Project Overview – Surge Tank & Penstock Lead Paint Abatement
Project Overview
Surge Tank & Penstock Lead Paint Abatement
Location: Mayo, Yukon, Canada
Sector: Hydroelectric Power Generation
Power Laser Inc. completed a lead paint abatement project on a 1952 water surge tank at a hydroelectric facility operated by a Yukon utility. The vessel — 6.1 metres in diameter and nearly 15 metres tall — had been coated at fabrication with a single coat of red lead paint, confirmed by the original 1952 engineering drawings. After more than seventy years in service, the tank was scheduled for dismantling and replacement.
Dismantling meant torch cutting. Torch cutting through lead-based coating releases lead fume, so every cut line, rigging hole and weld seam the demolition crew intended to touch had to be stripped to clean steel first. With no practical means of erecting containment at a remote subarctic site, traditional abrasive blasting was ruled out. Power Laser Inc. mobilized its portable high-power fiber laser system to the site instead.
The Challenge
- Contaminant Profile: A single coat of red lead paint applied in 1952, overlaid by seven decades of corrosion, pitting and mineral staining across the interior shell.
- Confined Space Entry: The tank is a permit-required confined space. Access was through a roof manhole and a 4 ft × 5 ft door cut into the shell for entry and emergency rescue.
- Remote Logistics: The site sits in a river valley outside Mayo, Yukon, with crew accommodation off site and all equipment craned into position.
- Containment Constraints: Abrasive blasting would have required a full containment enclosure, a media supply chain into the bush, and removal of contaminated grit as hazardous waste.
- Hot-Work Requirement: Abated zones had to be verifiably clean before any torch work began, and the demolition sequence could not wait on slow surface preparation.
Our Solution
Power Laser Inc. applied targeted laser ablation along the tank’s structural weld seams rather than stripping the vessel wholesale — removing coating precisely where hot work would occur, and nowhere else.
- Seam-Corridor Method: The shell is built from eight stacked ring courses of approximately 1.87 metres each. Our operators ablated a clean corridor along every circumferential and vertical weld seam in 152 mm (6 inch) passes, on the interior.
- Penstock Extension: The scope continued below ground level into the penstock, where the same seam-corridor treatment was applied to the buried steel.
- Capture at Source: High-volume fume extraction with HEPA filtration drew ablated material directly off the work face, capturing lead-bearing residue as dry filter waste rather than tonnes of spent abrasive.
- Verified Clean Steel: Each treated corridor was inspected before release, giving the demolition crew a confirmed lead-free surface to cut into.
The result: 150 square metres (1,600 sq ft) of lead-coated steel abated in eight working days — no blast media, no chemical strippers, no water, and no containment enclosure anywhere on site.
Project specifications: Water surge tank fabricated 1952 · Ø 6.1 m × 14.9 m (20 ft × 49 ft) · 15,393 ft³ internal volume · single coat red lead paint · 8 ring courses · 152 mm (6 in) seam corridors · 150 m² abated · 8 days at 12-hour shifts (96 shift hours) · ~1.56 m²/hour in confined space · HEPA filter media only, no grit, chemicals or water.
Safety & Environmental Compliance
Safety is our operational baseline. Lead abatement inside a permit-required confined space, at height, in a remote location, demanded a layered control plan:
- Confined Space Program: Entry permits, continuous atmospheric monitoring, a dedicated attendant at the portal, and a written rescue plan for every entry.
- Respiratory Protection: Powered air-purifying respirators for all operators working inside the shell, with disposable coveralls changed out at each break in entry.
- Fall Protection: Full-body harness and fall-arrest systems for all work conducted from the interior scaffold and the tank roof.
- Fume Extraction: Continuous high-volume extraction with HEPA filtration and external venting, maintaining breathable air quality throughout each shift.
- Waste Handling: All lead-bearing residue captured, contained and turned over for disposal through the site’s licensed hazardous waste stream.
- Zero Media Footprint: Because laser ablation introduces no grit, solvent or water, the project generated no contaminated runoff and left no abrasive residue in a sensitive river valley environment.
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