Cleanup work progresses with pump removal at Hanford Tank Farms

[Marlin]

Cleanup work progresses with pump removal at Hanford Tank Farms

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-08-14/article-8295/cleanup-work-progresses-with-pump-removal-at-hanford-tank-farms/

[Core Content]

Contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure successfully removed a 10-ton mixer pump from Tank SY-101 at the Hanford Site. The team utilized the Hercules hydraulic lift system to extract the equipment, which was originally installed in 1993 to manage hydrogen buildup. This operation clears the tank for the future installation of waste retrieval equipment as part of ongoing site cleanup efforts.

The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management reports that workers at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash., have performed a technically complex operation to remove a large legacy mixer pump from Tank SY-101 in the 200 West Area. The removal allows for the future installation of tank waste retrieval equipment as part of the next...

A short video on the Hanford Site's YouTube channel shows aspects of the operation, including the pump being lifted out of the tank with a specially designed hydraulic lift system named Hercules.

A massive legacy mixer pump is removed from a waste storage tank at the Hanford Site with the Hercules hydraulic lift system. (Photo: DOE)

Hanford Site Tank Farms: The 10-ton, 50-foot-long pump was installed in Tank SY-101 in 1993 to mix waste and reduce the buildup of hydrogen in the tank. The tank is one of just three double-shelled tanks in Hanford's 200 West Area—part of the Hanford Site Tank Farms, which contain approximately 56 million gallons of legacy nuclear waste from the site's plutonium production past.

Read the full article at ans.org:
https://www.ans.org/news/2026-08-14/article-8295/cleanup-work-progresses-with-pump-removal-at-hanford-tank-farms/