Radioactive Wasp Nests Discovered Near Cold War-Era Nuclear Storage Site

Many people are terrified of wasps because of the insects’ aggressive reputations and sharp stingers. Now, there’s another reason to steer clear of them—at least that’s the case if you live near a certain nuclear facility in South Carolina.

1. The Buzz Over ‘Hot Wasps’ in South Carolina
2. Where Did the Contamination Come From?
3. What the Wasp Nests Mean for Public Safety

The Buzz Over ‘Hot Wasps’ in South Carolina

Radioactive wasp nests have been identified at the Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility on a 310-square-mile property in South Carolina close to the Georgia border. Workers found the first contaminated nest in early July of this year in the area that stores radioactive liquid waste. Three more have been discovered since then. 

The first wasp nest exceeded the radiation level that’s allowed by federal regulations about 10 times over, per The Washington Post. While Edwin R. Deshong III, the manager of the Savannah River Operations Office, said the wasp nests had “very low levels of radioactive contamination” in a statement, he didn’t specify what those levels were. According to the official report from the Department of Energy, the first nest was bagged into radiological waste and the wasps were exterminated. It also stated that the surrounding area wasn’t impacted by the contamination.  

Where Did the Contamination Come From?

Still, the contaminated nests have raised concerns about radioactive contamination containment at the Savannah River Site. 

One of the main concerns is a leakage. However, the report specifies that the high contamination of the first wasp nest was likely due to “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” (contamination that occurred decades ago when the site was active) rather than a recent breakdown in environmental controls. In this case, such contamination would have originated with the facility’s production of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. 

Many wasp species build their nests out of chewed-up wood. Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina who studies organisms and ecosystems in radioactive regions, told The New York Times that the insects could have ingested contaminated material from trees and logs that were overlooked during radioactivity screenings and used them for nest building. The Department of Energy’s report doesn’t specify which wasp species were found at the site. 

What the Wasp Nests Mean for Public Safety

The experts said there was little danger to the public from the radioactive wasp nests themselves—but also wondered if the nests indicated previously unknown problems at the site. Kathryn Higley, a nuclear science professor at Oregon State University, told The Washington Post that the nests likely wouldn’t constitute a public safety hazard; they’re a small issue in a very large site already undergoing remediation. Mousseau concurred, but noted that the very existence of radioactive wasp nests might be a sign that containment strategies are insufficient—or that nuclear waste generated during the Eisenhower administration might be coming back to haunt us.

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