A radioactive wasp nest with radiation levels ten times of what is allowed under regulations was found at a facility that once produced parts for US nuclear weapons, federal officials said, BBC reported.

"The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radiological waste," says a US Department of Energy report released last week. No wasps were found at the site near Aiken in South Carolina.

Investigators say the contamination is not related to a nuclear waste leak, and that there was no impact to "the environment, or the public".

Environmental groups have criticised the government's handling of the situation, according to BBC.