RICHLAND, Wash.-- Recent inspections of three single shell tanks at Hanford found that the tanks weren't leaking. However, water was coming in.
Video inspections of three single-shell tanks at Hanford found a potential rise in liquid waste levels.
One of those tanks showed a minor increase of water intrusion. In that tank, the liquid level increased six inches over the last 18 years.
Last summer, engineers saw a rise in liquid waste levels in 52 single-shell tanks, which prompted them to start video inspections and to look for the source of the liquid increase.
"We went inside three tanks and completed the inspection inside three of those single shell tanks Come back to find that two of them really didn't show anything but we did find potential evidence of water intrusion," said Rob Roxburgh, Washington River Protection Solutions.
Engineers found water dripping into the tank from a concrete pit drain, likely from rain run-off or snow melt.
The contractor plans to increase the frequency of their inspections. But they say the rate of the water drip seems slow enough that it will not cause any issues.
