Scott Strgacich
January 17, 2026

Sixty years ago today in the skies over Spain, a US Air Force B-52 bomber on a nuclear alert mission collided with an aerial tanker causing the deaths of seven airmen. The bomber was carrying four B28 thermonuclear bombs. One fell into the sea and the remaining three bombs landed near the small town of Palomares on the Spanish coast, setting off the conventional explosives in two of them that contaminated the local area with radioactive plutonium. The accident was so serious, President Lyndon Johnson reduced the frequency of nuclear airborne alert missions. The immediate cleanup took months but radiological contamination remains near Palomares to this day.

The Palomares accident reminded the world that the dangers posed by nuclear weapons aren’t just isolated to their intentional use. The immediate harm from these accidents are just as real, as are the lasting consequences. As leaders around the world today aim to expand their nuclear arsenals, the risk of accidents only grows. 

The US, Russia, and China are all developing new nuclear delivery systems while the US is preparing to station nuclear bombs in the UK for the first time since 2008 (as has been reported on at the Federation of American Scientists, a Ploughshares grantee). With more of these weapons in operational use and increasingly dispersed around the globe, there’s a growing potential for mistakes, particularly in the wake of the erosion of safety standards, transparency, and agreements that hold nuclear states accountable. Washington’s plan to ramp up the production of plutonium pits, the core of a thermonuclear weapon, also poses significant risks to public health in the US itself. 

Ploughshares grantees lead the effort to inform the public about nuclear safety challenges and press for better policies. Nuclear Watch New Mexico and Tri-Valley CAREs have fought plutonium pit production and promoted urgent transparency about its hazards, while the Union of Concerned Scientists has partnered with downwinders and impacted community members to advocate for victims through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). 

The challenges remain great. The end of the New START treaty on February 5 will mean ever-growing, less accountable nuclear arsenals while the threatened return of nuclear testing would put communities at risk. Despite all this, the work continues but Ploughshares is proud to be part of a field of partners who fight every day to make our world a safer place. 

Author

  • Scott Strgacich is the Roger L. Hale Fellow at Ploughshares. Prior to joining Ploughshares, Scott worked as a Research Associate at Defense Priorities supporting various projects related to the analysis of U.S. defense policy and grand strategy. He also has political experience and previously worked on staff in the U.S. House of Representatives. His writing and research have focused on U.S. and NATO nuclear security as well as the Iranian nuclear program.

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