Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Long-distance cutting of 10-30 mm thick stainless-steel with a 6-kW fiber laser for applications in nuclear decommissioning

  • Jae Sung Shin (Quantum Optics Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Gwon Lim (Quantum Optics Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
  • Received : 2023.07.26
  • Accepted : 2023.09.04
  • Published : 2023.12.25
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

For nuclear decommissioning applications, a study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using a laser for long-distance cutting in complex structures. Cutting tests were performed on stainless steel plates with thicknesses ranging from 10 mm to 30 mm at distances of 300 mm-700 mm from the laser head, using a laser power of 6 kW. Remarkably, the 10 mm and 20 mm thick stainless-steel plates were successfully cut at a distance of 700 mm from the head. Based on the trends observed in the results, it is anticipated that these thicknesses could also be cut at distances of approximately 1 m. Similarly, the 30 mm thick stainless-steel plate was effectively cut at a distance of 500 mm from the head. To evaluate the amount of secondary waste generated, the kerf width was measured. Due to the long-distance cutting, the average kerf width ranged from 6 mm to 16 mm. Despite the wider kerf width, long-distance cutting holds promise for efficiently handling hard-to-reach targets in nuclear decommissioning scenarios.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. RS2022-00155395).

References

  1. K. Tamura, R. Ishigami, R. Yamagishi, Laser cutting of thick steel plates and stimulated steel components using a 30 kW fiber laser, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 51 (2016), 15-00590.
  2. K. Tamura, R. Ishigami, Laser cutting conditions for steel plates having a thickness of more than 100 mm using a 30 kW fiber laser for nuclear decommissioning, Mech. Eng. J. 3 (2016), 15-00590.
  3. K. Tamura, R. Yamagishi, Observation of the molten metal behaviors during the laser cutting of thick steel specimens using attenuated process images, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 54 (2017) 655-661.
  4. K. Tamura, S. Toyama, Laser cutting performances for thick steel specimens studied by molten metal removal conditions, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 54 (2017) 1011-1017.
  5. C. Chagnot, G. de Dinechin, G. Canneau, Cutting performances with new industrial continuous wave ND:YAG high power lasers: for dismantling of former nuclear workshops, the performances of recently introduced high power continuous wave ND:YAG lasers are assessed, Nucl. Eng. Des. 240 (2010) 2604-2613.
  6. P.A. Hilton, A. Khan, Underwater cutting using a 1μm laser source, J. Laser Appl. 27 (2015), 032013.
  7. A.B. Lopez, E. Assuncao, L. Quintino, J. Blackburn, High-power fiber laser cutting parameter optimization for nuclear decommissioning, Nucl. Eng. Technol. 49 (2017) 865-872.
  8. N.P. Long, Y. Matsunaga, T. Hanari, T. Yamada, T. Muramatsu, Experimental investigation of transient temperature characteristic in high power fiber laser cutting of a thick steel plate, Opt Laser. Technol. 84 (2016) 134-143.
  9. A. Choubey, R.K. Jain, S. Ali, R. Singh, S.C. Vishwakarma, D.K. Argawal, R. Arya, R. Kaul, B.N. Upadhyaya, S.M. Oak, Studies on pulse Nd:YAG laser cutting of thick stainless steel in dry air and underwater environment for dismantling applications, Opt Laser. Technol. 71 (2015) 6-15.
  10. J. Leschke, A. Barroi, S. Kaierle, J. Hermsdorf, L. Overmeyer, Studies on the robustness of underwater laser cutting of S355J2+N using a Yb:YAG disk laser source, Phys. Procedia 83 (2016) 310-316.
  11. J.S. Shin, S.Y. Oh, H. Park, C.-M. Chung, S. Seon, T.-S. Kim, L. Lee, J. Lee, Laser cutting of steel plates up to 100 mm in thickness with a 6-kW fiber laser for application to dismantling of nuclear facilities, Opt Laser. Eng. 100 (2018) 98-104.
  12. J.S. Shin, S.Y. Oh, H. Park, C.-M. Chung, S. Seon, T.-S. Kim, L. Lee, J. Lee, Cutting performance of thick steel plates up to 150 mm in thickness and large size pipes with a 10-kW fiber laser for dismantling of nuclear facilities, Ann. Nucl. Energy 122 (2018) 62-68.
  13. J.S. Shin, S.Y. Oh, H. Park, T.-S. Kim, L. Lee, C.-M. Chung, J. Lee, Underwater cutting of 50 and 60 mm thick stainless steel plates using a 6-kW fiber laser for dismantling nuclear facilities, Opt Laser. Technol. 115 (2019) 1-8.
  14. J.S. Shin, S.Y. Oh, S. Park, H. Park, T.-S. Kim, L. Lee, Y. Kim, J. Lee, Underwater laser cutting of stainless steel up to 100 mm thick for dismantling application in nuclear power plants, Ann. Nucl. Energy 147 (2020), 107655.
  15. S.Y. Oh, J.S. Shin, T.S. Kim, H. Park, L. Lee, C.-M. Chung, J. Lee, Effect of nozzle types on the laser cutting performance for 60-mm-thick stainless steel, Opt Laser. Technol. 119 (2019), 106707.
  16. J.S. Shin, S.Y. Oh, S.-K. Park, T.-S. Kim, H. Park, J. Lee, Underwater laser cutting of thick stainless steel in various cutting directions for application to nuclear decommissioning, J. Nucl. Fuel Cycle Waste Technol. 19 (2021) 279-287.