The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced on January 25 that preparations are well underway for the transfer of nearly 2,000 highly radioactive cesium and strontium capsules from the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) to interim dry storage at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. Over the past several months, EM's Richland Operations Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company completed a number of modifications to the facility needed to install a system that will move the capsules from the underwater basin into dry-storage casks, onto trucks, and into a new storage area close to the facility. Final construction activities at the dry-storage area were completed last fall. Additional upgrades are needed at WESF's truck transfer area to enable the half-mile trip to the dry-storage concrete pad.
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