Bolosphere Segmentation

Energy Solutions contracted Bluegrass to design, fabricate and test a diamond wire saw capable of segmenting bolospheres made of 2.75” thick exotic steel which were slated for decommissioning at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Technical Area 54.

Location

Job Site: Los Alamos, NM; Test Cut: Greenville, AL

Client

Energy Solutions

Challenge

Make a continuous cut through 2.75” steel without stopping to change the diamond wire. To achieve this the saw was designed to hold 125’ of diamond wire, double the normal capacity. Water cooling was not an option due to contamination and containment concerns, so Bluegrass engineered an air cooled system effectively using as little as 12 cfm for this dry cut method.

An 84” diameter non-contaminated bolosphere to be used for the saw’s trial run was shipped to the Bluegrass facility. The patented four wheel drive design cut through 625 square inches of exotic steel with an average cut time of 1.3 square inches per minute, running continuously just over 8 hours. Two continuous cuts segmented the bolosphere into quarters.

The Bluegrass Team designed, fabricated and successfully tested the saw in 4 weeks, completing the job on schedule, with no safety issues and thorough containment of materials.

Solution

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