Workers excavating radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site in Washington — which was part of the Manhattan Project — have been finding thousands of radioactive wasp nests, spawning a blizzard of atomic stingers.
Workers, who have been digging out the nests with heavy machinery for relocation elsewhere in the landfill, think the nests date to 2003, when part of the site was landscaped, providing fertile ground for wasps nests. The wasps and their nests — both active and inactive — are contaminated the radioactive isotopes of caesium and cobalt, due to their use of radioactive mud to construct the nests.
No reports of giant wasps or wide-scale disappearances have yet been reported.
Hanford's new headache - radioactive wasp nests [New Scientist]
Wash. nuclear site stung by radioactive wasp nests [Associated Press]
[Image via bogdog Dan]