The Spanish Navy's Environmental Radiological Surveillance Operations Group (GOVRA) has been in Palma since the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford last Friday.
Eight members of the group from Cartagena have been based at the Portopi naval base and been receiving support from local units in undertaking analyses for radioactive leaks and any other contamination.
This is standard procedure whenever NATO nuclear-powered vessels are hosted by Spanish ports. Palma is one of the ports that is used. Others are Cartagena, Algeciras and Rota.
Initial analyses are understood not to have detected any leaks or significant contamination in the sea or on beaches such as Can Pere Antoni.
While GOVRA is normally deployed to make these standard checks, it has also been called in following accidents. One such was in July 2016 when the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Ambush collided with the merchant ship MV Andreas off Gibraltar.
Twenty-five years ago, GOVRA was involved in the Bay of Algeciras at a time when there were diplomatic tensions between Spain and the UK because of the HMS Tireless episode. In May 2000, Tireless developed a serious leak in the nuclear reactor primary cooling circuit, although there was no leak of radioactive material. The submarine remained in Gibraltar for a year while repair work was carried out.