Nuclear security

Decades after U.S. nuclear bombs fell in Spanish countryside, cleanup goes on

Nearly a half-century after a midair plane collision sent U.S. nuclear bombs tumbling down onto the Spanish countryside, the two governments are still trying to clean up the radioactive mess the accident left behind.

Two American military aircraft, a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 refueling plane, crashed into each other above the rural village of Palomares in southeastern Spain on January 17, 1966.

The explosion killed seven of the planes' crew members and released the bomber's payload of four nuclear weapons.

Three of the bombs hit the ground, the other fell into the Mediterranean. None of them set off a nuclear detonation, but two of them spewed plutonium over the surrounding area.

Nobody on the ground was killed as the bombs and plane wreckage rained down around Palomares, but parts of the village and the nearby countryside were contaminated by the radioactive materials.