US agrees to clean area in Spain contaminated by hydrogen bombs
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029303
New York Times : On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the US had agreed to finish the cleanup of the site of a nuclear material release in Spain. In 1966 a US Air Force bomber collided with a refueling tanker in midair near the town of Palomares. In the collision, four hydrogen bombs were dropped, two of which released plutonium in the air. None of the bombs exploded, but the radioactive material contaminated the area. The original cleanup removed 5000 barrels of contaminated soil from the region. The US also provided financial compensation. However, examinations conducted several years ago by Spanish authorities found that there were still contaminated areas, and in 2011 they requested that the US clean up and remove the poisoned material because Spain does not have the facilities to store it.
