A radioactive wasp nest was discovered earlier this month at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Energy. The finding occurred on July 3 when workers inspecting a stanchion near a tank at the F-Area tank farm encountered the contaminated nest.
Upon probing the nest, Radiological Control Operations recorded contamination levels of 100,000 disintegrations per minute (dpm) per 100 cm²—well above federal thresholds outlined in 10 CFR Part 835 Appendix D. Although the ground and surrounding areas tested clean, the nest was removed and disposed of as radiological waste.
South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (DES) officials attribute the incident to “legacy radioactive contamination” rather than a recent breach of containment. The Energy Department clarified that the nest had absorbed radiation lingering from historic nuclear activity, not from any current operational failure.
A wasp nest found in South Carolina had radiation levels 10 times higher than what’s allowed by federal regulators. https://t.co/cvgG7xWJ4C
— FOX 13 Seattle (@fox13seattle) July 31, 2025
The Savannah River Site, located near Aiken, was built in the 1950s to produce nuclear materials for Cold War weapons. It was designated a Superfund site in 1989, and cleanup efforts have been ongoing. More recently, the National Nuclear Security Administration began constructing a facility on-site to produce at least 50 new plutonium cores per year for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Though no further field action was deemed necessary, the discovery adds to a growing list of environmental concerns surrounding aging nuclear infrastructure and regulatory oversight. A delay in reporting the incident was noted, with officials citing the need to review previous wildlife-related contamination events for consistency in classification.
This raises similar safety concerns at other heavy industrial sites in South Carolina and DES’s seemingly lax oversight – including at the delayed Silfab solar cell manufacturing factory in Fort Mill. Silfab’s experiential 900,000-square-foot facility would be the first in North America to attempt to manufacture TOPCON solar cells, a process that uses some of industry’s most dangerous chemicals, including TMA, HF, Silane, and phosphorus oxychloride—just a few hundred feet from new schools, neighborhoods, and retirement communities.
How do you feel that South Carolina’s DES has been doing recently?