US government denies promising to clean up Palomares

THE US government has denied having come to a “final decision” regarding the removal of contaminated land from Palomares.

The Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said last Friday that Washington had promised to remove the land contaminated by radioactive plutonium in the so-called ‘Palomares Incident’ on January 17, 1966.

Two US aircraft collided during a mid-air refuelling operation and of the four Mk28 type hydrogen bombs one of the planes was carrying, three were found on land.

Two detonated on impact, resulting in the contamination of a two square kilometre area by radioactive plutonium. Garcia-Margallo met with US senators and the US Ambassador in Spain, Alan Solomont, and said that the USA had “promised to quickly remove the radioactive land from Palomares”.

But a notice issued by the State Department clarified that “no final decision has been reached regarding the clean-up of the area” and that the “Spanish and US governments continue to hold discussions at the highest level regarding the worries in Palomares”.

Just hours before learning of this, the Mayor of Cuevas del Almanzora, Jesus Caicedo, said he was “pleased” with Garcia-Margallo’s announcement, and that it was “like winning the lottery”.

The State Department recalled that in 1966 the US worked closely with Spain to solve the situation and has “collaborated for more than 40 years with the Spanish authorities to supervise the area and the health of local residents”.

After another meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Garcia-Margallo said that she is “personally committed” to resolving the matter.

The Energy, Environmental and Technological Research Centre (CIEMAT) has always maintained that the decontamination of the area depends on a “political decision” by the US Government.

CIEMAT estimates there are still some 6,000 cubic metres of contaminated earth in three areas over a total surface of 41 hectares. In 1966, contaminated soil was placed in 250-litre drums and shipped to the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina for burial.

A total of 2.2 hectares were decontaminated, producing 6,000 barrels. Although in 2008, CIEMAT found two trenches where the US Army had stored contaminated earth. Seventeen hectares of land with lower levels of contamination was mixed to a depth of 30 cm by harrowing and plowing. In 2004, a study revealed that significant traces of the contamination remain present, although there has been no indication of health issues amongst the local population.

The Spanish government expropriated some plots of land which would otherwise have been slated for agriculture use or housing construction.

In October 2006, the Spanish and United States governments agreed to decontaminate the remaining areas and share the workload and costs, estimated at some €25m but this decision was later revoked when the US said it was no longer responsible for the matter.  

Photo credit: Miradas de Andalucia.
By Jennifer Leighfield