Termonükleer Petrol

Muammer Çetinçelik

Research Article

Thermonuclear Petroleum

Year 1970, Volume: 13 Issue: 1, 107 - 119, 30.04.1970

Muammer Çetinçelik

Abstract

The rivalry between atomic energy and petroleum is a topical subject which occupies the minds of many. This, however, does not worry petroleum producers at all, because the nuclear energy is always at the service of the oil industry at present. For example: Geophysical prospecting, drilling, acidizing control, pipe-line transportation, radiotracers and also process control techniques common to the refining industry. Since 1957, more than 200 underground nuclear explosions have been detonated by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission for a variety of experimental programs. Each has contributed data useful in developing nuclear techniques for petroleum recovery. Explosive effects have been measured in several rock types to record the benefits (rock fracture and breakage) and the hazards (ground shock and radioactivity), and predictions for future experiments can be made with great confidence. The effects of nuclear explosions desirable for petroleum applications all come from the reaction of rock to the explosive energy. Upon detonation of the explosive, a contained cavity is formed in between 0.1 and 0.3 seconds, and rock fracturing occurs, extending three to five cavity radii from the detonation point. The cavity collapses, usually between a few seconds and a few hours after the explosion. Containment of the underground cavity can be determined by the size of the explosion and its depth required for containment. The first of three tests of nuclear stimulation in gas reservoirs. Project Gasbuggy, was fired in December 1967. Drilling into the nuclear-created cavity is now underway to determine the extent of the radioactivity in the gas and to check the predictions of increased productivity. These data will be useful for on shale applications. Also proposed to the USAEC are projects such as Ketch (an experiment to determine if a nuclear-created cavity could be used for gas storage). Project Bronco, an experiment in in-situ retorting of oil shale is in a state of advanced design and may be executed in 1970. In this 50-kt experiment, the chimney filled with broken rock will be igmited at the top. Downward migration of the heat will retort the shale and about 10⁸ liters of oil will be pumped from the base of the chimney. The first underground nuclear explosion realized at the Nevada Desert, 19th September 1957, 100 km. north of Las Vegas with the encouragement and initiative of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The pioneers of these trials were two American scientists, Dr. Edward Teller and Dr. Willard F. Libby. Now with this purpose in mind, and acting upon a suggestion raised at a meeting of about 250 prominent personalities and technicians of the oil industry and scientists who met at Dallas, Texas, six years ago under the leadership of the USAEC, the U.S. has been trying to produce shale oil from rocks through atomic explosion. The quantity of the oil in those shale rocks is estimated to be about ten times (nearly 250 thousand milion tons) as large as the oil which has been produced from wells since the days of Colonel Drake, and the latest idea in making use of these sources is to apply the atomic energy for this purpose. The specialists have called this type of petroleum to be produced —thanks to the enormous power of the nuclear energy— "Thermonuclear Petroleum". The oil brought up through drilling the ground to-day occupies small pores in the oil-bearing formation like water occupying small cells in a sponge. Oil is a mobile element. It often moves from the places where it comes into being to the well where it either gushes up or is withdrawn with motor pumps. It is assumed that the oil have migrated to the sponge-like cells from the "reservoir strata". The rock petroleum, on the other hand is in those cells which we call "reservoir rocks". Not all such cells, however, contain oil. It is probable that the oil they contained million of years ago subsequently migrated to the reservoir strata. There are extremely rich virgin oil-bearing shales in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming (USA), which are on the surface. Those reserves which contain 150 liters of oil and 70 cubic meters of gas per ton are estimated to be about 250 thousand million tons. Before the petroleum could migrate to the reservoir strata, their covering layers were worn away and the oil-bearing shales were exposed. The difference between reservoir cells and reservoir strata is that the former are of a microscopic size and would not allow the movement of the oil they contain. Consequently, it is impossible to produce that oil through drilling even if the shale rocks are on the surface. The only thing to do is to tear away the rocks using mining methods. Then they can be grinded and oil can be extracted under heat and pressure. This, however, is a costly operation and renders the method uneconomical compared with the more conventional methods. Therefore, such a process in not yet applied on a commercial scale. It will be used only when expenses would be justified, ttie experiments and studies, however, continue both from the technical and economic standpoints. A reserve of this kind was exploited in France some time ago and during the war (1940-1945) rock oil was produced at Norrtorp in Sweden with the initiative of a miner named Ljungstrom. In fact the petroleum extraction installations which the Americans will built at a cost of 30 million Dollars will be based on the patent of the above-mentioned Swedish engineer. Among the areas where such petroleum can be produced are Luxembourg; Greer River (Canada); Autun, Severac-le-Chateau, Creveney (France); Puertollano (Spain), Stanletville (Congo); Fushun (Manchuria); Estonia (Russia); Scotland; Würtemberg (Germany). In the production of petroleum through underground nuclear explosions, use is made of atomic energy like dynamite. It is expected that the cost will be reduced in time through better adjustment of the explosive power. After the explosion, the oil is extracted from the demolished rock pieces. The cost of the petroleum to be obtained with this method will be as low as $ 1.50 per barrel as opposed to $ 3.25 per barrel of petroleum obtained through conventional methods. The shale oil is regarded as the oil reserves of the future at present. However, it is certain that when the rich reserves exploited with wells are exhausted, thermonuclear oil production will, no doubt, start at a large scale. The USAEC and U.S. Bureau of Mines constantly cooperate on the subject of thermonuclear oil production. For the experiments conducted so far, soft and porous shales containing clay have been selected. Now, experiments, will be made on the production of oil from harder shales. $ 1.200.000 of the cost of $ 2.600.000 of the subsequent atomic explosions suggested by the representatives of the world petroleum industry will be paid by the oil companies. The expenses incurred so far for this purpose exceed $ 20 million. According to calculations of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, it will be possible to break and grind 300.000 tons of rock with a nuclear explosion of 10 kilotons. It is also estimated that 15-25 gallons of oil can be extracted from each ton of these rocks. One kilo tone is equivalent to the energy produced by the explosion of a thousand tons of TNT. For example, the energy produced by an underground atomic explosion of 20 kilotons is immensely great. One kilogramme of (Uranium-235) or (Plutonium-239) loses only one gramme of its weight during fission, i.e., breaking. On the other hand, the energy produced is equal to the energy produced by the explosion of 20.000 tons of TNT. Likewise, 230 million kilowatt hours of energy is obtained from the explosion of a normal atomic bomb of 20 kilotons and this equals 30 years working of a dynamo of 100 h.p. day and night. The project "Oil Sand" of the Americans which is included in the ‘’Plowshare" programme, which is for the peaceful use of atomic energy, will be applied in the near future. These projects will be directed by the specialists of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore under the USAEC. Depending upon the nuclear explosives to be used for the production of Thermonuclear Petroleum the cost of the explosion will be about $ 500.000 for one kt (kilotone), $ 750.000 for 10 kt. and 1 million dollars for one megaton, i.e., explosion corresponding to the explosion of a million tons of TNT. According to the project, 15.900.000 liters of petroleum and natural gas will be obtained in such an explosion to be realized in Canada with a charge of 9 kts. In short; atomic energy and petroleum will not compete, but will rather, complement each other in the years ahead. Already there is ample evidence of this complementary relationship and one can confidently say that the Thermonuclear Petroleum to be produces through underground atomic explosions promises great hopes for the future. The potential problems in stimulation of oil and gas and the recovery of oil shale appear to be solvable and it should be possible to harness the energy of the nuclear explosive for peaceful applications in the very near future.

Keywords

Petroleum

References

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