Just because a mouse has been doused with radiation at a nuclear weapons site doesn't mean that it has acquired superpowers, can shoot laser beams from its eyes and will soon come to subjugate humanity.
But at the same time, it's more than a bit unsettling.
Workers at a former plutonium-production facility in Hanford, Wash., are hunting for a radioactive mouse after finding polluted droppings.
Earlier this month workers also trapped a radioactive rabbit in what is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, according to The Washington Post.
Washington State Department of Health officials told the Tri-City Herald that the atomic-age animals are probably harmless and noted that the suspicious droppings appeared in areas closed to the public.
Anti-nuclear activists at Greenpeace agree that the critters don't pose a direct threat to humans -- even though they're loaded with hazardous waste. However, the organization says the tainted wildlife is evidence that there are long-lasting environmental hazards in the area that must be taken seriously.
"The radioactive bunny is a lead indicator that these site are contaminated," Greenpeace nuclear policy analyst Jim Riccio told AOL News. "I don't know how you put the genie back in the bottle after you contaminated these sites so terribly."
The federal government created the Hanford site in the 1940s as a leading nuclear facility that produced weapons-grade plutonium throughout the Cold War.
In 2008, the federal government launched a $639 million decontamination plan that is expected to take decades to carry out. Workers are demolishing some of the most polluted buildings in the 586-square-mile zone.
About 60 mousetraps are in place, but the two mice snared so far haven't shown traces of contamination.
Last year, 33 contaminated animals popped up in the off-limits area, the Tri-City Herald report said.
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