Project Rio Blanco - Part I: Nuclear operations and chimney re-entry

Rio Blanco was the third experiment in the USAEC's Plowshare Program to develop technology to stimulate gas production from geologic formations not conducive to production by conventional means. The project was sponsored by CER Geonuclear Corporation with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory providing the explosives and several technical programmes, such as spall measurement. Three nuclear explosives, specifically designed for this application, were detonated simultaneously in a minimum-diameter emplacement well using many commercially available components of established reliability. The explosive system performed properly under extreme temperature and pressure conditions. Emplacement and stemming operations were designed with the aim of simplifying both the emplacement and re-entry, and fully containing the detonation products. An integrated command and control system was used with communication to all three explosives through a single coaxial cable. Re-entry and the initial production testing have been completed. To date 98 million cubic feet at STP (2.78 x 106m3 (STP)) of chimney gas have been produced. (author)