US to clear nuclear soil in Spain fifty years after bomber crash

Fifty years after a plane carrying nuclear weapons crashed in Spain, the site is to be cleared of contamination.

A US air force B-52 bomber with four hydrogen bombs on board collided with another military plane during mid-air refuelling. It crashed in Palomares, south-east Almeira, in January 1966, killing seven of the 11 crew.

The four bombs were reported to be more powerful than those droppedon Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

None of the bombs detonated but three fell around Palomares and a fourth was found on the sea bed.

Highly toxic plutonium was spread over a 200-hectare area of countryside.

The US has finally agreed to clean up the radioactive contamination and “store the contaminated earth at a suitable location in the United States.”

This could be in an area of Nevada state which has been contaminated since the 1950s after nuclear bombs were tested there.

The US initially sent 1,700 tonnes of contaminated soil back to the States after which the incident was largely forgotten. Concern was raised in the ‘90s when high levels of a plutonium isotope were detected.

It was not until 2003 that the Spanish government appropriated the land to prevent it from being used.

Washington is in the midst of increasing its military presence in Spain. The number of marines stationed at Morón in southern Spain is set to go from 850 to 2,200 – even as high as 3,000 in case of a crisis.

At the same time the US navy base in Rota, near Cádiz, is set to become the largest in the Mediterranean.

The US seems to be pressing ahead with some urgency to achieve a greater foothold in Spain ahead of the December elections which may bring in a different government.

President Obama said during the Spanish king’s September visit to Washington that a change of government might harm bilateral relations.

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