民間防衛>米国動画・音声
天然ガス田開発実験 Project Rulison (1969)
核爆発の平和利用実験Plowshare Programの一部として、3回の天然ガス田開発実験が行われた。その第2回が、コロラド州Garfield郡Grand Valley近くで行われたProject Rulisonである。
このときの解説動画がこれである。ただし、爆発のシーンは映っていない。
Transcript
0:14 Some six miles from this tiny western Colorado town, a unique experiment will be conducted by a joint industry and government team
0:22 A nuclear explosive equal to forty thousand tons of TNT will be used to shake loose a great natural gas reserve locked tightly in formation called Mesa Verde
0:33 The experiment is called project RULISON, part of the Atomic Energy Commission how's your program, to develop peaceful applications for nuclear explosives.
0:43 Its purpose is to gather data on the feasibility of using nuclear stimulation techniques to develop commercially a natural gas bearing field in a low permeability formation.
0:54 The experiment will be conducted on bedrock Mesa under lands leased by the Austral Oil Company of Houston, Texas.
1:07 A portion of these lands is publicly owned.
1:20 Part of the Mesa Verde formation is visible here near Grand Junction Colorado, about forty air miles from surface Ground Zero.
1:28 This is what the formation looks like at Ground Zero under the pressure some 8500 feet deposition of Mesa formations
1:38 The gray sections are Mesaverde sandstone, and black portions are shale, which sandwich the sandstone and thus entrap the natural gas.
1:47 The conventional way to release such entraped gas is to break up the formation by shot with nitroglycerin.
1:56 Or to open fractures with liquid under pressure
1:59 The Atomic Energy Commission believes a nuclear explosive will prove far cheaper and a great deal more efficient .
2:10 Austral oil company is betting on it.
2:13 The project was proposed by Austral and the nuclear engineering consulting firm a CER Geonuclear corporation at Las Vegas, Nevada.
2:22 The cost of the program is estimated at 6.5 million dollars of which 10 percent is borne by the government and the rest by Austral in a carefully calculated investment
2:35 At stake is an estimated 110 billion cubic feet of gas per section in place at the experiment site.
2:41 If the Rulison in test shows this gas can be extracted at a profit, it will open the way to recovery a vast gas resources not now accessible.
2:52 Eight trillion cubic feet in the Mesaverde formation alone.
2:56 In addition to the atomic energy commission, the government is also represented by the Bureau of Mines at the Department of the Interior, which is concerned with development and use all domestic natural resources.
3:10 And the AEC's Los Alamos scientific laboratory, at the University of California which developed the world's first atomic and thermonuclear explosives.
3:22 This is the control point from which the nuclear explosive will be fired.
3:26 Surface Ground Zero is about three miles south of here, an area forested mostly by aspen
3:35 Appreciate exploratory test well was drilled only a short distance from surface Ground Zero, to evaluate the normal production of the gas formation at Ground Zero, before nuclear stimulation
3:46 Another major purpose and drilling this pre-shot well was to determine the nature of the underground water table, if any in the area
3:56 The conclusion is that there is no full water or supply that could be harmfully disturbed by the detonation
4:03 This is a cross-section of the RULISON field
4:08 Destination point is about 8500 feet beneath the surface Ground Zero.
4:15 This is how the device is expected to stimulate gas production in the RULISON field
4:19 The energy released by the nuclear explosion will melt and vaporize nearby rock and will fracture the rock beyond to a diameter of about seven hundred forty feet
4:31 A spherical cavity about 160 feet in diameter will be created in about one tenth of a second or in about the time the shockwave rebounds from the surface.
4:47 As the cavity cools, the vaporized and melted rock will collect in a puddle at the bottom, and most of the radioactivity will entraped here, as it solidifies.
4:57 Sometime after the explosion, the room for the cavity will collapse progressively upward, forming a chimney a broken rock to a height of about 370 feet above the point of detonation.
5:08 Government experts say the fractures beyond the cavity area are expected to provide flow channels for some of the gas trapped in the surrounding rock.
5:17 The chimney will act as a chamber where the gas will collect, to be drawn off through a well-drilled back into the chimney.
5:25 Rulison test should prove the how's your contention that there are two good reasons to favor nuclear over conventional explosives economy and efficiency.
5:41 In this small package is the energy equivalent to 40,000 tons of TNT.
