Several radioactive wasp nests have been found in South Carolina at a site that used to produce parts for nuclear weapons, according to officials.

       The first wasp nest was detected on July 3 at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. – located near Augusta, Ga., just a few miles inside the western state border – by employees who routinely check radiation levels, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy. The monitoring activity took place at the F Tank Farm, a collection of underground tanks used to store radioactive liquid waste, according to a statement by the Savannah River Site provided to ABC News.

       The nest exhibited radiation 10 times the level allowed by federal regulations, according to the Energy Department report. It was was sprayed to kill any wasps that might have been inside of it and then bagged as radiological waste but no wasps were found, the report said.

       By July 31, three additional wasp nests were found during routine work activities, according to the SRS, which said all four nests were found in the F Tank Farm, an area near the middle of the 310-square-mile site.

       The additional wasp nests were also sprayed and the nest and the wasps inside of it tested, according to the SRS, which said the insects were found to contain lower levels of contamination than the nests.

       All of the nests discovered at the site emitted less than 1% of the natural background radiation that all humans experience daily, according to the SRS. The average person receives about 620 millirems total per year from both natural and manmade sources of radiation, according to the Department of Energy. By comparison, a medical CT scan exposes the subject to between 200 and 1,000 millirems of radiation depending on the length and body location of the scan, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

       Officials believe the wasp nests became contaminated through "legacy" contamination – that is, residual radioactive contamination from historical nuclear weapons production operations at the site during the Cold War, according to the SRS statement.

       "Execution of the liquid waste mission at SRS entails certain radiological activities (e.g. tank closure pump removal/replacement, tank inspections, etc.) that are performed outside of facilities in areas where biological species, such as birds or wasps, have the potential to access relatively low levels of contamination," the statement also said.

       The wasps likely accessed radioactive waste through the soil surrounding the facility or through a leak, Jonathon Nye, radiation safety officer for the Medical University of South Carolina, told ABC Charleston affiliate WCIV.

       However, there is little chance of radioactive nests being made outside of the Savannah River Site because the wasps won't have access to radioactive material elsewhere, David Jenkins, forest health program manager at the South Carolina Forestry Commission, told WCIV.

       "If you've got a radioactive site, you're gonna have some radioactive animals. But the chances of it harming us are, are really low," Jenkins told WCIV, adding that the only way the radioactive wasps could harm humans is if they were ingested. Even then, "you'd have to eat a lot of them to have it incorporated into you," he said, adding that being in close proximity to a contaminated wasp or being stung by it won't transmit the radiation.

       "Although infrequent, minor levels of contamination can sometimes be borne by species outside of the administratively controlled immediate radiological work areas. These contamination events are at levels far below what would cause human health issues," the SRS statement said.

       The SRS also said that the nests don't pose a threat to site workers, the community or the environment, and that continuous monitoring is in place to facilitate early detection and management of potential contamination.