Since the first atomic bomb detonation, the Trinity Test, in 1945, hundreds of nuclear weapons have been detonated in above-ground tests.
The fallout from these explosions contains a radioactive isotope of the element caeium, called radiocaesium or 137Cs.
Wind and rainfall caused much of this fallout to be dispersed far from the testing sites and deposited into the soil. Since it is highly soluble in water, it is absorbed by plants, which mistake it for potassium. It ends up in plant nectar, which is then used by bees to make honey.
According to a study in March 2021, trace amounts of radiocaesium from nuclear fallout are still cycling through plants and animals to this day, even on the US East Coast thousands of miles from the nearest testing sites.
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