Plutonium and stinging insects

Radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs | AP News https://share.google/C7wtpnSnNMjvvWyiV

It has all the trappings of a Hollywood movie: dangerous, bitey insects and radioactive waste.

I can see the trailer now… massive hornets with glowing eyes, swooping low over the streets of New York. People scream as they are snatched up and impaled by a mighty stinger. A terrible queen builds her nest in the armpit of the Statue of Liberty…

Nope, they just found an empty nest, which was promptly bagged and disposed of as per faciliy protocol.

Yawn.

It brings up a few questions for me, though. What type of wasp nest was it? Some wasps build their nests from mud, indicating that the radioactive contamination came from the water.  Other wasps use a wood pulp, meaning that it may be a deeper leak and it’s coming from radioactive trees (ooo, another movie idea!)

Were the wasps affected? Was it just an old nest, or did the wasps die from the radioactivity? Given that wasps typically don’t fly further than 1000 feet or so from their home, you’d figure it would be easy(ish) to see if there are any dead wasps in the area. But maybe the radioactivity gave them super-wasp strength. Enough to fly themselves from South Carolina to New York, where they  can execute their murderous plot.

It could happen…