Analysis of Aerosol Emission and Dispersion During the Laser Cutting of Fukushima Fuel Debris Simulants Available to Purchase

The general context of the article is related to the development of the laser cutting technique for the fuel debris retrieval on the damaged reactors of Fukushima Dai-ichi. IRSN and CEA are involved in a project, led by ONET, to bring relevant elements to analyze the risk occurred by the dispersion of aerosols emitted by the dismantling operations. Results regarding the aerosols source term characterization emitted during laser cutting of non-radioactive fuel debris simulants were acquired during experiments undertaken on the DELIA cutting laser platform from CEA. IRSN realized aerosol sampling, aerosol size distribution measurement and CFD calculation of aerosol transport and wall deposition. The evaluations performed will enable the Japanese teams responsible for extracting corium from the damaged reactors of Fukushima Dai-ichi to define the best strategies to implement containment, and ultimately to limit the dissemination of radionuclides in the environment.