Savannah River Nuclear Site Unearths Radioactive Wasp Nest 10× Safety Limit

Workers conducting routine checks at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, discovered a wasp nest on 3 July containing radiation levels roughly ten times above federal safety standards. The nest, found on a post close to underground tanks that store millions of gallons of liquid nuclear waste, was sprayed with insecticide, removed and packaged for disposal as radioactive material; no live wasps were present. In a report released this week, the Department of Energy said the contamination likely stems from legacy radioactive material at the Cold War–era complex rather than a leak from the waste tanks. Savannah River Mission Completion, which oversees the 310-square-mile site, added that wasps typically fly only a few hundred yards, limiting any chance of contamination escaping the facility. Officials said environmental surveys of the immediate area showed no additional radiation and posed no risk to workers or the public. The watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch questioned the government’s explanation and called for more detail on how the nest became contaminated and whether other nests could signal undisclosed leaks. “SRS hasn’t clarified the source of the radioactive waste or addressed whether a tank leak threatens the public,” said the group’s executive director, Tom Clements. Built in the early 1950s to produce plutonium components for nuclear weapons, the Savannah River Site now focuses on cleanup and nuclear-fuel production. It has reduced its inventory of liquid nuclear waste from more than 165 million gallons to about 34 million gallons stored in 43 active underground tanks, with eight tanks already closed. The incident underscores the long-term challenges of managing residual contamination at legacy nuclear facilities.