Workers Find Radioactive Wasp Nest at Nuclear Facility, But the Wasps Are Missing

"I'm as mad as a hornet..."

Green Hornet

Employees at the site in South Carolina where the US used to construct nuclear weapons have discovered a highly radioactive wasp nest.

As CBS News reports, staff at the Savannah River Site (SRS) discovered the unusual nest earlier this month near tanks filled with liquid nuclear waste.

An official Department of Energy occurrence report lists the nest as showing contamination levels that are "greater than ten times" what is deemed safe by federal regulations.

The staffers sprayed the nest and "no further action" was required, according to the document. The wasps, notably, were missing.

However, officials maintain that if there had been any wasps, their radiation levels would be much lower than the nest. In other words, it's unlikely that the mishap resulted in some kind of mutated stinging insect.

However, watchdog Savannah River Site Watch, which "monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective," is crying foul, raising the possibility that more radioactive wasp nests could still be found.

Radiation Nation

Savannah executive director Tom Clements told CBS that knowing the type of wasp nest could allow investigators to trace back the original source of the contamination.

"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 told the broadcaster.

The site dates back to the early days of the Cold War in the early 1950s, when it was used to manufacture plutonium pits to make the cores of nuclear bombs. The facility, which is being operated by the Department of Energy to this day, has since shifted to make fuel for nuclear plants.

Millions of gallons of liquid nuclear waste remain, raising the possibility that more wasp nests could be found — an unusual byproduct of a nuclear arms race whose consequences we're still dealing with over half a century later.

More on radioactivity: Fusion Startup Says It's Figured Out How to Turn Mercury Into Gold