Radiation and Wasps: A Surprising Discovery in South Carolina

So, it turns out there’s a wasp nest with a twist—it’s radioactive! Employees stumbled upon this unusual find at a facility in South Carolina, which used to be a nuclear weapons plant. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed that the nest was located around Aiken on the Savannah River Site (SRS).

On July 3, workers at the decommissioned facility noticed this nest, which is over ten times larger than what federal regulations allow. Interestingly, the wasps had set up residence near tanks that contained liquid nuclear waste.

According to the DOE, the nest was treated with insecticide and handled as radioactive waste. They also reassured that there were no leaks from the nuclear waste tanks. Authorities mentioned that the delay in reporting the issue was to ensure consistency in wildlife contamination assessments. Fortunately, they stated that there was no immediate impact on ground operations or activities.

The DOE indicated that the radioactive nature of the nest stemmed from “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” that existed while the site was operational. They asserted that the ground and the surrounding area are clean of contamination.

Speaking about the incident, officials communicated that there was no contamination found in the vicinity, and stressed that public safety and environmental concerns were not compromised. They also mentioned that the levels of contamination were significantly lower than what might be expected for its radioactive classification.

Just the thought of radioactive wasps is, well, unsettling!