Paint contaminated with radionuclides and other hazardous materials is common in Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. Facility decommissioning and decontamination requires the removal of contaminated paint. Paint removal technologies include laser- and abrasive-based systems. F2 Associates are utilizing a pulsed-repetition CO{sub 2} laser that produces a 2.5-cm x 2.5-cm beam which can be scanned across a 30- x 100-cm raster and, when placed on a robot, can be designed to clean any surface that the robot can be programmed to follow. Causing little or no damage to the substrate (concrete, steel, etc.), the laser ablates the material to be removed from a given surface. Ablated material is then pulled into a filtration and collection (VAC-PAC) system to prevent the hazardous substances from entering into the atmosphere. The VAC-PAC system deposits the ablated material into waste drums which may be removed from the system without compromising the integrity of the seal, allowing a new drum to be set up for collection without leakage of the ablated material into the atmosphere.