🌅 Radioactive Wasp Nests at a Former Nuclear Site

SOURCE

U.S. Department of Energy

WHAT TO KNOW

• Workers monitoring radiation levels at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina last month discovered four radioactive wasp nests at the facility. Department of Energy officials said the nests posed no danger and contained “very low levels” of contamination. No wasps were found on the nests, though any individual insects would have significantly lower levels of radiation in any case.

WHY IT MATTERS

• While radioactive wasps might not be taking to the air in the Palmetto State, experts say the discovery indicates there are contaminants spread across the area that haven’t been completely encased and protected. It could also indicate new or old contamination may be coming to the surface unexpectedly, or point to contaminated areas at the site that escaped surveillance in the past. The Department of Energy report claims the contamination resulted from on-site legacy radioactivity, not a leak or loss of control.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• This isn’t the first time the Savannah River Site has made headlines for its radioactive wildlife: workers have also found radioactive alligators, deer, mice, and bird droppings at the facility. The 310-square-mile plant produced plutonium and tritium—vital parts of hydrogen bombs—from the 1950s through the Cold War. Cleanup at the site has been ongoing since the 1990s.