The day of 26 September is intended to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament, as it has been designated by the United Nations as the Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Six decades ago, Andalucía experienced the consequences of nuclear weapons first-hand.

It happened in the very beginning 1966, in the very east of Andalucía. It unfolded at the height of the Cold War as part of ‘Chrome Dome’.

Operation ‘Chrome Dome’ was a US Air Force mission conducted from 1961 to 1968. B-52 strategic bombers, armed with thermonuclear weapons, remained on constant combat alert in the air, flying routes that enabled them to take up favourable positions from which to strike targets within the Soviet Union should the need arise. The southern route of this operation passed over Spain, crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach the Turkish-Soviet border.

On 17 January 1966, a US Air Force bomber collided in mid-air with a refuelling aircraft, resulting in four thermonuclear bombs falling

near the fishing village of Palomares in Almeria province. The incident strained Spanish-US relations and led Spain to ban US nuclear-armed flights over its territory and it contributed to the termination of Operation Chrome Dome.

During a refuelling manoeuvre at an altitude of approximately 10,000 metres, a B-52 strategic bomber and a KC-135 tanker aircraft collided and four Mark 28 bombs plummeted toward earth. Incidentally, their destructive power exceeded that of the two atomic bombs that were thrown on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

Three landed near Palomares and one fell into the Mediterranean Sea. The US military quickly located three bombs on land. The bomb found near the mouth of the Almanzor River remained intact. The other two were found in mountainous terrain, in craters they had created.

There was no nuclear explosion, but the conventional explosives in the two bombs detonated on impact, shattering the casings and scattering radioactive material. As if to make matters worse, on that clear, sunny day there were strong gusts of wind, which carried the toxic cloud of plutonium over approximately 2.6 square kilometres of tomato fields and scrubland.

As for the fourth bomb, it was recovered intact from the seabed after nearly three months of intensive search operations by the Navy.

In this context, the contribution of a local fisherman is particularly noteworthy. Paco Simo Orts (who later became known as ‘Paco the Bomb Man’) maintained from the outset that he had seen one of the nuclear bombs sink into the Mediterranean Sea along with the aeroplane’s ‘black box’.

For 81 days, Paco went out to sea with the Americans, who deployed several ships and two submarines to patrol the waters and locate the bomb. Finally, on 7 April, the bomb was found and recovered from a depth of around 750 metres, exactly where the Andalusian fisherman had always indicated.

Following the disaster, the US Army and the Spanish government launched an operation to decontaminate the area. Thousands of 208-litre drums, filled with contaminated topsoil and the remains of crops that had been exposed to radiation, were sent to the US for disposal.

It is also mentioned that the Franco regime waged a disinformation campaign, categorically denying the possibility of radioactive contamination in the area.

To further convince the public of the area’s safety, a photograph was widely circulated showing Spain’s Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga, and the US Ambassador, Angier Biddle Duke, bathing in public at the nearby Palomares beach.

However, concerns about residual radioactivity in Palomares persisted for decades. It is even reported that some plots of land remain fenced off due to residual traces of radioactive substances (such as americium and plutonium).

SUR in English visited Palomares and found the quiet hamlet, as a place combining its traditional village essence with a coastal natural environment. Quitapellejos Beach, widely known as Palomares Beach, is characterised by calm waters, fine sand surrounded by pine and eucalyptus woodland. It has been awarded the ‘Blue Flag’ as well as the nearby beach, Playazo-Villaricos, that has been included this year in the new list of Andalusian ‘Blue Flag’ beaches.