Officials Discover Radioactive Wasp Nests at Facility That Once Produced Parts of Nuclear Weapons in South Carolina

A report from the Department of Energy says the finding did not impact other activities and operations

Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent

August 5, 2025

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Personnel monitoring radiation levels at Savannah River Site, a facility in South Carolina that once produced parts for nuclear weapons, found a radioactive wasp nest in July. While this might sound like the start of a science fiction horror movie, officials say it does not present a danger to the public.

“The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radiological waste. The ground and surrounded area did not have any contamination,” reads a U.S. Department of Energy report from July 22. After examining the nest, officials didn’t find any wasps.

Employees discovered the nest on July 3 on a post in proximity to tanks storing liquid nuclear waste. According to their measurements, it was ten times more radioactive than what federal regulations permit. Their delay in reporting the finding “was to allow time for reviewing previous wildlife contamination for consistency in reporting criteria,” per the Department of Energy report.

The wasp nest was well within the borders of the 310-square-mile Savannah River Site. Because wasps typically fly only a few hundred yards from the nest, the insects wouldn’t pose a risk to nearby communities, according to a statement from the Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which now oversees decontamination of the site, given to Aiken Standard’s Carl Dawson.

“While no wasps were found on the nest, the individual insects would have significantly lower levels of contamination,” per the statement. “Upon discovery of the contaminated nest, the immediate area was secured and surveyed; no contamination was found in the area. There were no impacts to workers, the environment or the public.”

However, after the radioactive nest was discovered, officials found three more, as Edwin Deshong, manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Operations Office, tells the New York Times’ Emily Anthes, bringing the total to four wasp nests with “very low levels” of contamination.

“This is an indicator that there are contaminants spread across this area that have not been completely encased and protected,” Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina who studies radioactive regions, tells the New York Times.

The Savannah River Site, formerly called the Savannah River Plant, is located in Aiken, South Carolina, and saw the production of plutonium and tritium for nuclear weapons beginning in the early 1950s and throughout the Cold War. It wasn’t until 1992 that the renamed Savannah River Site pivoted to the management of nuclear materials, environmental cleanup and research. Cleanup work, which began in the 1990s, has since fallen behind schedule.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS [Savannah River Site] 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 watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch, tells the Associated Press’ Jeffrey Collins.

According to the Department of Energy report, “the wasp nest is considered onsite legacy radioactive contamination not related to a loss of contamination control.” In other words, the wasp nest did not become radioactive because of a radioactive accident but because of leftover radioactive activity from when the site was fully functional.

The report doesn’t specify the type of wasps that were involved in the incident, the watchdog group tells the AP. Given their different nesting behaviors—some wasps make nests from chewed-up wood and others might use dirt—knowing the species could help identify the potential origin of the contamination in the environment.

While Mousseau tells the New York Times that legacy radioactive contamination is a sensible explanation, “we would like to know a lot more about what this actually represents, and just how common it is and whether there is any evidence of these radionuclides being moved through the ecosystem,” he adds.

Margherita Bassi | Read More

Margherita Bassi is a freelance journalist and trilingual storyteller. Her work has appeared in publications including BBC Travel, Discover magazine, Live Science, Atlas Obscura and Hidden Compass.