A comprehensive study on the laser decontamination of surfaces contaminated with Cs+ ion

A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a 1064 nm, 450 mJ/pulse and 14 ns pulse width was employed to study the decontamination characteristics of Type 304 stainless steel specimens contaminated with Cs+ ions. The surrogate specimens were artificially contaminated with two kinds of premixed solutions. The laser was irradiated for 10, 20 and 100 shots. The results were investigated using a SEM, EPMA and XPS. For the surrogate specimen treated with the CsCl+KCl solution, more than 98% of the Cs+ ions were removed during an irradiation of 100 shots. The specimen treated with the CsCl+KCl solution was easier to decontaminate. By comparing the ratio of the O1s intensity to the Fe2p intensity of the XPS spectra, it was found that the oxygen atoms that had evolved from the specimen treated with the CsNO3+KNO3 solution had decreased the laser's decontamination performance.