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Fhe Jicarilla Chieftain Page ^Monday, Feb. 23, 197ftGasbuggy is huge successProject Gasbuggy, the underground explosion near Dulce to xtimulatlt;* natural gas production, was a resounding success, scientists announced recently after two ye trs of study.I he nuclear explosive, opaiva lent to 26.900 tons of TNT, was sc* off a mile underground Dec. IT 1967, at a site just west 1 the licarilla Apache Reservation boundary. Scientists wanted to learn if the heat and pressure from the searing blast would free natural gas t appe 1 in tight rock formations Ihe\ hoped the gas would collect in a ca\ ty created by the explosion.The results from Gasbuggy now make it possible to say that it was completely successful in every respect,” John S. Kelly-said in remarks prepared for a recent conference in Las Vegas on using nuclear explosions to tap the earth’s treasures. Kell\ is head of the Atomic Energy Commission division of peaceful nuclear explosives.A well drilled into the cavity several months after the explosion was used until last November to draw gas from the cavity.Production was compared with conventional gas wells in the area. The well now is shut off for a long-term study of pressure buildup.‘‘Production tests of the chimney well in the summer of 1968 and during the last 12 months have resulted in a cumulative production of 213 million cubic feet of hydrocarbons,” a recent report ‘-aid. ‘‘Gas recovery in 20 years is estimated to be 900 million cubic feet, which would be an increase bv a factor of at least five over estimated recovery from convention field wells in this area.”The area near Dulce was chosen for (iasbuggy because gas trapped m the Picture Cliffs formation is inaccessible to conventional well drilling methods. Scientists theorized the nuclear explosion would form a cavity and crack gas-bearing rocks, freeing the gas.But (iasbuggy was meant to he only a test, so none of the gas, which is slightly radioactive, will ever be distributed to consumers.Gasbuggy was also the first ( time the government cooperated I w th industry to detonate a nuclear device to study peaceful uses of nuclear explosives.
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Dulce Jicarilla Chieftain
Dulce, New Mexico, US
Mon, Feb 23, 1970
Page 4
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Clipped by
Emily J.
USA 22 Jan 2024
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Dulce Jicarilla Chieftain
