RADIOACTIVITY IN MARCELLUS SHALE HYDRAULIC
FRACKING WASTE. IS THERE A RISK TO HUMAN
HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT?
https://sites.google.com/site/metropolitanforensics/radioactivity-in-marcellus-shale-hydraulic-fracking-waste-is-there-a-risk-to-human-health-and-the-environment
It
has been known for a very long time that the Marcellus Shale has some very high
levels of radioactivity and that the waste byproducts needed to be handled
safely and properly. Unfortunately, not
much precaution has been taken in the various states where oil & gas
exploration has been occurring for many years now. The biggest mistake, in our view, was to use
the brine water from fracking operations to perform de-icing on the roads, to
fail to perform a radiological exposure monitoring, to send the wastewater
laden with radioactivity to the local wastewater treatment plants, and to fail
to take precautions regarding the disposal of the miscellaneous waste produced
during waste water handling and/or treatment.
Thank
god the practice of using the brine water for deicing was recently stopped due
to efforts from private citizens, pending studies. The PA DEP has also instructed the various
wastewater treatment plants not to accept fracking wastewater for treatment,
but the damage may have already been done in some locations where more than 200-times
the background levels of radioactivity have been detected by Duke University
researchers.
Based on data collected by
New York State, private firms like us and other investigators, have forced even
the State of Pennsylvania to conduct studies on the risk to human health and
the environment posed by fracking waste produced in the Marcellus Shale. Results of the NYS DEC’s initial Naturally
Occurring Radioactive Materials
(NORM) analysis of Marcellus brine produced in New York showed that the US
EPA’s drinking water standards were exceeded by 1,000-fold or so. For example, at a fracking well in Steuben
County the Gross Alpha radiation was measured at almost 18,000 pCi/L, while the
federal MCL is 15 pCi/L. In addition,
while the combined Radium 226 and Radium 228 MCL is 5 pC/L; for the same
fracking well in Steuben County, the test results showed a result of 3,300
pC/L. These samples were collected in
late 2008 and 2009 from vertical gas wells in the Marcellus formation.
It is very crucial to note
that the test results do not include measurements for radon gas which is
responsible for much of the risk posed to human health, mostly indoors. Radon gas has been detected inside people’s
homes at levels exceeding the US EPA recommended levels by several-fold. For example, in Lycoming County,
Pennsylvania, the average
indoor radon levels is 13.2 pCi/L, while the average national indoor radon
level is 1.3 pCi/L. The US EPA has
stated that there is a need to remedy the problem as soon as possible when the
radon level is 4 pCi/L or more.
The
data accumulated to date indicate the need to collect additional samples of production
brine to assess the need for mitigation and to require appropriate handling and
treatment options, including possible radioactive materials licensing. The NYSDOH will require the well operator to
obtain a radioactive materials license for the facility when exposure rate measurements
associated with scale accumulation in or on piping, drilling and brine storage equipment
exceed 50 microR/hr (μR/hr). A license
may be required for facilities that will concentrate NORM during pre-treatment
or treatment of brine.
Mobilization of Radioactive Elements during Oil and Gas Production
Analysis of
oil and gas from many different wells has shown that the long-lived uranium and
thorium isotopes are not mobilized from the rock formations that contain them. However Ra-226, Ra-224, Ra-228 and Pb-210 are
mobilized, and appear mainly in the water co-produced during oil and gas
extraction. These isotopes and their
radioactive progeny can then precipitate out of solution, along with sulphate
and carbonate deposits as scale or sludge in pipes and related equipment. Radon-222 (i.e., the radon gas) is the
immediate decay product of Radium-226 and preferentially follows gas lines. It has a half-life of just 3.5 hours and it
decays through several rapid steps to Pb-210 which can therefore build up as a
thin film in gas extraction equipment.
Another area of accumulation of highly radioactive waste is in the
filter socks being used by the treatment contractors and the treatment
sludge. Some of the radioactivity
results are 10,000-fold greater than background.
