The potential role of high-power lasers in nuclear decommissioning

Li, Lin

doi:10.1680/nuen.41.6.397.38991

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…9 -15 One recent and effective application is surface decontamination and cleaning. [11][12][13]16 Laser ablation can be applied, for example, for decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear facilities at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complexes across the United States. For D&D applications, previous results 17 showed that laser ablation with an ultraviolet (UV) wavelength (266-nm) pulsed laser was most effective in particle generation compared with that with lasers of other (1064-or 532-nm) wavelengths.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Particle Generation by Ultraviolet-Laser Ablation during Surface Decontamination

Lee

Cheng

2006

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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A novel photonic decontamination method was developed for removal of pollutants from material surfaces. Such a method relies on the ability of a high-energy laser beam to ablate materials from a contaminated surface layer, thus producing airborne particles. In this paper, the authors presented the results obtained using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) system and an aerosol particle sizer (APS). Particles generated by laser ablation from the surfaces of cement, chromium-embedded cement, and alumina were experimentally investigated. Broad particle distributions from nanometer to micrometer in size were measured. For stainless steel, virtually no particle Ͼ500 nm in aerodynamic size was detected. The generated particle number concentrations of all three of the materials were increased as the 266-nm laser fluence (millijoules per square centimeter) increased. Among the three materials tested, cement was found to be the most favorable for particle removal, alumina next, and stainless steel the least. Chromium (dropped in cement) showed almost no effects on particle production. For all of the materials tested except for stainless steel, bimodal size distributions were observed; a smaller mode peaked at ϳ50 -70 nm was detected by SMPS and a larger mode (peaked at ϳ0.70 -0.85 m) by APS. Based on transmission electron microscopy observations, the authors concluded that particles in the range of 50 -70 nm were aggregates of primary particles, and those of size larger than a few hundred nanometers were produced by different mechanisms, for example, massive object ejection from the material surfaces. INTRODUCTIONLaser ablation is defined as the removal of material by laser irradiation from a surface of the material. Removed materials may be in the form of particulate matter, solid and/or liquid, and vapors. The interaction of high-power lasers with solid materials causes material removal through processes such as laser vaporization, desorption, sputtering, ejection, etching, spallation, and plasma generation. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Besides continuous research on laser ablation mechanisms, an enormous amount of research on applications using laser ablation has been performed. 9 -15 One recent and effective application is surface decontamination and cleaning. [11][12][13]16 Laser ablation can be applied, for example, for decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear facilities at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complexes across the United States. For D&D applications, previous results 17 showed that laser ablation with an ultraviolet (UV) wavelength (266-nm) pulsed laser was most effective in particle generation compared with that with lasers of other (1064-or 532-nm) wavelengths. In this paper, the authors report, in detail, the production and transformation of particles when the UV laser was used on selected surrogate surfaces: Portland cement (cement) with or without a toxic heavy metal, chromium (Cr), prepared under laboratory conditions, stainless steel 316, and pure alumina (Al 2 O 3 ). The f...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Particle Generation by Ultraviolet-Laser Ablation during Surface Decontamination

Lee

Cheng

2006

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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“…The mechanism underlying the removal of loose particulates by laser is well explained in reference [8]. We have, of late, experimentally demonstrated that the absorption of the coherent radiation by the surface plays a more dominant role towards expelling the particulates above it as against what is possible by way of the radiation being absorbed by the particulates directly [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Pulsed laser assisted removal of loose radioactive particulates from the surface of both metallic [1][2][3][4][5] and dielectric [4,5] substrates is gaining popularity and has decided advantages over the conventional methods of cleaning. Firstly, the volume of the secondary waste generated can be reduced to a significant extent here as an appropriate selection of the laser parameters such as its fluence and pulse duration can confine the interaction of the laser with the substrate to a restricted volume [3,4,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firstly, the volume of the secondary waste generated can be reduced to a significant extent here as an appropriate selection of the laser parameters such as its fluence and pulse duration can confine the interaction of the laser with the substrate to a restricted volume [3,4,6]. Secondly, as the laser beam can be transported to the job either with the help of beam steering optics or by an optical fiber, the entire process can be executed in a remote manner minimizing thereby the chance of exposure to the personnel [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Laser assisted decontamination of metal surface: Evidence of increased surface absorptivity due to field enhancement caused by transparent/semi-transparent contaminant particulates

Nilaya

Biswas

2010

Applied Surface Science

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“…Pulsed laser-assisted removal of loose radioactive particulates from the surface of both metallic [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and dielectric [4,6,7] substrates is gaining popularity as it has decided advantages over the conventional methods of cleaning. First, the volume of the secondary waste generated can be reduced to a significant extent here as an appropriate selection of the laser parameters such as its fluence and pulse duration can confine the interaction of the laser with the substrate to a restricted volume [3,4,8]. Secondly, as the laser beam can be transported to the job either with the help of beam steering optics or by an optical fibre, the entire process can be executed in a remote manner minimizing thereby the chance of exposure to the personnel [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-assisted cleaning: Dominant role of surface

Nilaya

Biswas

2010

Pramana - J Phys

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Pulsed laser-assisted removal of particulates from substrates has decided advantages over the conventional methods of cleaning. Experiments conducted with loose contamination on metal and transparent dielectric surfaces proved conclusively the dominant role played by the absorption of the incident radiation by the surface towards the generation of the cleaning force as against the absorption in the particulates alone. Further, the presence of transparent/semi-transparent particulates on a metal surface was found to result in an increased absorption of the incident radiation by the substrate. This effect, identified as field-enhanced surface absorption was found to increase with reduction in the average particulate size.

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The potential role of high-power lasers in nuclear decommissioning

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Particle Generation by Ultraviolet-Laser Ablation during Surface Decontamination

Particle Generation by Ultraviolet-Laser Ablation during Surface Decontamination

Laser assisted decontamination of metal surface: Evidence of increased surface absorptivity due to field enhancement caused by transparent/semi-transparent contaminant particulates

Laser-assisted cleaning: Dominant role of surface

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