A radioactive wasp nest was discovered at a work site in early July where parts of nuclear bombs were once constructed, according to the US Energy Department.
Officials claim that the next doesn’t pose a danger to anyone, though ABC News reported that the watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch was unsatisfied with the investigation, labeling it incomplete. The watchdog took issue with the lack of answers on where the contamination came from, the possibility of other radioactive nests, of a nearby leak and how the wasps came to become radioactive.
“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,” Tom Clements, executive director of the group, told ABC News.
Discovering the nest
Employees were checking radiation levels around the Savannah River Site when they discovered the nest on July 3, near where liquid nuclear waste is stored.
The radiation in the nest was discovered to be 10 times the federal regulation limits, officials said.
The wasp nest has since been disposed of and the wasps killed with insect killer. The bodies and nest were disposed of as radioactive waste.
The department reported that there was no leak from the tank and the radioactivity was likely the result of “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from the residual radioactivity.