Laser decontamination R&D in South Africa

Abstract

Since the political transition in 1994, South Africa’s laser expertise, formerly developed for military and strategic purposes, have been integrated into the National Laser Centre where it serves the research and industrial communities alike. In exploring viable applications for former laser isotope separation systems, laser decontamination emerged as a strong candidate.Extensive studies were conducted on the laser cleaning capabilities of excimer, YAG and TEA CO2 laser sources through comparing removal efficiencies for a variety of coating and substrate combinations. A program was defined for finding laser decontamination solutions for selected applications at the French company COGEMA and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. Work has progressed to the engineering stage where construction of a mobile decontamination system has been initiated.Since the political transition in 1994, South Africa’s laser expertise, formerly developed for military and strategic purposes, have been integrated into the National Laser Centre where it serves the research and industrial communities alike. In exploring viable applications for former laser isotope separation systems, laser decontamination emerged as a strong candidate.Extensive studies were conducted on the laser cleaning capabilities of excimer, YAG and TEA CO2 laser sources through comparing removal efficiencies for a variety of coating and substrate combinations. A program was defined for finding laser decontamination solutions for selected applications at the French company COGEMA and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. Work has progressed to the engineering stage where construction of a mobile decontamination system has been initiated.