The Department of Energy is at serious risk of missing new court-enforced deadlines for emptying some of Hanford's leak-prone underground tanks. DOE notified the state of Washington that two newly set tank deadlines are in jeopardy. A federal court judge extended deadlines in March after it became clear that DOE could not meet previous deadlines set in a 2010 court-enforced consent decree for the Hanford nuclear reservation. Work has been slowed by safety precautions implemented around waste tanks to protect workers from breathing potentially toxic chemical vapors, according to DOE.
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