Radioactive wasp nest discovered by workers at former nuclear bomb site

Officials at a former nuclear bomb site in South Carolina have discovered a radioactive wasp nest.

Workers were conducting a routine radiation level check at the Savannah River Site near Aiken when a nest was identified with liquid nuclear waste tanks, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

The U.S. Department of Energy filed a report on July 22 stating the nest had 10 times the radiation level that is permitted by federal regulations. 

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Officials said no wasps were found at the nest. 

“The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radiological waste,” the report said. “The ground and surround[ing] area did not have any contamination.”

It is believed the nest became radioactive through “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from activity left when the site was fully operational.

The site now makes fuel for nuclear plants and cleanup, AP reported. There are still 43 of the underground tanks in use, while eight have been closed.

A watchdog group, Savannah River Site Watch, called out the report, saying it lacked details about the source of the contamination and how the wasps encountered it, according to AP.

Tom Clements, Savannah River Site Watch executive director, slammed the report in text messages obtained by AP.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS didn’t explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is some kind of leak from the waste tanks that the public should be aware of,” Clements wrote, as AP reported.

The Savannah River Mission Completion monitors the site and provided a statement to the Aiken Standard, a local news outlet.

“Upon discovery of the contaminated nest, the immediate area was secured and surveyed; no contamination was found in the area,” the statement noted. 

“I’m as mad as a hornet [about this].”

“There were no impacts to workers, the environment or the public.”

The nest was found in F Tank Farm area, which is “centrally located inside the 310-square-mile Savannah River Site. Generally, wasps travel only a few hundred yards from their nest,” it continued.

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In 1950, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would accelerate the atomic energy program; the plant opened during the start of the Cold War. 

The plant was in charge of producing “basic materials” in support of American defense programs, primarily tritium and plutonium-239, according to the Savannah River Site. 

It has produced over 165 million gallons of liquid nuclear waste, reducing it through evaporation to about 34 million gallons, according to Savannah River Mission Completion.

Of the remaining 43 tanks, eight have closed. 

Regarding the radioactive wasp nest, three additional nests have since been discovered at the site, The New York Times reported on Saturday. 

The Savannah River Site occupies some 310 square miles in the sandhills of South Carolina, near the Georgia border. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.