5:45 Nitroglycerin might possibly be able to do the same job, as the explosive is expected to do, but nineteen million qt would be required
5:57 That will occupy volume of 100,000 times the size of this nuclear explosive.
6:02 The cost would be prohibitive.
6:05 Perhaps ten times the amount of money spent by Austral Oil company in this experiment.
6:10 And a safety problems ####
6:16 For RULISON the Los Alamos scientific laboratory modifies its nuclear device from a system tested in Nevada.
6:25 Dug at the 8500 feet placement hole, is a well developed techniques perfected at AEC's Nevada Test Site
6:34 By alternating layers of coarse and fine sands underground containing gas, to develop during the nuclear explosion can be assured
6:49 The device will be set of 2.6 miles from surface Ground Zero.
6:53 The rule in control room is comparatively simple, because the performance of the explosive is known and therefore few measurements are required.
7:04 When the event occurs, the countdown will sound just like this one
7:10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Fire
当時の報道
数回にわたり、数日間延期されてから1969年9月10日にRulison実験が行われた。
天然ガス田開発実験 Project Rulison (1969) 
核爆発の平和利用実験Plowshare Programの一部として、3回の天然ガス田開発実験が行われた。その第2回が、コロラド州Garfield郡Grand Valley近くで行われたProject Rulisonである。
コロラド州のコミュニティの名前Rulisonから命名された、Project Rulisonは、コロラド州Garfield郡の町Grand Valley（現在はコロラド州Parachute)の南東13kmで、1969年9月10日に実施された、米国の40ktの地下核実験である。地表グラウンドゼロは39°24′19.0″N 107°56′54.7″Wである。実験空洞は地下約2500メートル。Mandrel Rulisonから命名されたOperation Mandrelの核実験シリーズの一部であり、核爆発の平和利用を探求するOperation Plowshareの一部である。Project Rulisonの平和目的は、地下から天然ガスを容易に解放できるかを調べることだった。実験地は米国エネルギー省遺産管理局のモニタリング対象となっている。それなりに、天然ガスが放射性物質に汚染されたため、実用にはならなかった。
大量の天然ガスを解放するという点で実験は成功だった。しかし、生成された放射性物質が天然ガス中に残留し、家庭での調理や暖房には使えなかった。核爆発による解放された天然ガス利用による放射線被曝は、背景放射線の1%以下と予測されていたが、1970年代には、どれだけ少量であっても放射性物質が混入した製品を利用することを人々に認めさせることは、不可能ではないにしても、非常に困難なことになっていた。 ~^
エネルギー省は実験地の除染を1970年代に開始し、1998年に完了した。コロラド州が設定した緩衝地帯は今も残っている。エネルギー省の2005年の報告によれば、地表及び地下水の放射線レベルは通常レベルだった。2007年の報告では、地下汚染及び実験地からの放射性物質の拡散について、さらなら調査が必要となっていた。
2005年6月に、テキサス州ヒューストンのPresco社が、最大4つの天然ガス井戸を緩衝地帯で掘削しようとした。Garfield郡は井戸1本の掘削を認可したが、さらなる計画が明らかになるまで、井戸開発支援を停止した。
これはPlowshareの3回の天然ガス開発実験の2回目である。これ以外の実験は、Project GasbuggyとProject Rio Blancoである。
[ [[wikipedia: Project Rulison>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Rulison] ]
このときの解説動画がこれである。ただし、爆発のシーンは映っていない。
Transcript
0:14 Some six miles from this tiny western Colorado town, a unique experiment will be conducted by a joint industry and government team
0:22 A nuclear explosive equal to forty thousand tons of TNT will be used to shake loose a great natural gas reserve locked tightly in formation called Mesa Verde
0:33 The experiment is called project RULISON, part of the Atomic Energy Commission how's your program, to develop peaceful applications for nuclear explosives.
0:43 Its purpose is to gather data on the feasibility of using nuclear stimulation techniques to develop commercially a natural gas bearing field in a low permeability formation.
0:54 The experiment will be conducted on bedrock Mesa under lands leased by the Austral Oil Company of Houston, Texas.
1:07 A portion of these lands is publicly owned.
1:20 Part of the Mesa Verde formation is visible here near Grand Junction Colorado, about forty air miles from surface Ground Zero.
1:28 This is what the formation looks like at Ground Zero under the pressure some 8500 feet deposition of Mesa formations
1:38 The gray sections are Mesaverde sandstone, and black portions are shale, which sandwich the sandstone and thus entrap the natural gas.
