Held on 17 February 2010, the first demonstration was attended by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Site License Companies (Sellafield Ltd, Magnox North and South) and a group of Tier 2 contractors. Live demonstrations of cutting and scabbling were complemented by technical presentations from senior members of the Project Team, who stimulated a lively and informative questions and answers session.

Laser-cut pipe, 60mm diameter with 11.7mm wall.

There are two more demonstrations: 3 March and 17 March 2010. More information on these is available in a leaflet on this website.

You can view the PowerPoint presentation given at the 17 February demonstration - but if you're really interested it's no substitute for attending a demonstration to see the technology in action, meet the Project Team and network with others involved in nuclear decommissioning.

Pipe-cutting demonstrator after disassembly using the 5kW fibre laser.

170mm diameter pipe with 7mm wall. Three-pass-two cut technique.

Concrete scabbled surfaces:
- bare concrete
- surface coated with floor paint (blue)
- surface coated with emulsion paint (white)
- surface coated in grease (brown).

Scabbling trials on a 3.5 x 1.0m slab of concrete have been completed to demonstrate and test the individual features of the system, as this photograph shows. During scabbling, the debris ejected is very effectively removed and collected using the 'Big Brute' pumping system, supplied by Michael Williams Engineering.

The photograph also shows elements of the vision system, used to automatically maintain alignment of the robot-driven head over the concrete during a pass of the laser beam. All the scabbled surfaces shown in this picture were made with a laser power of 4kW, delivered down a 0.6mm diameter optical fibre.

The complete laser scabbling system

In the first series of trials, a range of stainless steel tubes supplied from Sellafield Ltd were cut. A second series of trials involved a range of readily-available stainless tubing (25 - 155mm diameter) with wall thickness from 1.5 to 4mm. In all cases it was possible to sever the tubes, whilst cutting in a straight line, from only one side of the tube.

The laser cutting head, set for some of the first single-sided tube cutting.

The laser cutting a 100mm diameter tube.

Laser cut quality for 25 to 155mm diameter tubes.

The head contains the laser beam delivery system, the debris removal system and the vision system.

The vision system is for maintaining the scabbling head's position relative to the concrete surface being processed.

This is the recently completed laser scabbling head, mounted on the arm of an articulated robot.

The laser cutting head and a range of cutting nozzles have been designed and manufactured.

Initial cutting trials on various diameter pipes have begun.

All the necessary optical fibres and optical assemblies to collimate and focus the laser beam are expected soon. Different set-ups are required for scabbling and cutting applications.

More trials on a scabbling debris pumping system have allowed specification and ordering of suitable equipment. Design of the laser scabbling system is well underway.

5kW fibre laser during commissioning trials

Latest design for the scabbling head

A 6m linear traverse and robot have been installed, the latter will soon be commissioned.

Scabbling simulation to determine the process envelope