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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Milo D. Nordyke
Nuclear Technology | Volume 11 | Number 3 | July 1971 | Pages 303-314
Technical Paper | Nuclear Explosion Engineering / Nuclear Explosive | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30863
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An analysis has been made of the use of multiple nuclear explosives in a single emplacement hole for the stimulation of the production of natural gas from a low permeability gas reservoir. Both simultaneous and sequential firing have been considered. Although the physical effects of simultaneous or sequential firing are difficult to quantitatively predict, it is shown that for an area where the gas deposit is thick (>500 ft) and the maximum yield is limited by seismic considerations, the use of sequential firing is significantly more advantageous from an economic viewpoint. An economic analysis of a specific gas formation was made, assuming the use of sequential explosions for the commercial development of an entire gas field. Assuming a wellhead gas price of 30¢ per 1000 ft3, the internal rate of return on the required investment varied from 13 to 27%, depending on the properties of the reservoir. Before these projections can be realized, a large number of technical and operational problems must be solved.