It’s now been almost three months since the May 26th chemical tank failure that killed 11 people at Nippon Dynawave in Longview. Now, work is being done to dismantle the tank and install temporary storage tanks as part of the process of potentially restarting the mill.

The work began Monday to remove three out-of-service tanks and is part of an inspection and maintenance process being conducted with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries.

The company plans to install new temporary tanks capable of holding up to 450,000 gallons of black liquor and 650,000 gallons of white liquor. The tanks will provide storage while permanent tanks are being inspected, repaired, or rebuilt and could also preserve inventory needed for a future restart.

The mill has remained mostly shut down since the May 26th disaster, with just limited crews on site, and the company has not announced when it plans to reopen. L&I says its investigation could take up to half a year.

The Association of Pulp and Paper Workers, representing mill workers, called the work a sign of cautious optimism toward a potential restart but warned that this still does not guarantee the mill will reopen.

The current work is expected to take several weeks, and employees unable to work because of the shutdown will continue receiving pay at least through October 11th.