As is
reported by the World Nuclear Association, the level of reported radioactivity
varies significantly, depending on the radioactivity of the reservoir rock and
the salinity of the water co-produced from the well. The higher the salinity the more NORM is
likely to be mobilized. Since salinity
often increase with the age of a well, old wells tend to exhibit higher NORM levels
than younger ones.
Table 1
gives the characteristics of NORM produced during oil and gas extraction and
some indicative measurements of concentrations.
Table 1: NORM in oil and gas production
|
Radionuclide
|
Natural
gas Bq/m3
|
Produced
water Bq/L
|
Hard scale
Bq/kg
|
Sludge
Bq/kg
|
|
U-238 |
|
trace |
1 - 500 |
5 - 10 |
|
Ra-226 |
|
0.002 - 1200 |
100 - 15 million |
50 - 800,000 |
|
Po-210 |
0.002 - 0.08 |
|
20 - 1500 |
4 - 160,000 |
|
Pb-210 |
0.005 - 0.02 |
0.05 - 190 |
20 - 75,000 |
10 - 1.3 million |
|
Rn-222 |
5 - 200,000 |
|
|
|
|
Th-232 |
|
trace |
1 - 2 |
2 - 10 |
|
Ra-228 |
|
0.3 - 180 |
50 - 2.8 million |
500 - 50,000 |
|
Ra-224 |
|
0.05 - 40 |
|
|
Source: IAEA 2003, Safety Report Series 34.
If the scale
has an activity of 30,000 Bq/kg it is 'contaminated', according to country
regulations. This means that for Ra-226
scale (decay series of 9 progeny) the level of Ra-226 itself is 3300 Bq/kg. For Pb-210 scale (decay series of 3) the level
is 10,000 Bq/kg. These figures refer to
the scale, not the overall mass of pipes or other material.
Fracking
(hydraulic fracturing) for gas production releases significant NORM in some
geological environments, both in drill cuttings, treatment sludge, treatment
equipment (such as filter socks) and water. In the US Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania, New
York and West Virginia (a black shale) typically activity is about 370 Bq/kg
including high levels of radium-226, giving up to 625 Bq/L in brine and up to
66 Bq/L in other water returned to the surface. USGS figures for brine are reported as 377
Bq/L Ra-226 and 46 Bq/L for Ra-228. Other
reports related wastewater here to drinking water standard (0.0185 Bq/L) and
said it was 300 times US NRC limits for industrial wastewater discharge.
NORM in the
oil and gas industry poses a problem to workers particularly during
maintenance, waste transport and processing, and decommissioning. In particular Pb-210 deposits and films, as a
beta emitter, is only a concern when pipe internals become exposed. Internal
exposures can be minimized by hygiene practices.
What
are EPA’s drinking water regulations for radionuclides?
In 1974, Congress passed
the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law requires EPA to determine the level of
contaminants in drinking water at which no adverse health effects are likely to
occur. These non-enforceable health goals, based solely on possible health
risks and exposure over a lifetime with an adequate margin of safety, are called
maximum contaminant level goals (MCLG). Contaminants are any physical,
chemical, biological or radiological substances or matter in water.
EPA sets the enforceable
regulation, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL), as close to the health
goals (the MCLG) as possible, considering cost, benefits and the ability of
public water systems to detect and remove contaminants using suitable treatment
technologies.
|
The
regulations for radionuclides are in the table below.
|
||
|
Radionuclides
|
MCLG
|
MCL
|
|
(Adjusted)
Gross Alpha Emitters
|
Zero
|
15
picoCuries per liter
|
|
Beta
Particle and Photon Radioactivity
|
Zero
|
4
millirems per year
|
|
Radium
226 and Radium 228 (Combined)
|
Zero
|
5
picoCuries per liter
|
|
Uranium
|
Zero
|
30
micrograms per liter
|
The
Pennsylvania DEP Radioactivity Study
After
several years of denying that radioactivity in the Marcellus Shale poses any
significant risk to human health and the environment, the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) decided in January 2013 to test
the waste products from natural gas production for radioactivity. In addition to analyzing wastewater from
hydraulic fracking, the study also will analyze radioactivity in drill
cuttings, drilling mud, drilling equipment, treatment solids and sediments at
well pads, wastewater treatment and disposal facilities and landfill leachate,
among others.