1:47 The conventional way to release such entraped gas is to break up the formation by shot with nitroglycerin.
1:56 Or to open fractures with liquid under pressure
1:59 The Atomic Energy Commission believes a nuclear explosive will prove far cheaper and a great deal more efficient .
2:10 Austral oil company is betting on it.
2:13 The project was proposed by Austral and the nuclear engineering consulting firm a CER Geonuclear corporation at Las Vegas, Nevada.
2:22 The cost of the program is estimated at 6.5 million dollars of which 10 percent is borne by the government and the rest by Austral in a carefully calculated investment
2:35 At stake is an estimated 110 billion cubic feet of gas per section in place at the experiment site.
2:41 If the Rulison in test shows this gas can be extracted at a profit, it will open the way to recovery a vast gas resources not now accessible.
2:52 Eight trillion cubic feet in the Mesaverde formation alone.
2:56 In addition to the atomic energy commission, the government is also represented by the Bureau of Mines at the Department of the Interior, which is concerned with development and use all domestic natural resources.
3:10 And the AEC's Los Alamos scientific laboratory, at the University of California which developed the world's first atomic and thermonuclear explosives.
3:22 This is the control point from which the nuclear explosive will be fired.
3:26 Surface Ground Zero is about three miles south of here, an area forested mostly by aspen
3:35 Appreciate exploratory test well was drilled only a short distance from surface Ground Zero, to evaluate the normal production of the gas formation at Ground Zero, before nuclear stimulation
3:46 Another major purpose and drilling this pre-shot well was to determine the nature of the underground water table, if any in the area
3:56 The conclusion is that there is no full water or supply that could be harmfully disturbed by the detonation
4:03 This is a cross-section of the RULISON field
4:08 Destination point is about 8500 feet beneath the surface Ground Zero.
4:15 This is how the device is expected to stimulate gas production in the RULISON field
4:19 The energy released by the nuclear explosion will melt and vaporize nearby rock and will fracture the rock beyond to a diameter of about seven hundred forty feet
4:31 A spherical cavity about 160 feet in diameter will be created in about one tenth of a second or in about the time the shockwave rebounds from the surface.
4:47 As the cavity cools, the vaporized and melted rock will collect in a puddle at the bottom, and most of the radioactivity will entraped here, as it solidifies.
4:57 Sometime after the explosion, the room for the cavity will collapse progressively upward, forming a chimney a broken rock to a height of about 370 feet above the point of detonation.
5:08 Government experts say the fractures beyond the cavity area are expected to provide flow channels for some of the gas trapped in the surrounding rock.
5:17 The chimney will act as a chamber where the gas will collect, to be drawn off through a well-drilled back into the chimney.
5:25 Rulison test should prove the how's your contention that there are two good reasons to favor nuclear over conventional explosives economy and efficiency.
5:41 In this small package is the energy equivalent to 40,000 tons of TNT.
5:45 Nitroglycerin might possibly be able to do the same job, as the explosive is expected to do, but nineteen million qt would be required
5:57 That will occupy volume of 100,000 times the size of this nuclear explosive.
6:02 The cost would be prohibitive.
6:05 Perhaps ten times the amount of money spent by Austral Oil company in this experiment.
6:10 And a safety problems ####
6:16 For RULISON the Los Alamos scientific laboratory modifies its nuclear device from a system tested in Nevada.
6:25 Dug at the 8500 feet placement hole, is a well developed techniques perfected at AEC's Nevada Test Site
6:34 By alternating layers of coarse and fine sands underground containing gas, to develop during the nuclear explosion can be assured
6:49 The device will be set of 2.6 miles from surface Ground Zero.
6:53 The rule in control room is comparatively simple, because the performance of the explosive is known and therefore few measurements are required.
7:04 When the event occurs, the countdown will sound just like this one
7:10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Fire
当時の報道
数回にわたり、数日間延期されてから1969年9月10日にRulison実験が行われた。
[ AP: "Rulison is Postponed Third Time" (1969/09/05) on Gettysburg Times ]
[ UPI: "Nuclear Test Blast Delayed For 24 Hours" (1969/09/09) on The Times-News ]
[ UPI: "Project Rulison - 4-Year Dream Realized" (1969/09/1) on The Deseret News ]
コメントをかく