fell to earth near Palomares. Three of the weapons were located on land within 24 hours of the accident, spreading contaminated material. The fourth was recovered intact after a long search, according to Fandom's military history pages.

The accident happened during the height of the Cold War when it was US policy to keep nuclear-armed warplanes in the air constantly near the Soviet border.

The 2015 statement said that immediately after the accident both countries set about securing the area, removing contaminated soil and decontaminating the land. It said that they had continued to monitor and analyze contamination levels.

The Spanish state news agency EFE said about 50,000 cubic meters of land over 44 plots were affected. The government has since rented the land from its owners to keep it protected and now hopes to expropriate it.

The newspaper El Pais, which reported on the petition on Monday, said the request had been presented several months ago and that the US reaction had been positive.

Agencies via Xinhua