Government bodies continue to pass the buck over Palomares (Almeria) contamination

ENVIRONMENTALIST group Ecologistas en Accion called on the Supreme Court to annul its November 15 Palomares verdict.

Appealing against the tribunal’s ruling that cleaning the polluted site was not the responsibility of Spain’s Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), the judges must now indicate which body was responsible, Ecologistas insisted.   

Palomares was the 1966 scene of a “nuclear accident” when four unarmed thermonuclear bombs were released during a mid-air crash between two US aircraft.

Three fell on Palomares, affecting an area of two square kilometres, some of which still needs decontaminating. Ecologistas claims this should be carried out by the CSN.

The Presidency Ministry and the Environment Ministry declared themselves “not competent” to decontaminate Palomares, Ecologistas pointed out.

The government announced that any order to clean the area should come from the  Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (Ciemat) which in turn maintained that the CSN  coordinated, managed and decided “everything concerning contamination” in the zone.

“If the Cabinet, the Presidency Ministry, the Environment Ministry and Ciemat are not competent, then we are left with the CSN,” Ecologistas said.

The group also warned that its Supreme Court appeal was the last resort before going to Spain’s Constitutional Tribunal and, if necessary, the European Court in Strasbourg.

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