Radioactive wasps 1

[Alistair_Heaton]

Radioactive wasps found at South Carolina nuclear facility

A wasp nest with a ‘moderately high radiation level’ was found on the site

www.independent.co.uk

Wonder what they have been near.

100000 dpm is around 5 x10-8 curies ?

Seems a bit alarmist.

 

[spsalso]

Not really. You just wait until they grow huge from the radiation, and start carrying exceptionally attractive women to their lairs, and.......

John Agar's not around to save us, anymore.



spsalso

 

[IRstuff]

Wipe the surface with a survey cloth or other tacky material where contamination levels are greater than 100,000 dpm/100 cm2, i.e. a High Contamination Area.

So, a non-trivial amount of contamination, since it's likely the nest was around 100 cm^2 or less.

However, I'm not convinced the wasps were radioactive, since it's more likely their nest, made from found material was actually radioactive.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

This makes a bit more sense.

Radioactive wasp nest discovered at nuclear waste storage site in South Carolina | South Carolina | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/31/radioactive-wasps-south-carolina-nuclear-waste

 

[MechinNC]

They can determine what isotope(s) are present to narrow the source.

Had a similar situation at a nuke plant I worked at like 30yrs ago. One worker was repeatedly alarming the exit rad portal monitor. Finally they got a team together to really investigate, including isotopic analysis. Turns out it was potassium-40. A forest fire somewhat nearby liberated naturally occurring isotopes, it settled in the nearby soil and then vegetation picked it up and sorta bio-concentrated it in young leaves. Deer ate the leaves and this guy ate a lot of venison. He brought some venison to the plant and it was mildly hot with that same isotope.

 

[TugboatEng]

I think people usually refer to meat as medium rare, not mildly hot.