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Kuggy could harness atoms industry; test to be made here(Editor’s not: The following story is an official news release from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, it was re leased from AEC offices in San Francisco, El Paso. Albuquerque and Washington. 1). C\, simultaneously. )Underground nuclear explosions in low permeability natural gas fields, principally in the Rocky Mountain area, may increase their total gas production about seven times the amounts now attainable, according to a feasibility study submitted to the El Paso Natural Gas Company, the U S. Atomic Energy Commission and the I S Bureau of Mines.The study was conducted by staff personnel of the company, the AEC's San Francisco Opera tions Office, and the Bureau of Mines. The AEC's Lawrence Ha diation Laboratory, at Livermore, California, provided tech nical assistance.The study team investigated the use of nuclear explosives to fracture ‘tight gas-bearing formations to improve recovery and production rates from nat ural gas fields. The study concluded that this is feasible and recommends that an experimental nuclear detonation, designed to be contained underground, be conducted by the AEC at a site in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, about 55 air miles east of Farmington. The company stated that it plans to submit to the Commission a proposal for jointly conducting such an ex pediment If authorized, the e\-periment would represent the first government-industry use of a nuclear explosive for industrial purposes anywhere in the world.The study, called ‘Gasbuggy. is part of the Commission’s Plowshare program to develop industrial and scientific uses for nuclear explosivesThe Gasbuggy study covers the preliminary design of an underground nuclear explosion to fracture gas-bearing strata in fields where large quantities of gas are presently unrecoverable because of low permeability of the rock formations. The study team concluded that in such “tight gas-bearing formations, the nuclear explosion could be expected to create extensive fracture systems that would permit the gas to flow more freely into wells. Present fracturing methods cannot sufficiently increase the flow through many of these formations.The study indicates that the Pictured Cliffs formation in he San Juan Basin of New Mexico appears attractive for an experiment with a 10-kiloton (10,000 tons of TNT equivalent) explosive about 4,000 feet underground. Preliminary cost estimates for such an experiment are about $3,000,000 exclusive of the nuclear explosive.Extensive studies would be made by the AEC to assure safety of the experiment.The study stated the blast would vaporize the rock around it and create a subterranean chamber deep below the surface. Then the roof of the chamber would fail in. and a • collapse zone. or aiea of broken rock, would form above it to a height of about 350 feet and a width of about 130 feet. This would, in effect, create a large storage chamber into which gas would flow through innumerable fractures extending in all directions.Later, a re-entry hole would be drilled into the top of the chamber to obtain production data and to gather samples ol the gas.Information gained from the expei iment would be evaluated to help determine whether nuclear stimulation could be com mercially useful. Gathering and evaluating data may require as much as three years after detonation of the explosive.Preparatory field work could begin within a month or so after a decision has been made to go ahead, but the actual experiment could not take place for at least a year.Basically, nuclear stimulation is expected to produce the same results as conventional stimulation, but greatly magnified. In conventional stimulation, after a well is drilled into a gas bearing sandstone formation the rock is fractured (cracked) with a fluid under high pressure or by the now seldom used method ol exploding nitroglycerin to enable the gas to move more readily through the rock to the wellA nitroglycerin detonation uses 1,000 to 2,500 quarts. The proposed Gasbuggy nuclear ex plo ivo would equal five million quarts of nitroglycerin.El Paso Natural Gas Company is one of the nation’s largest natural gas transmission firms, supplying gas on a wholesale basis to 11 western states: Ari zona. California. Colorado. Ida ho. Nevada. New Mexico. Ore gon, Texas, Utah. Washington and Wyoming. It has 35.0 trillion feet of natural gas reserves dedicated to the service of this area, the largest volume of gas dedicated by a pipeline to the service of any area in the country.• Monday. August 2, work campers and staff of the He formed Church enjoyed an evening of swimming at Pugo.su Springs.S mo key Says:your ramp tirr!
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Dulce Jicarilla Chieftain
Dulce, New Mexico, US
Mon, Aug 16, 1965
Page 3
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Emily J.
USA 22 Jan 2024
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Dulce Jicarilla Chieftain
