Spain Program
Palomares, Spain

In 1966, two U.S. Air Force planes collided during a midair refueling near the coast of Palomares, Spain. Two nuclear weapons fell into the sea and two broke up on the ground. The nonnuclear detonations of two of the weapons dispersed plutonium across steep and rugged agricultural areas. The U.S. Department of Defense remediated the site within weeks of the accident. Since that time, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor Agencies have funded a portion of the costs of an environmental monitoring research program of the area and medical surveillance of the residents. DOE also provides scientific and technical assistance.

In the aftermath of the accident, a formal cooperative research program was initiated under the Hall-Otero Agreement of 1966. The agreement is between DOE and the Kingdom of Spain. The major goals of this agreement are to:

• Evaluate the associated radiological impact;
• Update radiological inventories for further land recovery; and
• Improve knowledge on the environmental behavior of transuranic elements in an arid rural environment.

In 1997, DOE agreed to a new 10-year program with Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Technológicas (CIEMAT) to continue the work begun under the Hall-Otero Agreement. CIEMAT is DOE's counterpart in the Kingdom of Spain. The agreement acknowledges that CIEMAT has primary responsibility and that DOE's role is supportive in nature with technical advice and partial funding of the research activities.

In 2005, DOE and CIEMAT agreed to develop a plan for a new radiation survey of Palomares' residual contaminated zones and to prepare a final radiological management plan for these zones. In 2007, the two parties formally agreed to cooperate completing the new radiological survey of affected areas at the Palomares accident site by the end of 2008. The survey will form the basis for recommending any additional final remedial actions. DOE's cost-sharing arrangement with the Kingdom of Spain, begun in 1966, will end in 2008.

The group photo below is the DOE delegation and CIEMAT staff in September 2007.

Since 1966, approximately 150 residents of Palomares receive complete physical examinations and radio-bioassays of plutonium collected in urine each year. The study, so far, involves a total of 1,029 people who received more than 4,000 medical examinations and measurements for residual plutonium deposited within their bodies.

Information about the results of work done by CIEMAT is available on the CIEMAT Web site.

CIEMAT contact for Palomares project information:
Ms. Isabel Redondo
Director, Unity of Communication
and Public Relations
CIEMAT
Phone: +34 913466355
Fax: + 34 913466740
E-mail: isabel.redondo@ciemat.es

CIEMAT contact:
Carlos Sancho Llerandi
Chief of Unit of Recovery of Radiologically
Contaminated Lands
CIEMAT
Avenida Complutense, 22 28040, Madrid, Spain
Tel: +34 913466258
Fax: +34 913466718

DOE contact:
Mohandas Bhat
Office of International Health Studies
U.S. Department of Energy
Phone: (301) 903-1719
Fax: (301) 903-1413
Email: mohandas.bhat@hq.doe.gov

Link to CIEMAT:
http://www.ciemat.es/
http://petra2.ciemat.es/eng/actividad/programas/p_indalo.html