Back in the day I explored cutting open tube for repair. I had good luck opening then with a giant hand tubing cutter! From an earlier post: As far as "loose" cesium in the tube, not so much! Most of the spent cesium is trapped in gooey carbon stuff spread around the inside of the tube where the beams end up. However a nitrogen atmosphere glove box would be the best way to try any repairs. Replacing a bad ion pump might be possible this way. I used a giant tubing cutter to remove the end caps to evaluate repairing tubes. Decided the market was not there to make it worth the effort! A grinder with cutting disks is a quick way to take one apart to explore the insides. The HP tubes used a heated metal "burst" diaphragm not glass ampoules to release the cesium during the tube manufacture. See attached PIX of a removed Cs oven. The wire attached to the post runs inside and contacts close to the center of the burst diaphragm. After the tube is baked out and sealed either high power RF or other high current burns a hole thru the center of the burst diaphragm. This allows Cesium a route to the exit slit of the tube. Cheers, Corby