Laser shock cleaning of radioactive particulates from glass surface

• Removal of UO2 particulates from glass surface was achieved by laser induced shock.
• Velocity of the generated shock waves was measured using beam deflection technique.
• Removal efficiency was found to be dependent on laser focal spot-glass surface gap.
• Decontamination efficiency of more than 99% was achieved.
• Cleaned area was much larger than that achieved by direct beam exposure methods.

Efficient removal of Uranium-di-oxide (UO2) particulates from glass surface was achieved by Nd–YAG laser induced airborne plasma shock waves. The velocity of the generated shock wave was measured by employing the photo-acoustic probe deflection method. Experiments were carried out to study the effect of laser pulse energy, number of laser exposures and the separation between the substrate surface and the onset point of the shock wave on the de-contamination efficiency. The efficacy of the process was estimated monitoring the alpha activity of the samples before and after laser shock cleaning using a ZnS (Ag) scintillation detector. Significant cleaning efficiency could be achieved when the substrate was exposed to multiple laser shocks that could be further improved by geometrically confining the plasma. No visual damage or loss in optical quality was observed when the shock cleaned surfaces were analysed by optical microscopy and spectrophotometry. The area cleaned by laser shock cleaning was found to be significantly larger than that possible by conventional laser cleaning. Theoretical estimate of the shock force generated has been found to exceed the van der Waal`s binding force for spherical contaminant particulate.