- 28-October 2015 ISSUENN . 1555 //22 23 29 APRIL 2015 ISSUE O.O1581
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
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John Kerry signs off on Palomares toxic soil US finally to make amends for B-52 crash
Is anyone out there? Final component for observatory The last piece of equipment, an infrared ‘eye’, has finally arrived at the Calar Alto Observatory and it will be attached to a 3.5-metre telescope in order to search outer space for signs of life. The observatory See Page 2 expects it to be operational within months.
Waste not, want not Water consumption in the spotlight
By Linda Hall An agreement between Spain and the US opens the door to definitive rehabilitation for Palomares (Cuevas del Almanzora). “This declaration of intent puts right an error made 50 years ago,” said Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo during this week’s visit to Madrid by US Secretary of State John Kerry (pictured together). The ‘error’ was a mid-air collision between a US B-52 bomber and a refuelling plane that released four nuclear bombs in January 1966. One fell on the Mediterranean coast, another fell intact in Palomares but two released radioactive material that affected two square kilometres of land. Contaminated soil was removed and villagers have received regular health checkups ever since. To date there is no evidence that anyone in Palomares has ever fallen ill because of the incident but
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Almeria has to do even more to cut water usage and protect agriculture in one of the country’s danger areas for desertifi-
cation; €3 million was invested by the provincial council in 2014 to counter the threat of See Page 12 drought.
Big market for almonds But experts warn of dangers of overproduction India and China are shelling out for almonds from Almeria as prices per kilo break records. Agricultural advisors are even warning of an ‘almond bubble’ of overproduction if the province continues planting more trees. See Page 20
New plan for schools traces of americium - produced when plutonium disintegrates - are still present in 50,000 cubic metres of soil. This is likely to be transported to a Nevada storage site but neither Madrid nor Washington has disclosed details of when this will happen or who will pay for it. The agreement nevertheless highlights the excellent
relationship between Spain and the US, said Margallo,
who added: “All’s well that ends well.”
School safety programme in Almeria Police in the province were also Fifty-three diplomas have been involved in the project, which inawarded to Almeria schools after cluded talks for pupils as well as participating in the Plan Director See Page 22 exhibitions. programme for safety awareness.