PALOMARES ANNIVERSARY

That this House commemorates the 50th anniversary of the occasion on 17 January 1966 when an American B-52 bomber inadvertently dropped four nuclear bombs on Spain, after colliding with a refuelling tanker; notes that, although on that occasion fail-safe systems in the B28 hydrogen bombs worked resulting in none of the nuclear warheads detonating, the conventional explosions on two of these warheads scattered plutonium radiation across the countryside near the town of Palomares; further notes that the existence of nuclear weapons necessarily creates the possibility of accidents; and calls on the Government to increase the transparency of those safety measures that are in place on the regular occasions when nuclear warheads are transported on UK roads.