Market and Development Trends in Thermal Cutting Technology for Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning

Abstract

According to a recent report on nuclear power plants, 686 nuclear reactors exist worldwide, of which 172 have been permanently closed, and 20 have been completely dismantled. The design life of nuclear power plants worldwide is being reached, and the number of decommissioned reactors being closed because of economic and political reasons is expected to increase. Therefore, the growth of the decommissioning market locally and globally is inevitable. In this review paper, the growth potential of the nuclear power plant-decommissioning market and examples of cutting technology research and development in Korea and overseas is discussed. Among the applied cutting processes, mechanical cutting accounts for the majority; however, underwater processing is required for structures at intermediate or higher levels at which radioactivity has progressed for shielding and other purposes. Accordingly, process development for thermal cutting is actively progressing. Representative studies on thermal cutting process are summarized, and the current state of technological development of the laser-cutting process is presented.