Spain, US to negotiate cleanup of Cold War nuclear bomb site

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain and the US are set to negotiate the cleanup of radioactive contamination that has plagued Spain since 1966 when an American B-52 bomber carrying hydrogen bombs crashed off the Spanish coast.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. Then, on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will have a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

According to the Spanish daily El Pais, the leaders will discuss this lingering 57-year-old issue.

At the height of the Cold War, an American bomber collided with a refueling aircraft off the coast of Palomares, a small Spanish fishing village.

The B-52 bomber was carrying four hydrogen bombs at the time of the accident. Three of the bombs landed on Spanish soil, with two partially detonating upon impact.

Although the detonations did not result in nuclear explosions, they contaminated the area with radioactive plutonium.

In an attempt to alleviate public concern following the accident, the tourism minister of Spain’s Francoist state and the then US ambassador to Spain famously went for a swim on a nearby beach. However, despite cleanup efforts, a 2007 study revealed that approximately 40 hectares (99 acres) of Spanish land remain dangerously contaminated.

The land has been fenced off, but cleaning it up is no easy task. Madrid insists that Washington should help clean up the mess.

In 2015, a political agreement was reached between the two nations, in which the US committed to clean up the radioactive land. But nothing came out of it as governments changed in both cases.

Earlier this year, Spain made another formal request to expedite the cleanup process, and El Pais reports that the US has agreed to restart negotiations.

In the lead-up to the state visit, Spain and the US have also signed two significant agreements.

On Monday, Spain agreed to allow the US to deploy two more US Navy ships at the Rota Naval Base. In late April, Spain also agreed to participate in a US program designed to redirect Latin immigrants to Spain to help mitigate irregular border crossings.