The Resourceful Atom: Project Gasbuggydocuments a

[Music] la [Music] [Applause] la [Music] natural gas flowing from this well in a field in New Mexico may be used tonight on the west coast to cook the evening meal natural gas may find its way to homes and Industry in the east from a well in Texas today one third of the energy consumed in this country comes from this natural resource produced in abundance in only certain areas of the United States pipelines extend from border to border to homes business and industry now consuming natural gas at a rate 20 times greater than 50 years ago ever increasing use of this product so vital to our economy has brought continued attention to its reserves and to adjoining reservoirs where gas recovery has previously been judged difficult natural gas is brought to the surface by Wells drilled thousands of feet down into the Earth's crust tapping ancient layers of rock in which marine life has been buried for millions of years natural gas is usually under great pressure which forces it out to the well boore through interconnecting cracks crevices and microscopic pores extending throughout the reservoir rock this characteristic in the rock formation typical of easily tapped reservoirs is called high permeability low permeability reservoirs in which the rock formations are tightly compacted create production problems at the microscopic level the gas is trapped within the pores of the rock cemented in by Clay or other materials which keep the gas from flowing out of the reservoir at a rate permitting efficient production in years past efforts have been made to fracture tight Sandstone reservoirs increasing their permeability by shooting the wells with nitroglycerin a more popular approach has been to force open cracks and fractures with liquids mixed with sand to prop open the resulting fissures but even this system has not been entirely satisfactory a search for a better method indicated the feasibility of loosening up tight Reservoir rock with the explosive power of the atom a source of immense energy already tested in more than 220 5 successful underground demonstrations in the United States here certainly was a tool to do the job it was this approach to the problem that led in January 1967 to a joint experimental program by the atomic energy commission the department of the interior and El Paso natural gas company an industry leader in the field of natural gas the site chosen for the test was this plateau in Northwestern New Mexico Federal Forest lands where the gas rights were already leased by El Paso natural 55 air miles east of the city of Farmington adjacent to the reservation of the hicoria Apaches the site provided ideal test conditions with tight Reservoir rock deep enough to contain the explosion cost of the program including several supplemental experiments would be shared proportionately by the participants the project Plan called for initial test drilling by El Paso natural the atomic energy commission to have the ultimate nuclear responsibility and the safety program the Bureau of Mines to evaluate the gas Reservoir performance prior to and following the test shot the technical Direction and the nuclear explosive design were to be the responsibility of the aec's Lawrence radiation laboratory at Livermore operated by the University of California the program also brought into Cooperative participation services and background knowledge of a number of other federal agencies and private organizations the project was examined from a public safety Viewpoint by nationally recognized experts in such Fields as radiation and geophysics and all weather access road to the site was built by the state of New Mexico barely 2 weeks after the contracts were signed drilling began on the first of two test holes to thoroughly evaluate and analyze pre-shot characteristics and productivity of the reservoir Rock and to determine placement of the explosive 3/4 of a mile below the surface core samples cut out of the rock below with diamond drills were flown to the Bureau of Mines laboratory at Bartlesville Oklahoma to assure suitability of the reservoir for the test additional analysis was conducted at the Lawrence radiation laboratory in California and at a commercial facility in Farmington gas flow tests were made to establish a basis for comparison with productivity following the test hydrologic tests were conducted to ensure that subsurface water would not be contaminated or impede the gas flow and to obtain additional data a second test hole was drilled some 400 ft from the first these and other field studies showed the project could be conducted safely the primary gas bearing stratum the experimental objective was the 100 milliony old pictured Cliffs formation so named because of Indian drawings found on outcroppings West of the site from this outcrop the formation drops underground to a depth of about 4,000 ft beneath the Mesa where the test site was located an implacement hole for the explosive was drilled down through the overlying strata at approximately 3650 ft the Drillers reached a 150 ft deep layer of ctland shale then cut through the Fruitland formation an interbeded Shale and coal stratum 100 ft thick these two formations would provide an effective safety barrier the drilling continued on through the gas bearing pictured Cliff Sandstone some 300 ft thick to a point in the Lewis Shale formation a total depth of about 4,300 feet here the explosive would be unplaced a nuclear explosive has several advantages over a conventional chemical explosive such as TNT which would require a huge excavation at prohibitive cost to achieve equivalent energy and would still be less effective nuclear explosions occur almost instantaneously their effects measured in thousands of a second a shock wave emanates from the center of the explosion the expanding nucleus of the cavity becomes a bright ball enveloped by melting Rock The Rock in the center turns to Vapor fractures radiate outward the cavity reaches its approximate maximum diameter 150 ft by the time the shock wave rebounds from the surface all occurring in less than 1 second shortly after melted rock begins running down the sides to form a puddle at the bottom Cooling and diminished pressures within the cavity caused the sphere to begin falling in upon itself the eventual result in gas buggy to produce a chimney shaped Loosely filled column of broken rock extending through the gas bearing formation the principal fracturing was expected to reach 425 ft from the point of detonation scientists hope the resulting cracking would increase gas blow through the immediate area by as much as seven times he just go out and hold it there the implacement hole was completed and ready for the canister in [Music] November data collecting instrumentation extended from the nearby test holes to remote monitoring stations around the site [Applause] [Applause] the canister was half filled with instruments and weighed 10 tons come with a do it was lowered into the hole with sections of Steel pipe which were later sealed with sand and concrete after the canister was in place they would later be drilled out to reach the chimney the nuclear device was detonated on December 10th visitors gathered at a point about 6 miles from the site assembled initially in a huge tent set up for the occasion they were briefed on the experiment by attending dignitaries and project officials this was to be no awesome spectacle however the fireworks were more than 34 of a mile down in the ground 15 seconds 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 zero time gas buggy while initial data gathered following the shot indicated that the test had proceeded as expected the shot itself represented only one step in the experiment back back scientists obtained some information almost [Music] immediately 4 days days later they were drilling back down through the cantan sandfill pipe toward the chimney to measure radioactivity gas flow and pressure they reached the chimney 397 ft below the surface on January 10th 1968 new test holes will be drilled to determine the extent of fracturing and flow characteristics throughout the reservoir long range studies to evaluate production characteristics of existing wells in the test area will be conducted by Al Paso natural gas and the Bureau of Mines meanwhile tests already underway indicate that project gas buggy may prove to be one of the truly significant advancements in the petroleum [Music] industry with ever increasing demands for natural gas and Rising costs associated with exploration for new sources the economical use of known previously hard toap reservoirs May substantially increase the world's access to this important resource thus project gas buggy takes its place among the major Milestones of the atomic energy commission's continuing search for new domestic and Commercial uses of the atom putting to work the greatest source of energy known in the universe to benefit mankind the [Music] oh [Music]