Saturday, July 27, 2013

Halliburton/Schlumberger Radiation Roundup

Shaped Charges for use in Fracking Perf Guns
Contains Some of the Highest Explosives ever invented by mankind
(HMX, RDX, HNS, PETN, TATB, PBX, etc) and tipped with metals, inc. Depleted Uranium
These are mostly random notes on the subject.

Apparently one can get a permit from NRC
to handle DU
(or other radiation sources like cesium, used in well logging) for industrial applications. For a DU permit, just
fill out a
NRC form 244.

Halliburton has several such licenses.
Depleted Uranium is a by-product (waste) of uranium enrichment for fuel for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. It is only weakly radioactive, but has a very long half life, between 700M years and 4.5B years.
The US has 700,000 tons of Depleted Uranium in storage.
To get a sense of scale, a 100 car train is about 1 mile long.
Each car can typically carry 100 tons. So 100 cars is 10k tons.
So there is enough waste DU in the us to fill  a train 70 miles long.

For nuclear fuel or bombs, Yellow cake Uranium is processed into
Enriched UF6 (for fuel), and Depleted UF6 (waste).

UF6 is highly toxic, and must be converted into a more stable

Low level nuclear waste and high-level waste is an ongoing problem in the US. The Hanford site in Washington State is leaking high-level waste at the rate of 300 gal/year:
The proposed Yucca Mountain site for high-level waste was abandoned in 2010 after fierce resistance for 20 years.
The film "My Name is Allegany County" documents  the resistance movement against the citing of a low-level nuclear waste disposal facility in New York State: 



I have located at least 3 patents on using DU in fracking Perf Guns.
  • 2006/0266551 -- Schlumberger
  • 2007/0240599 -- Owen Oil Tools
  • 2011/0000669 -- Halliburton
UPDATE 8-20-2013 Well,I was off by a little. Turns out there are more than 3. There are more like 122 189 patents


NRC has turned down certain FOIA requests
relating to certain Halliburton permits.


NRC and Halliburton were discussing consolidation
of Radiation Handling licenses. The one's I've read about
would not be allow DU.  See: FOIA/PA-2012-0005A

In this docket, there is discussion between Halliburton and NRC
about consolidation of permits. Halliburton politely asks that
that Welex Division, a/k/a, Welex Jet Services, Inc, NOT be
consolidated, without giving any reason.
  • Welex is in the wireline/perf-gun business.
  • Huh. 

"Explosive pressure on the metal liner causes it to collapse inwardly, along its axis forming a high-velocity jet of fluidized metal. Moving at a velocity of 25,000 ft/sec and with a pressure of 15 million lbs/sq. in., the jet displaces the casing, cement, and formation." @0:38

Radiation Overexposure? -- Naah. Just a big mistake.

In Aug of 2008, a well-logging engineer working for Halliburton in Prudhoe Bay AK received notice that he had received a radiation dose in 3 mos. (Apr-Jun) which was nearly 2x the legal limit FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. This gained the attention of Halliburton's Radiation Safety Officer, who had just replaced the previous RSO, who was recently terminated. The new RSO reported this to NRC.

Halliburton then performed an internal review, and discovered (surprise!) that in fact it was all just a big misunderstanding, that no exposure occurred in excess of legal limits. They then asked the report be modified to reflect this "truth".

Whew. At least no one got hurt. :^/

DU weapons LEGAL to possess in New York,
depending on your mental state.

WEIRD: According to NY Penal Law: It is perfectly LEGAL to possess depleted uranium munitions in the United States, as long as you do not possess the INTENT to use them unlawfully against another. So, Scout's Honor, do you promise to play nice with your DU munitions?

http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article265.htm?zoom_highlight=uranium


Earliest Concerns for DU in fracking perf guns which I've found, from 2007:

Remember, Halliburton was a big player in developing the
use of Weaponized Depleted Uranium.

Why? Because a major side business of Halliburton is waste disposal:
Let me repeat that:
A major side business of Halliburton
is waste disposal.


Suddenly, many mysteries of fracking begin to make sense:

A fellow named Russell Donnelly has been telling me for about a year
there is a secret motivation for fracking shale besides getting gas:
Industrial Waste disposal. Every fracked well really also functions
as an injection (waste disposal) well.

With this theory, suddenly many things make sense.
Halliburton's secrecy with regards to fracking fluid composition,
for example.

Also suddenly this map makes sense:

Inline image 1
  • Why would they frack so many wells only 1 in 10 are profitable? 
  • Where are all those specialty chemicals coming from?
  • What are the energy inputs? What is the net energy of fracked gas? (EROEI)
  • At what cost for 80-100 tons of specialized chemicals per frack?
  • There are only 2 corporations involved in fracking. There is no competition.
    So why all the secrecy around the "secret sauce"?

C. E. Neuzil, of the U.S. Geological Survey (Reston, Va) wrote a paper about storing low-level nuclear waste in shale deposits:
WEIRD:  A Boeing 727 being scrapped at the Opa Locka airport in Florida turns up with a 55 gal drum of DU.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/uranium-opa-locka-airport_n_3653763.html

Here is the plane:
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N410BN&distinct_entry=true

This plane was formerly owned by Cybergate-Nevada LLC, a defunct internet company, a Florida corporation, with a presence in Hearndon VA.  Principals were: Pat Guadagmo, George F. Schmitt

HEY all you Internet Researchers and Dot-Connectors-- I will by you a really nice vegetarian meal at an upscale restaurant using NY-raised frack-free produce if you can connect Cybergate/Guadagmo/George F. Schmitt to fracking...


Birth Defects  due to the use of DU Munitions in Fallujah Iraq are "worse than Hiroshima".

DU is dangerous in munitions when it is burned, turned into a fine powder, and aerosolized.

The same potential exists when DU is used in Fracking Perf Guns, since the first gas this is produced is almost always vented or flared.

I have submitted a FOIA request with the NRC for more information about the use of DU in the Oil and Gas industry.

I know of no health studies which have looked at health impacts of DU in Fracking Perf Guns.

I suspect the use of DU in fracking perf guns in Tioga County PA, Bradford County PA, and Susquehanna County PA is widespread, since it is an ideal material for this application.

The Southern Tier of NY is downstream (air currents) from NE PA.

UPDATE: Finally, one mainstream source is reporting on this!
http://rt.com/op-edge/fracking-radioactive-uranium-danger-ecology-057/

--
May you and all beings be happy
and free from suffering :)
-- ancient Buddhist Prayer (Metta)

2 comments:

Nanowire1 said...

Bill, thank you for this information. I worked for 15 years at the Hanford Site where we investigated the complex biogeochemical reactions that controls the fate and transport of heavy metals and radionuclides, including uranium, technetium and plutonium. Low level mixed radioactive wastes were the most problematic, due to the combination of heavy metals, radionuclides and toxic organics. Sounds a lot like frack wastes, doesn't it?

Unknown said...

Brilliant - cant thank you enough for all this research. Will be using for a frack Inquiry being conducted in NT Australia