In something that sounds like a plot line straight out of Black Mirror or some kind of Jack-Thorne-written, award-winning Netflix miniseries, we now have Radioactive wasps amongst the many horrors currently plaguing the world.
Over in Aiken, South Carolina, in the US, in July, Radiological Control Operation employees at the Savannah River Site found a radioactive wasp nest hanging on a nearby wooden post - right next to nuclear waste tanks. Scenic.
The facility was once the producer of basic components to create nuclear weapons - or, in layman’s terms, plutonium. It was a major producer of plutonium 239, which was used to make up the core of bombs throughout the Cold War. Since then, the plant has switched focus to fuel creation and environmental cleanup. Quite the 360.
Straight out of Fallout or maybe Atomfall, employees have to test the plant regularly to check radiation levels to see if there is any nuclear waste on site. Unfortunately for people on shift on 3rd July, a wasps nest was discovered at 100,000 dpm (disintegrations per minute) - a casual 10 times the amount of radiation allowed by the government.
If you’ve ever wondered how to fix this kind of thing (God forbid you ever need to do it yourself), the team in South Carolina sprayed the nest with insect killer and disposed of it as nuclear waste. If you’re worried if there are Hitchcock-esque plutonium buffed wasps on the loose, the report confirmed there were no radioactive leaks from the bins, but that the wasp nest was a legacy contamination - basically happening after prolonged exposure to leftover radioactivity.
Whilst officials claimed there was no outstanding danger to anybody in the area, we think we’ll pass up on a visit to South Carolina for the next 22 days, which, if anyone Googles it, happens to be the upper lifespan of a wasp…
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
