Even if it affected local wildlife, there’d still also be a big leap between wildlife being irradiated and wildlife being radioactive, wouldn’t it? I guess if the plant was just releasing radioactive waste that wound up getting ingested, that would do it.
I think you’re right but the article is so vague with what the actual contamination is they don’t even say if the wasps themselves are actually radioactive, just the nest and that the wasps were disposed of “as radiological waste.” All it would take is a handful of paper that got irradiated and then improperly disposed of that the wasps picked up for their nest. As someone who works in an industrial setting with very dangerous materials, this is incredibly believable.
Like you say, the nest being radioactive wouldn’t necessarily mean the wasps them selves are radioactive.
The distinction you’re looking for is between wildlife being contaminated with radioactive material vs the tissues of wildlife being themselves radioactive. Being contaminated involves them picking up loose radioactive contamination in the environment (typically microscopic particulates that are invisible to the naked eye). Being radioactivated requires them to be hit by a source of radiation of an extremely high energy (something like being in the core of a reactor or beside a running particle accelerator), and would afaik be fatal in extremely short order.
Even if it affected local wildlife, there’d still also be a big leap between wildlife being irradiated and wildlife being radioactive, wouldn’t it? I guess if the plant was just releasing radioactive waste that wound up getting ingested, that would do it.
I think you’re right but the article is so vague with what the actual contamination is they don’t even say if the wasps themselves are actually radioactive, just the nest and that the wasps were disposed of “as radiological waste.” All it would take is a handful of paper that got irradiated and then improperly disposed of that the wasps picked up for their nest. As someone who works in an industrial setting with very dangerous materials, this is incredibly believable.
Like you say, the nest being radioactive wouldn’t necessarily mean the wasps them selves are radioactive.
The distinction you’re looking for is between wildlife being contaminated with radioactive material vs the tissues of wildlife being themselves radioactive. Being contaminated involves them picking up loose radioactive contamination in the environment (typically microscopic particulates that are invisible to the naked eye). Being radioactivated requires them to be hit by a source of radiation of an extremely high energy (something like being in the core of a reactor or beside a running particle accelerator), and would afaik be fatal in extremely short order.