Radioactive wasp nest discovered at former U.S. nuclear bomb site in South Carolina
Workers at the Savannah River Site, a former nuclear weapons production facility in South Carolina, discovered a wasp nest contaminated with radiation earlier this month — but officials say there is no threat to public safety.
According to a newly released report from the U.S. Department of Energy, radiation monitors detected the nest on July 3 near storage tanks that hold liquid nuclear waste. The nest showed radiation levels 10 times higher than the federal safety limit, News.Az reports, citing AP News.
The wasp nest, which was found on a post close to the tanks, was immediately neutralized with insecticide, removed, and disposed of as radioactive waste, authorities confirmed. No live wasps were present at the time.
Officials emphasized that there are no signs of a leak from the storage tanks. The contamination is believed to have originated from “legacy radioactive contamination,” a term referring to leftover radioactive particles from when the site was actively producing materials for nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
However, the watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch criticized the official report, calling it incomplete. The group questioned the lack of details regarding the source of the contamination, the possible spread, and whether other radioactive nests could exist if there are undiscovered leaks.
The Savannah River Site, located near Aiken, South Carolina, was once a central hub for producing plutonium and tritium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Today, it functions as a nuclear waste storage and cleanup site under the oversight of the Department of Energy.
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