It strikes me that any transport that leaves point A and arrives at B should have two tanks of propellant: one for A and the other for B. This isn't really new; we're already looking at re-purposing old boosters in LEO.
Even the flip-n-burn option might do this. Disconnect old tank; rotate engine and nozzle exactly π radians; attach new tank.
As for what the crew does with the old tank, that will depend on a few things. How much volume of propellant did it have? Was the propellant toxic (probably not terribly, it's likely just oxygen / hydrogen maybe methane)? If it was pumping to a radioactive chamber, how close were the two and how energetic?
I expect NERVA-to-transfer-orbit, as a general rule, like how those old "Hohmann" Venus missions tended to be rather shorter than the idealised 146 days. Also the tanks take in some rads and protons from the Sun and cosmic-rays. Nobody is wasting shielding on propellant tanks.
So the used tanks get used for the rubbish stored up to the tank switchover, where "rubbish" is "solids what doesn't get recycled and doesn't go outside". Broken plastics, unsalvageable clothes. Maybe someone can recycle them at the destination.
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