Pressure mounts on US to clean radioactive Spanish village (Feature)

By Sinikka Tarvainen Jan 30, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Madrid - Spanish authorities are stepping up pressure on the United States over the clean-up of a plutonium contaminated village following the collision of a US bomber and tanker more than four decades ago.

In January 1966, a US B-52 bomber and a tanker collided during refuelling above the south-eastern Spanish village of Palomares, releasing four nuclear bombs.

Two of the bombs were found intact, one on land and the other from the sea. But non-nuclear explosives in the other two bombs detonated, splattering the ground with toxic plutonium, some of which remains in Palomares to this day.

'It is a historic anomaly that the United States has not cleaned up such a site in an allied Western European country,' said Francisco Castejon, a representative of environmental group Ecologistas en Accion, who has studied the situation in the village of 1,500 residents.

Spanish authorities are now stepping up pressure on the US, which fears that an eventual agreement to pay for a clean-up could set a precedent, the daily El Pais reported.

The Spanish government, which had kept the issue on the back burner, has grown bolder under pressure from environmentalists and Palomares residents, Castejon told the German Press Agency dpa.

A Spanish diplomatic source downplayed such reports, but confirmed that Madrid was in talks with Washington on how to address Spain's concerns over the pollution in Palomares.

It is not known exactly how much plutonium remains in the area, because the content of nuclear bombs is a military secret, Castejon said.

Estimates put the amount at about one kilogramme. Plutonium is so toxic when inhaled or swallowed that 'one kilogramme is a lot,' Castejon said.

So far, however, regular medical tests on Palomares residents have not yielded evidence of cancers or other significant health damage.

'The size of contaminated soil particles is so small that they do not stay in the organism if they are inhaled through dust,' Castejon said.

However, he warned against underestimating the possible impact of the plutonium in Palomares.

'Contaminated land was cultivated for food, and some people even lived there for decades until those areas were fenced off in 2006,' he said. The polluted areas measure about 60 hectares.

Palomares residents want the area to be cleaned up, not only because of potential health risks, but because they are fed up with the stigma the accident put on the village. They would also like to free the contaminated land for use by construction companies.

After the accident, the United States transported about 1,300 cubic metres of soil to a US nuclear reservation, and buried the digging equipment in Palomares.

Part of that equipment, which may contain plutonium, is still buried in the area, according to Castejon.

In addition to removing some of the soil, Washington has spent millions of dollars on soil and medical tests as well as damages paid to Palomares residents after the accident.

Spain, however has spent much more, according to Castejon. The Spanish research group Ciemat has spent about 20 million euros (27 million dollars) on soil studies and on expropriating polluted land, he said.

'The decontamination technology that was available at the time of the accident did not allow for a complete clean-up,' a Spanish diplomatic source told dpa.

Madrid now wants Washington to take away about 6,000 cubic metres of soil, according to El Pais. Spain has no storage facilities for the material, which will remain radioactive for thousands of years.

The two countries would split the cost of the clean-up, which would amount to 31 million euros, the newspaper quoted Spanish diplomats as having told US counterparts.

Washington, however, was showing little enthusiasm for such plans, possibly because it feared an avalanche of similar demands from countries where it had carried out nuclear tests, El Pais reported.

The US may also be reluctant to embark on a complicated clean-up operation that can last as long as three years, Castejon said.

The Spanish diplomatic source denied that there was any friction and said a US technical commission would soon visit Palomares to evaluate the extent of the pollution.

'High-level discussions are continuing about what to do,' a US embassy spokesman confirmed to dpa.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed the matter with her Spanish counterpart Trinidad Jimenez recently, the spokesman added.

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