Hanford Workers Begin Removing Radioactive Waste From 23rd Underground Tank

Solid radioactive and chemical waste inside Tank A-102 at the Hanford Site before workers started breaking it up to remove waste.

RICHLAND, Wash. — The Hanford Field Office and its tank operations contractor recently began retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from another large, underground storage tank at the Hanford Site.

Single-shell Tank A-102 is a million-gallon tank that contains about 41,000 gallons of solid waste. It is the 23rd tank on the site to have waste retrieved. The waste is being transferred to newer, double-shell tanks for continued safe storage until it is treated for disposal.

“Moving waste from underground tanks is not easy, but Hanford teams continue to build on their extensive experience as they take another significant step in our risk-reduction mission,” said Jim Greene, Hanford program manager for single-shell tank retrievals.

Workers remotely operate equipment inside the Hanford Site’s Tank A-102 from a control room.

Hanford is home to 177 underground storage tanks built in groups called tank farms. Workers built A-102 and five other million-gallon tanks in the A Tank Farm in the 1950s to store waste from plutonium processing during the Cold War era.

To prepare for retrieving waste from the tanks, workers replaced old equipment and built the infrastructure to remove waste from multiple tanks.

Workers installed a pressurized water system in the Hanford Site’s Tank A-102 to help break down waste during retrieval activities.

During retrieval, workers remotely operate equipment to break down the solid waste in Tank A-102 with pressurized water and pump out the waste.

“We are excited to be starting field operations on another tank,” said Peggy Hamilton, the contractor’s retrievals manager. “It is a testament to the entire Tank Farms team’s talent, hard work and dedication that we are able to safely continue advancing the cleanup mission.”