In the land and water surrounding the Savannah River Site, researchers trap and test thousands of animals a year as part of a federal effort to clean up contamination from a half-century of nuclear weapon productions, USA Today reported Wednesday.

Surveying areas tainted by radioactive waste, toxic chemicals and heavy metals, researchers are catching fish and salamanders, trapping feral hogs and deer, and monitoring bees and ants for signs of radioactivity.

"If you believe that a site has been cleaned up and you find a contaminated animal, you know you have a problem," " researcher Tracey Tuberville says.

The U.S. Department of Energy spends about $1.5 million a year on wildlife monitoring as part of a broader effort that also examines plants, soil, water and air for contamination at all current and former weapons production sites.

"There's a lot of contaminated land out there that stems back to the Manhattan Project and the Cold War and all the weapons production we did during that time," says Frank Marcinowski, deputy assistant secretary of Energy for environmental compliance.

Since 2009, of the several thousand animals captured on nuclear weapons sites for radiation testing, fewer than a dozen have been found with radiation levels above what the government considers acceptable for public exposure, authorities say.

"The toxic waste and radioactive waste burial grounds at these sites are going to be there for the long term and could definitely have an effect on plant and animal life well into the future, so it's important to have these programs," says Tom Clements, who monitors Savannah River for the environmental group Friends of the Earth.

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