Monday 04/Aug/2025 – 06:58 PM
The finding of the nests of radiological polluted wasps in a previous nuclear weapon production site in the US state of South Carolina have caused increased concern about the possibility of radioactive materials in the region.
A nuclear facility belonging to the cold war
According to the British Daily Mail newspaper, three new nests contaminated in the SRS River facility were discovered near the city of Eco, after monitoring the first nest on the third of July, which was brightened by a rate of more than ten times the federal security, and the US Department of Energy confirmed that the nests were sprayed and disposed of as radiological waste, according to protocols.
It is noteworthy that the Savana River site, which was established in the 1950s, played a pivotal role in the production of plutonium and ritium within the American nuclear weapons program during the Cold War, and for years, the authorities are conducting wide cleaning operations to remove radioactive waste from the site.
According to officials at Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), the contractor responsible for cleaning the facility, the dead wasps were collected and the radiation levels were analyzed, which turned out to be less than those recorded in the same nests.
Scientists beating the alarm
Although the Ministry of Energy is assured that there is no leakage of nearby tanks, a number of scientists called for a wider achievement, stressing that the presence of contaminated wasps is an indication that radioactive materials may be wider in a wider way than believed.
Dr. Timothy Muso, a professor of biology at the University of South Carolina, said that the presence of these nests is an environmental warning, as there may be old pollutants that have not been appropriately contained yet.
The four nests were found inside an area known as the tank farm, which contains 22 underground tanks, each with a width of 100 feet and a depth of 23 feet, and contains up to 1.3 million gallons of radioactive waste.
The company suggests that pollution in the nests resulted from the activity of wasps that collected polluted materials from old radioactive areas, where the scope of the wasps is estimated at only 200 yards of their nests, with some exceptional cases.
Controversy about transparency and risks
Despite the officials ’statement that the levels of radiation discovered are less than 1% of the normal limit, the Savana River website control criticized the official report, and considered it incomplete because it did not explain the source of pollution accurately, nor whether there are other nests that have not been discovered yet.
Tom Clemens, CEO of the organization, said: It is unacceptable not to know the origin of these radioactive materials …
