Brian Bradley
WC Monitor
10/23/2015
The U.S. has agreed to assist Spain in cleaning up plutonium, uranium, and americium that was spread across at least 24 acres along the European nation’s southern coast after a B-52 carrying nuclear cargo for U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed with another U.S. military aircraft over the Mediterranean city of Palomares in 1966. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he signed the memorandum of understanding with Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo on Monday in Madrid. “We have to build on today’s signing to take further action to resolve, once and for all, this very important issue,” Kerry said in a statement. “Over the past 50 years, we have worked together to secure the area, to remove contaminated soil, and to decontaminate land and to ensure public health and the safety of the people. And that work will continue.”
The B-52 was carrying four nuclear bombs. None exploded, but high explosives on two bombs detonated on impact, one landed fairly intact, and the fourth landed in the Mediterranean Sea and was recovered by the U.S. military months later. After initial remediation in the weeks following the incident, contaminated soil was put in barrels for shipment to a burial site at the Savannah River Site. However, it is uncertain where future Palomares waste will be sent. The State Department and the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management did not respond to requests for comment about where the waste will be disposed.
In 2001, Spain’s Center for Energy, Environment and Technology Investigations detected higher levels of plutonium, uranium, and americium than average over 24 acres of Palomares. According to the U.S.-Spain statement of intent for the remediation, over the “past several years, especially since 2010,” Palomares cleanup participants have developed plans, studies, and environmental assessment of the contaminated areas of the Palomares site; have monitored the site, sampled materials, and managed data to facilitate and inform more remediation planning work; have discussed remediation zones and accompanying cleanup levels and resulting waste volumes, reaching “mutually satisfactory technical conclusions;” have discussed waste treatment, packaging, waste handling, and on-site storage requirements, and site infrastructure to support remediation; have discussed transportation options and requirements associated with the excavation of contaminated soil from the Palomares site and transport of the soil to the U.S.; and have considered waste characterization and certification criteria for potential disposal of the contaminated soil at an unnamed U.S. facility.
Pending negotiation, the final agreement will address costs, technical, and legal terms. Establishment of a joint oversight committee comprised of U.S. and Spanish representatives who would meet on an as-needed basis to coordinate remediation is also being considered, according to the statement of intent. The statement notes that cooperative activities are “subject to the availability of funds personnel and other resources” in the U.S. and Spain, and the agreement will not be legally binding, but adds that a discontinuation of activities by either country should come after “prompt advance notice.”
