Tank Abandonment
     The process that we follow when performing an abandonment are as follows:  we first follow the fill pipe down to the top of the tank.  Then expose a large portion of the tank to see which direction the tank lies.  The tank will then be cut open so that we able to access the tank by person.  A technician will then enter the tank, proceed to scrape and thoroughly clean the tank until the contents are completely removed.  The removal process is performed using a pump truck which basically vacuums out the contents of the tank.  Once the tank has been completely cleaned, we will proceed to cut through the tank in order to take a soil sample.  The number of soil samples are dictated by the size of the tank.  To learn more about the soil sampling procedures and protocols please see our section labeled soil analysis.  Providing the soil analysis is clean, the tank can now be filled with either sand, concrete slurry, foam, or in some cases just left empty.  This procedure is mostly used in circumstances where the tank cannot be accessed for removal.  A removal is always the best option for the simple fact that you know for sure what is beneath the entire tank.