Project Rio Blanco: phase I, technical studies

Abstract

N O T I C E his report was prepared as an account of work ponsored by the United States Government. Neither the United States nor the United States Atomic Energy Commission, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

Radionuclide Migration at the Rio Blanco Site, A Nuclear-stimulated Low-permeability Natural Gas Reservoir

“…The discussion of mechanical effects such as rock fracturing, cavity formation, and pressure history associated with the detonations are from Toman and Tewes (1972), Taylor (1972), Beaver (1972), andToman (1975). This information is partly derived from models of detonations in other formations that have been scaled to the rock properties at Rio Blanco.…”

“…The three 33-kt nuclear explosives were simultaneously detonated at 1,780, 1,899, and 2,039 m below the land surface. The formation pressure exceeded the lithostatic pressure within 10 seconds of the blast, causing fracturing of the Mesaverde Group and Fort Union Formation (Toman and Tewes, 1972). The extreme temperatures from the blast vaporized much of the rock, water, and gas, resulting in three underground cavities, each with a volume on the order of 1.3 x 10 5 m 3 (approximately 10 9 kg of rock).…”

“…Within one month, most of the steam condensed, causing the formation pressure to drop to 11.1 megapascals (MPa). At this point in time, formation gas flowed into the cavity, resulting in a rise back to the pre-test formation pressure in the cavity/chimney (Toman and Tewes, 1972). Figure 7 is a schematic cross section showing the relationship between the cavity/chimney, test points, and extent of fracturing.…”

“…The three cavities each have an estimated radius (R c ) of 21 m. A scale analysis by Toman and Tewes (1972) suggests that for explosives spaced closer than 7 R c , fractures have a "high probability" of being connected between test points. At Rio Blanco, the upper and lower explosives were both spaced within 7 R c of the middle explosive; hence, it was considered highly probable that vertical fracture connectivity existed between all three explosives (although this was not the case, as discussed below).…”

Nuclear chemical copper mining and refining: radiological considerations

“…Using the approach delineated in Ref. 8, the ambient temperature of the gas would be about 90°C, and the gas would thus contain approximately 1.2 X 10 g of water vapor. While all of the ganeous radioactive species Kr, Ar, and C (presumably 14 as C0 0 ) are assumed to be present in 3 this cavity gus, the H would be distrib uted between water vapor and liquid water.…”