The Department of Energy and Washington River Protection Solutions are rescheduling work to empty the remaining seven C-Farm tanks as DOE struggles to meet a consent decree deadline to have all C Farm tanks emptied by September 2014. DOE notified Washington state in June it might not have two of the tanks emptied by then. In a setback since then, a failed pump has once again stopped work with Hanford’s new Mobile Arm Retrieval System to empty Tank C-107. Hanford officials had thought that a few weeks of work would finish emptying the tank. Now a new pump may not be installed until late December. Work began with MARS to empty Tank C-107 about 22 months ago, but there have been repeated setbacks, mostly because of problems unrelated to MARS, including a failed pump in the double-shell tank that provides supernate for the MARS sluicers. “MARS itself is doing a very good job to break up the waste,” said Nancy Uziemblo, a scientist at the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Under the revised tank waste retrieval plan, work will shift from Tank C-107 to Tank C-105, where a different MARS system will be installed. Work to empty Tank C-105 could start this winter. It is one of the two tanks that DOE had said were at risk of not being emptied by the consent decree deadline. Work also will be started sooner to empty Tank C-110 with the Foldtrack. DOE has told the state that the tank could be emptied to regulatory standards this fiscal year. Work also could be finished this month on Tank C-101, where work began in December to retrieve waste with an enhanced-reach sluicing system. DOE is not discussing how many tanks may be emptied by the consent decree deadline given the change of plans, but Department of Ecology officials are still believe it is possible that at least five of the tanks could be emptied.
