Laser cutting has many advantages, including high-speed cutting potential, no reaction forces, narrow kerf widths, ease of remote control, and more. This makes it the next generation cutting technology for nuclear decommissioning. For this reason, various groups in countries with nuclear power plants have been working on applying laser cutting to nuclear decommissioning. Our group has also been developing in-air and underwater laser cutting technologies. Previous research has focused on efficiently cutting thicker steels. To accomplish this, a cutting head with a long focusing element with a focal length of 600 mm was utilized. A long focusing head is advantageous for cutting thick objects at high speeds because it can maintain a high power density over a long distance. However, with such a long focused beam, the residual laser power that remains after passing through the target object can cut or damage other unwanted objects located behind the target. Utilizing a short focused element can solve this problem, but if the focal length is too short, the cutting capability will be reduced. In this work, we developed and applied a cutting head that utilizes a focused element with a short focal length of 300 mm. Cutting tests with this head allowed us to cut 10-60 mm thick stainless steel plates at a laser power of 6 kW. We also obtained the maximum cutting speed and kerf width for each thickness while increasing the laser power by 1 kW from 1 to 6 kW. The results obtained in this work are expected to be utilized for safe cutting in future nuclear decommissioning applications.

• Jae Sung Shin(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)) Corresponding author
• Ki-Hee Song(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Gwon Lim(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Seong Y. Oh(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))