A pipe severing tool is arranged to align a plurality of high explosive
pellets along a unitizing support structure whereby all explosive pellets
are inserted within or extracted from a tubular housing as a singular
unit. Electrically initiated exploding wire detonators (EBW) are
positioned at opposite ends of the tubular housing for simultaneous
detonation by a capacitive firing device. The housing assembly includes a
detachable bottom nose that permits the tool to be armed and disarmed
without disconnecting the detonation circuitry. Because the tool is not
sensitive to stray electrical fields, it may be transported, loaded and
unloaded with the EBW detonators in place and connected.