LD-SAFE Project

The project (funded by the European Commission) started in July 2020 and is being carried out by a European consortium coordinated by Onet Technologies (France) and composed of 5 members: CEA (France), Equans (Belgium), IRSN (France), Vysus Group (Sweden) and Westinghouse (Spain). The LD-SAFE project focuses on removing the last technical, financial and psychological barriers to propose the laser cutting technology as an alternative to the conventional cutting techniques used for the decommissioning of power nuclear reactors and mainly their internals (RVI) and pressure vessels (RPV). The project is guided by 4 high-level objectives, to be achieved by 2024: • Objective 1: Demonstration of the technical capabilities of the laser cutting technology to address the key challenges of the dismantling of power nuclear reactors RVI and RPV • Objective 2: Environmental and safety assessment for the implementation of laser cutting in nuclear reactor environment and definition of countermeasures • Objective 3: Validation of technology in operational environment, with in-air and underwater demonstrators, confirming that TRL 7 is reached (Technology Readiness Level) • Objective 4: Demonstration of the economic advantage of using the laser cutting technology for RVI and RPV dismantling