The study
also will test radiation levels for the equipment involved in the
transportation, storage and disposal of drilling wastes. PADEP will focus on the quantity of
“naturally occurring radioactive materials” (NORM) and ”technologically
enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material” (TENORM). NORM can become TENORM when materials are
mixed together, moved, or otherwise changed.
The
study will examine seven areas:
- ambient air
- drill cuttings
- natural gas
- natural gas processing pipes and equipment
- waste water generated from drilling sites
- sludge resulting from the processing of waste water from the well pad development process
- landfill leachate
Among the substances to be tested
for are Radium-226, Radium-228, Uranium-238, Uranium-235, Uranium-234,
Thorium-232, Radon-220 and Radon-222 (radon gas). The report should be released by the end of
this year.
Shales, like the Marcellus, Barnett, and
Utica, were all deposited in basins millions of years ago
Radioactivity is typically
elevated in shale relative to other rock types and the Marcellus Shale is
especially enriched. Drilling and
production of shale has the ability to mobilize radioactivity towards the
surface where it could either concentrate or infiltrate aquifers. Shales
currently undergoing natural gas extraction - like the Marcellus, Barnett, and
Utica - were all deposited in basins millions of years ago (about 390 million
years ago is the current estimate).
Basins were geographical low points on continents flooded by marine
water when the seas rose. Imagine the
entire Marcellus Shale in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and
Kentucky being the bottom of an ancient sea, filled with marine life (both
plants and animals). When these ancient living
organisms died, they decomposed and became buried under fine sediments.
The ancient seas then receded. The
high temperatures and pressures then created the oil and gas from this ancient
marine life.
During the millions of
years that passed, the dead plants and animals slowly decomposed into organic
materials and formed fossil fuels. Different
types of fossil fuels were formed depending on what combination of animal and
plant debris was present, how long the material was buried, and what conditions
of temperature and pressure existed when they were decomposing.
For
example, oil and natural gas were created from organisms that lived in the
water and were buried under ocean or river sediments. Long after the great
prehistoric seas and rivers vanished, heat, pressure and bacteria combined to
compress and "cook" the organic material under layers of silt. In
most areas, a thick liquid called oil formed first, but in deeper, hot regions
underground, the cooking process continued until natural gas was formed. Over time, some of this oil and natural gas
began working its way upward through the earth's crust until they ran into rock
formations called "caprocks" that are dense enough to prevent them from
seeping to the surface. It is from under
these caprocks that most oil and natural gas used to be produced today, until
the price of natural gas rose and the oil & gas industry found it
economical to use the fracturing technology to extract oil and gas from shales.
Did you know that coal was formed from the dead remains of trees,
ferns and other plants that lived 300 to 400 million years ago? About ten
feet of prehistoric plant debris was needed to make one foot of coal?
______________________________________________________________________________
Because of
their similar geologic origins, certain generalizations can be made of these
gas-bearing shales; they are all made of fine sedimentary particles and organic
matter, have concentrated amounts of brine water (sodium chloride and other
dissolved chemicals), have naturally-occurring radioactive materials trapped
within them, and have low permeability.
The
following schematic illustrates how the radioactivity in shales increased over
time. Since the Marcellus shale, for
example, has high organic content (that gives the shale its black color)
ranging from 2 to 14 percent or so, the radioactive particles will also be
adsorbed by the shale, in addition to the particles precipitating on the
shale. These two mechanisms explain the
significant radioactivity of the Marcellus shale. Disturbing these shale deposits and bringing
them to the surface or bringing the associated gas to the surface, will create
additional exposure to radioactive material during drilling, wastewater
treatment, waste handling, gas storage and transmission, and so on. Some of the radioactivity measurements that
have been reported by others and also measured by us indicate that caution is
required while a monitoring program is developed. Thus, the concern of the citizens is real and
must be addressed by the oil & gas industry and the responsible government
units.
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