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Rafael Minder writes in the NY Times that almost 50 years after coming close to possibly provoking a nuclear disaster, Secretary of State John Kerry, following years of wrangling between Spain and the US, signed an agreement to remove contaminated soil from an area in southern Spain where an American warplane accidentally dropped hydrogen bombs.
In 1966 a bomber collided with a refueling tanker in midair and dropped four hydrogen bombs, two of which released plutonium into the atmosphere. No warheads detonated, narrowly averting what could have been an explosion more powerful than the atomic strikes against Japan at the end of World War II. Four days after the accident, the Spanish government stated that "the Palomares incident was evidence of the dangers created by NATO's use of the Gibraltar airstrip", announcing that NATO aircraft would no longer be permitted to fly over Spanish territory either to or from Gibraltar. The US later announced that it would no longer fly over Spain with nuclear weapons, and the Spanish government formally banned US flights over its territory that carried such weapons.
Neither Kerry nor Spanish Foreign Minister García-Margallo said exactly how much contaminated soil would be sent back, where it would be stored in the United States, or who would pay for the cleanup — some of the issues that have held up a deal until now. Spain has insisted that any contaminated soil be sent to the United States, because Spain does not have plants to store it. Concern over the site was reawakened in the 1990s when tests revealed high levels of americium, an isotope of plutonium, and further tests showed that 50,000 cubic meters of earth were still contaminated. The Spanish government appropriated the land in 2003 to prevent it being used.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday October 21 2015, @01:26AM
Sink it around Gibraltar and let that city grow! Take that, ya bull murderers!
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 21 2015, @02:20AM
I'm sure you were in jest, but spreading it out in the ocean away from on-shore currents is probably exactly what will end up being done, whether or not it first comes to the US.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 21 2015, @02:48AM
That's probably best. When we've finished poisoning the earth and the seas, that radioactive material will probably benefit the mutants. Give them a leg up on the long road of evolution, so that the earth can repopulate itself in 4 million years, instead of 20 or 40 million.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 21 2015, @04:57AM
Ummm, where do you think this radioactive material came from in the first place?
Was it perhaps extracted from dispersed soils ?
Would not dispersing it widely to the ocean floor be the best solution?
Or do you have a safer place for it? Maybe re-refine it, perhaps? Make new bombs perhaps?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2015, @05:45AM
I think what you are looking for is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by FakeBeldin on Wednesday October 21 2015, @11:19AM
From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]: "Most americium is produced by bombarding uranium or plutonium with neutrons in nuclear reactors"
So: no, probably not extracted from dispersed soils.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:05PM
GP:
Parent:
Who would have thought? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1) by Osamabobama on Wednesday October 21 2015, @06:04PM
Godzilla will rise from the ocean much sooner than 4 million years, otherwise why bother?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @08:57PM
Dumping radioactive waste in the sea is prohibited by the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter [wikipedia.org] of which the United States is a signatory.