US has paid only €1.8m of Palomares clean-up

THE USA has only paid €1.8 million of the €13.8 million which the clean-up in Palomares cost between 2007 and 2008.

The remaining traces of the four American hydrogen bombs which fell on Palomares in 1966 have still to be to removed, something which is still being discussed by the US National Security Council.

The US claims it has “been collaborating” by doing check-ups on local residents and environmental contamination.

But this wasn’t until 2004 when Spain resolved that land in the area which had been expropriated to prevent it being used for other purposes, must be checked.

In 2007, an agreement was reach with the US to map existing contamination.

This cost €13.8 million, of which €12 million was paid by Spain, and resulted in a three-dimensional map being sent to the US Energy Department in 2008.

The report suggested that steps must be taken to repair the damage in the area which was approved in 2010.

However it was revised by the US last year, and an agreement is yet to be reached.

The Palomares B-52 crash or Palomares incident occurred on January 17, 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling at 9,450m over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain.

Of the four hydrogen bombs the B-52G carried three were found on land near Palomares.

The explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact, contaminating 2-square-kilometers with radioactive plutonium.