Remote Decommissioning of contaminated structures using laser cutting - lasersnake

The LaserSnake project will prove the feasibility of a new remote cutting process targeted at decommissioning. This project will enable the nuclear decommissioning sector to have access to a low reaction force non-mechanical cutting technique for general decommissioning and work in confined spaces, which will allow remote but targeted removal of a range of materials and geometries. The laser cutting process is non-contact, so there is no reaction force on the material being cut. The significance of this is that both laser power source and the actuator pack for the snake-arm robot proposed for deployment are outside the contaminated area. The resulting implications are profound: Less physical equipment enters the radioactive region and that which does so is less complex, lighter and contains less energy, which reduces risk. Laser cutting is a well-established commercial process, producing edges of very high quality. However, use of a fibre laser to sever material remotely in ways required for decommissioning is a completely novel concept.
The project will investigate the fundamentals of laser cutting materials typical of those found in cells in the nuclear industry. The objective of LaserSnake is to sever the components, whatever the geometry, from one side. The work will integrate a snake-arm robot, a fibre laser cutting system and a mock-up facility built by OC Robotics, in order to simulate the first ever fibre laser cutting in contaminated environments, with all operations conducted from outside the process area. Parameters to optimise cutting using this system will be researched.
The scale of impact on the nuclear decommissioning sector is significant. In the long term, the systems proposed will cost up to 50% less than existing solutions, mainly because less of the equipment is nuclearised, and up to 50 percent less equipment will enter the hazardous area. The technology will also allow the cutting operation to be performed without human access to the area. Once fully developed the LaserSnake system will allow nuclear decommissioning (and in the long term, maintenance) to occur safer, faster and at reduced cost.