If your authrities do not know about normalizing you really need to get advice from a Metallurgist. Normalizing will improve the properties of the steel you are using because it will not only relieve the stresses induced by the flame cutting it will also remove any pre-exisiting stresses in the plate.

Here is a description I copied from the link below:

NORMALIZING

Normalizing is a type of heat treatment applicable to ferrous metals only. It differs from annealing in that the metal is heated to a higher temperature and then removed from the furnace for air cooling.

The purpose of normalizing is to remove the internal stresses induced by heat treating, welding, casting, forging, forming, or machining. Stress, if not controlled, leads to metal failure; therefore, before hardening steel, you should normalize it first to ensure the maximum desired results. Usually, low-carbon steels do not require normalizing; however, if these steels are normalized, no harmful effects result. Castings are usually annealed, rather than normalized; however, some castings require the normalizing treatment. Table 2-2 shows the approximate soaking periods for normalizing steel. Note that the soaking time varies with the thickness of the metal.

Normalized steels are harder and stronger than annealed steels. In the normalized condition, steel is much tougher than in any other structural condition. Parts subjected to impact and those that require maximum toughness with resistance to external stress are usually normalized. In normalizing, the mass of metal has an influence on the cooling rate and on the resulting structure. Thin pieces cool faster and are harder after normalizing than thick ones. In annealing (furnace cooling), the hardness of the two are about the same.


NORMALIZING