Radioactive wasp nest discovered at old US nuclear weapons site
A radioactive wasp nest with radiation levels ten times what is authorized under regulations has been found in an installation that has produced parts for US nuclear weapons, said federal officials.
“The wasp nest was sprayed to kill the wasps, then wrapped as radiological waste,” said a report by the American Ministry of Energy published last week. No wasp was found on the site near Aiken in South Carolina.
Investigators say that contamination is not linked to a nuclear waste leak and that there has been no impact on “the environment or the public”.
Environmental groups have criticized the government’s treatment of the situation.
The nest was discovered by workers who regularly inspect nuclear influence on the Savannah river site (SRS) near Aiken on July 3.
It was found on a nearby post where millions of liquid nuclear waste gallons are stored, but there has been no leakage of waste tanks, according to the report.
Investigators attribute the dangerously high levels found on the nest to what is called the “radioactive contamination of the inheritance on the spot” – the residual radioactivity which remains from the moment the site actively produced pieces for nuclear bombs during the Cold War.
The site opened its doors in the 1950s, when it created plutonium to be used in the heart of nuclear bombs. It continues to operate today, but emphasizing nuclear materials for power plants.
The report of the Energy Department notes that wasps who lived in the nest would have significantly lower levels of radiation than the nest itself.
He also underlines that wasps generally fly only a few hundred meters from their nest, and that the nest was found in the middle of the Savannah river site of 310 square miles – which means that they have been able to stole outside the establishment.
“No contamination was found in the region,” notes the report. “There was no impact on workers, the environment or the public”, “
Savannah River Site Watch, a surveillance group that monitors the site, said that many questions remain unanswered.
“I am as crazy as a hornet that SRS did not explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is a kind of leak from waste tanks that the public should be aware,” spokesman Tom Clements told the Associated Press.
The site once generated more than 165 million gallons (625 million liters) of liquid nuclear waste, according to the completion of Savannah River Mission.
There are still 43 of the underground tanks used, while eight have been closed.
