More than 1 radioactive wasp nest uncovered at SRS

AIKEN, S.C. - We have a new update to a story this week about radioactivity at the Savannah River Site.

Earlier this week, we reported that a radioactive wasp nest was found at the longtime nuclear weapons facility.

On Friday, we learned it wasn’t just one radioactive wasp nest but four that were discovered.

Paula Deen abruptly shuts down Ga. eatery that launched her fame

Former Food Network star Paula Deen announced Friday the abrupt closure of the Savannah restaurant that launched her to fame.

“The U.S. Department of Energy is managing the discovery of four wasp nests with very low levels of radioactive contamination that have been found at the Savannah River Site,” said Edwin Deshong, manager of the Savannah River Site’s Office of Environmental Management. “The nests do not pose a health risk to SRS workers, the community, or the environment. Work will continue at the SRS where we are fully committed to ensuring the health and safety of the workers and the community.”

The discovery was outlined in a report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Employees who routinely check radiation levels at the Savannah River Site near Aiken found a wasp nest on July 3 on a post near tanks where liquid nuclear waste is stored, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Although Deshing referred to the radioantivity as “very low,” the report said the radiation level was 10 times what is allowed by federal regulations.

What to know about brain-eating amoeba that killed S.C. boy

Learn what you need to know about the brain-eating amoeba, its latest victim and other dangers in our region's lakes.

While it does sound like something out of a comic book or horror movie, the report says this is not related to a loss of contamination control at the nuclear facility.

Instead, the wasp nests are considered victims of a “legacy radioactive contamination.”

The report said there is no leak from the waste tanks, and the nest was likely radioactive through what it called “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from the residual radioactivity left from when the site was fully operational.

Family clings to each other after DUI crash kills 28-year-old motorcyclist

To her loved ones, Summer Poole was the glue that kept the family together. And now there's a big gap in that family after she died in an Aiken crash.

The report states the ground and surrounding area did not have any contamination.

The Savannah River Site was built in the 1950s near Aiken and covers more than 300 square miles.

During the Cold War, the Savannah River Site produced nuclear material and nuclear weapons components.

S.C. hate crime arrest fuels conversation about statewide law

Hate intimidation arrest is now at the center of a bigger conversation: a statewide hate crimes bill that some people say is long overdue.

It became an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in 1989, with cleanup and environmental remediation going on ever since.

The watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch said the report was at best incomplete since it doesn’t detail where the contamination came from, how the wasps might have encountered it and the possibility there could be another radioactive nest if there is a leak somewhere.

Knowing the type of wasp nest could also be critical — some wasps make nest out of dirt and others use different material which could pinpoint where the contamination came from, Tom Clements, executive director of the group, wrote in a text message.

“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 tanks are well inside the boundaries of the site and wasps generally fly just a few hundred yards from their nests, so there is no danger they are outside the facility, according to a statement from Savannah River Mission Completion, which now oversees the site.

If there had been wasps found, they would have significantly lower levels of radiation than their nests, according to the statement.

In recent years, the National Nuclear Security Administration has begun work on a facility at SRS to produce new plutonium cores for American nuclear weapons.

The agency plans to build at least 50 new plutonium cores per year in the new facility.