Innovative technology summary report: High-speed clamshell pipe cutter

The Hanford Site C Reactor Technology Demonstration Group demonstrated the High-Speed Clamshell Pipe Cutter technology, developed and marketed by Tri Tool Inc. (Rancho Cordova, California). The models demonstrated are portable, split-frame pipe lathes that require minimal radial and axial clearances for severing and/or beveling in-line pipe with ranges of 25 cm to 41 cm and 46 cm to 61 cm nominal diameter. The radial clearance requirement from the walls, floors, or adjacent pipes is 18 cm. The lathes were supplied with carbide insert conversion kits for the cutting bits for the high-speed technique that was demonstrated. Given site-specific factors, this demonstration showed the cost of the improved technology to be approximately 30% higher than the traditional (baseline) technology (oxyacetylene torch) cost of $14,400 for 10 cuts of contaminated 41-cm and 61-cm-diameter pipe at C Reactor. Actual cutting times were faster than the baseline technology; however, moving/staging the equipment took longer. Unlike the baseline torch, clamshell lathes do not involve applied heat, flames, or smoke and can be operated remotely, thereby helping personal exposures to be as low as reasonably achievable. The baseline technology was demonstrated at the C Reactor north and south water pipe tunnels August 19--22, 1997. The improved technology was demonstrated in the gas pipe tunnel December 15--19