The topic of this research is the reduction of the amount of radioactive waste generated by the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. By removing the contaminated portion of the concrete surfaces prior to the dismantling, the amount of radioactive waste can be expected to be significantly reduced. There are various methods for removing concrete surfaces. In this study, laser is used since it can efficiently remove concrete surfaces while reducing the generation of by-products. The scraping efficiency of the laser was examined by varying the laser parameters and the concrete strength. The amount of the concrete removed could be significantly increased by lowering the laser irradiation speed and increasing the number of outputs. It was also found that the concrete strength has no influence on the amount of concrete removed using this method. This suggested that laser concrete removal methods can be adapted on a wide variety of concrete structures. Compared to the other removal methods reported in the previous studies, the laser removal method can remove the same amount of concrete in just half amount of time. These results indicated that using laser does not only reduce the generation of radioactive by-products, but also it is a more efficient method for removing concrete surfaces. Additionally, since its effectiveness does not depend on the concrete strength used in the structure, it might be widely applicable for various types of concrete structures.
Keywords
- Concrete Chipping
- Decontamination