AIKEN, S.C. — Workers at a facility in South Carolina that once made key components for nuclear bombs discovered a radioactive wasp nest earlier this month. Despite the buzz, officials said the nest has been destroyed and poses no danger to the public.

According to a July 22 report from the U.S. Department of Energy, on July 3, workers with the Radiological Control Operations department at the Savannah River Site in Aiken found the nest on a post near a tank.

No wasps were found, but the nest had a radiation level 10 times above what is allowed by federal regulations, according to the one-page report.

Workers sprayed the nest and removed it, disposing it as radioactive waste, the report stated.

The report attributes the high levels of radiation to “onsite legacy radioactive contamination not related to a loss of contamination control.”

Legacy radioactive contamination is a lingering condition resulting from past activities. The Department of Energy did not list any other cause for the insects’ contamination.

“Radiological Control personnel discovered a wasp nest in F Tank Farm at the Savannah River Site while performing routine radiological monitoring activities,” according to a statement released by Savannah River Mission Completion. “Per procedure, the nest was sprayed, and the nest was surveyed for contamination. While no wasps were found on the nest, the individual insects would have significantly lower levels of contamination.

“There were no impacts to workers, the environment, or the public.”

The Savannah River Site Watch, a watchdog group based in South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia, said the report was at best incomplete.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS 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,” Clements said.

The facility, originally known as the Savannah River Plant, has not been fully operational in its original capacity for decades, according to its website.

Since the 1990s, the facility has concentrated on environmental cleanup and nuclear research.

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