U,S. State Department won’t respond until November 2025 to an information request about more nuclear waste that could come to SRS from a nuclear weapons accident in Spain in 1996!
Such a delay reveals serious problems in the State Department’s priority responding to public requests – Freedom on Information Act requests – concerning matters involving public health and safety. This simply isn’t acceptable.
Plutonium, other nuclear waste and contaminated equipment from the 1966 accident involving the loss of 4 nuclear weapons over Palomares, Spain was buried in the low-level waste burial ground at SRS.
Due to concerns in Spain, there has recently been talk of Spain demanding that more of the contaminated area at Palomares be “cleaned up.” If that were to happen where would the waste go? Would it be dumped at SRS, go to a US low-level waste burial site or stay in Spain or Europe? DOE isn’t saying and now the State Department will drag it’s feet in helping the public understand the situation.
See information about exposure of U.S. clean-up workers on the on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website: https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/radiation/sources/palomares.asp
In order to find out what might be going on, SRS filed a Freedom of Information Act request on April 10, 2023 seeking information from the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Madrid:
- A copy, in English and Spanish, of any 2015 agreement between the governments of the United States and Spain concerning the Palomares site;
- All documents from 2014 to 2023, in English and Spanish, including reports, memos, and emails, prepared by and/or held by the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the U.S. State Department in Washington, concerning the Palomares site and nuclear waste from it and/or the remediation of the Palomares site;
- Copies of cables and communication from 2014-2023 between the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the U.S. State Department in Washington, including the “Spain desk,” about the Palomares nuclear accident and resulting contamination and remediation.
The SRS FOIA request is located here: SRSW initial FOIA on Palomares April 10 2023
On May 17, 2023, the State Department confirmed receipt of the FOIA request. As no estimated response date was provided, SRS Watch on June 13, 2023 requested an “estimated date of completion” of the State Department. This astounding response was received, which indicates a massive delay in the FOIA response:
“The Office of Information Programs and Services’ electronic records system indicates that your request is being processed. At this time, the estimated date of completion (EDC) is November 28, 2025. EDCs are estimates and are subject to change. If your request can be completed prior to the EDC, a response will be sent to you sooner.”