Radioactive Wasp Nest Located at American Cold War-Era Nuclear Bomb Site
As if 2025 hasn’t already been strange enough already.
As if 2025 weren’t already strange enough.
Workers at a site in South Carolina that once made key parts for nuclear bombs in the U.S. have found a radioactive wasp nest.
Employees who routinely check radiation levels at the Savannah River Site near Aiken found a wasp nest on July 3 on a post near tanks where liquid nuclear waste is stored, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The nest had a radiation level 10 times what is allowed by federal regulations, officials said.
The workers sprayed the nest with insect killer, removed it and disposed of it as radioactive waste. No wasps were found, officials said.
Radioactive wasp nest found at American Cold War-era nuclear bomb site https://t.co/bOjMPRBRl1 pic.twitter.com/XqdMl8B46p
— New York Post (@nypost) July 30, 2025
The ground and surrounding area were tested and reported not to have any radioactive contamination. The radioactivity is assumed to be a legacy from previous operations.
No mention was made of how the wasps became radioactive, but it was not a case of radioactivity escaping the site’s boundaries, officials said.
“The wasp nest is considered onsite legacy radioactive contamination not related to a loss of contamination control,” the DOE reports.
“There is no impact from (the) event on other activities and operations.” The report didn’t specify which wasp species was involved or if anyone was stung. It’s not the first time a hint of contamination has been found in wildlife at the site.
In 2017, staff found a radioactive dollop of bird poop during roof repairs, and they actually set up a barricade around it, report states.
Out: Murder hornets (officially eradicated in 2024). In: Radioactive Wasps.
Does anyone even remember Murder Hornets during COVID?
Not to alarm anyone but we got Radioactive Wasps now. pic.twitter.com/zssokoacTH
— Will Shaw (@willshawison) July 30, 2025
Hopefully, this incident will not morph into another woke Marvel super-hero franchise.
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Comments
Yeah Ive seen this movie before. Pity the wasps are dead, It would have been appropriate to introduce them to China.
RKO, 1955, if I recall correctly. I think they destroyed Kansas City.
Unfortunately, radioactivity is not hereditary.
Anyway, they did it wrong.
It’s supposed to be spiders.
SPIDERS!
Nope: ANTS.
If no wasps were found then what was that picture?
“File”. Top left corner.
Nothing to see, move along. Stop asking questions about the non existent wasps…the gov’t has ‘Top Men’ working on the issue… if there was an issue…which there isn’t… b/c the gov’t says so…and anyway the gov’t wouldn’t try to create an elaborate ruse to sell the American public about a potential health or environmental issue. /S
I had a huge wasp nest under my front stairs this summer. Lots of wasps. Gone now. Mostly. Now I’m wondering….
I always knew that the movie “Them” was based a true story.
That movie is exactly what I was thinking when I started reading this article. I loved those old sci fi movies.
Forbidden Planet was my absolute favorite.
Ann Francis in a micro mini skirt! I absolutely watch that movie whenever it’s on.
It is well-known that Hillary Clinton was radioactive. Wasps appear bitten her when she collapsed while getting aboard the secret service vehicle. Perhaps those are the wasps that built the nest in question.
Wasps are slower and dumber than many others, reminding me of some groups of people.
They’re also shorter-tempered, able to sting *repeatedly* where bees can only stab you once. Little formic acid injectors suck.
Also, they can’t jump. Or dance.
Meh, those of us close to SRS know that “radioactive wasps” are the least of horrors from the bomb plant.
They probably fed on the nectar from plants growing in contaminated soil. That wouldn’t be a surprise at all considering it’s a Superfund cleanup site
So if one of them stings me will I become Waspman? Able to do anything a wasp can?
Waspman, Waspman does whatever a wasp can.
Makes his house out of paper. Gets angry and attacks you,
for no reason.
Look out. Here comes the Waspman.
Radioactive WASPs. Just one more think the country club has to vet before approving memberships.
/oh, wait…
Wasp Man
Wasp Man
Does whatever a wasp can…
“The nest had a radiation level 10 times what is allowed by federal regulations, officials said.”
Numbers please. With units. Quote the regulations. As I read the story, the nest is radioactive, not the wasps.
A lot of things are radioactive. Like the bananas you buy at the grocery store. Bananas are high in potassium content, and one of the isotopes of potassium is radioactive: K-40. How much? One banana gives a dose of 0.1 micro-sieverts. In the old days the dose unit was the REM (roentgen equivalent man) one sievert equals 100 REM. So a sievert is a very big dose. From Wikipedia: “one sievert results in a 5.5% probability of eventually developing fatal cancer based on the disputed linear no-threshold model of ionizing radiation exposure.” So the sievert involves biological effects and model (hence assumption) dependent.
Your kitchen counter granite tops are also radioactive. A visit to the US Capitol Rotunda could give you a radiation dose from the Roger Williams Statue Pedestal. How much? It emits gamma radiation at a rate of 30 micro rem per hour. So stand in front of the statue for 4 hours a day every day for a working year (245 days) will give you a dose of 294 micro-sieverts or 2,940 bananas. I suppose a guard standing near the statue might get that dose.
Radiation dose should be distinguished from activity which counts the rate of radioactive disintegrations. The old unit was the curie now the unit is the becquerel which is one disintegration per second.
So what did they measure from the wasp nest? I’ll guess activity, but who knows. Had the story given us a unit we would have a clue. Typical newspaper reporting. Gives very little useful information.
The Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed the finding in a final occurrence report, stating the nest emitted beta/gamma radiation levels exceeding 100,000 disintegrations per minute per 100 square centimeters. This amount is ten times the federal contamination limit.
https://www.ntd.com/radioactive-wasp-nest-discovered-at-former-nuclear-bomb-facility-in-south-carolina_1082111.html
Good work. Thank you. From the units stated, it looks like a measurement of fluence rate. Fluence defined as follows: “total number of particles (typically Gamma Ray Photons) crossing over a sphere of unit cross section which surrounds a Point Source of Ionising Radiation.” Rate of course is the time rate of change of something.
So the DOE is reporting an activity. The data is basically a count over some time interval using a device with a calibrated aperture to give a fluence rate. This measurement gives us no information on the amount of radioactive material present which is probably plutonium. Someone discovered a “hot spot” in a wasp nest. Not surprising given the location and the work that went on there. No big deal without more information as to how much Pu is in the nest.
“Your kitchen counter granite tops are also radioactive.”
I had a basement blasted out of granite ledge for a house I built in Massachusetts the late ’80s. Never gave a thought to any radon problem until I was selling the house and discovered I had to ($$) remediate.
The ‘80s called, it wants its plot lines back! https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0090190/
“but it was not a case of radioactivity escaping the site’s boundaries, officials said.”
That is a very qualified statement. In other words, there is radioactivity all over the place “within the site boundaries”.
As someone who has worked at the Savannah River Site my reaction to the news was, “Yeah, I can see that happening.” Something hot wrapped in yellow rad plastic stationed outside in a Contamination Area plus a quick rain shower? Wasps drink a lot of water. If they grabbed a drink from a rain puddle they might have gotten some uptake which wound up secreted into the nest.
For the record SRS covers 300 sq. miles. The area where the nest was located is a 15 minute drive from the public boundary.
No, it shouldn’t have happened. But I can see how it could.
New type of chemo, wasp stings can kill cancer cells?
This can mean only 1 thing: A new Godzilla movie is about to drop!