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Title: Compendium of regulatory requirements governing underground injection of drilling waste.

Abstract

Large quantities of waste are produced when oil and gas wells are drilled. The two primary types of drilling wastes include used drilling fluids (commonly referred to as muds), which serve a variety of functions when wells are drilled, and drill cuttings (rock particles ground up by the drill bit). Some oil-based and synthetic-based muds are recycled; other such muds, however, and nearly all water-based muds, are disposed of. Numerous methods are employed to manage drilling wastes, including burial of drilling pit contents, land spreading, thermal processes, bioremediation, treatment and reuse, and several types of injection processes. This report provides a comprehensive compendium of the regulatory requirements governing the injection processes used for disposing of drilling wastes; in particular, for a process referred to in this report as slurry injection. The report consists of a narrative discussion of the regulatory requirements and practices for each of the oil- and gas-producing states, a table summarizing the types of injection processes authorized in each state, and an appendix that contains the text of many of the relevant state regulations and policies. The material included in the report was derived primarily from a review of state regulations and from interviews with state oilmore » and gas regulatory officials.« less

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
Sponsoring Org.:
US Department of Energy (US)
OSTI Identifier:
819454
Report Number(s):
ANL/EA/RP-109055
TRN: US200323%%285
DOE Contract Number:
W-31-109-ENG-38
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 8 Nov 2002
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
03 NATURAL GAS; BIOREMEDIATION; DRILLING; DRILLING FLUIDS; NATURAL GAS WELLS; REGULATIONS; WASTES

Citation Formats

Puder, M. G., Bryson, B., and Veil, J. A.. Compendium of regulatory requirements governing underground injection of drilling waste.. United States: N. p., 2002. Web. doi:10.2172/819454.
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Puder, M. G., Bryson, B., & Veil, J. A.. Compendium of regulatory requirements governing underground injection of drilling waste.. United States. doi:10.2172/819454.
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Puder, M. G., Bryson, B., and Veil, J. A.. Fri . "Compendium of regulatory requirements governing underground injection of drilling waste.". United States. doi:10.2172/819454. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/819454.
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@article{osti_819454,
title = {Compendium of regulatory requirements governing underground injection of drilling waste.},
author = {Puder, M. G. and Bryson, B. and Veil, J. A.},
abstractNote = {Large quantities of waste are produced when oil and gas wells are drilled. The two primary types of drilling wastes include used drilling fluids (commonly referred to as muds), which serve a variety of functions when wells are drilled, and drill cuttings (rock particles ground up by the drill bit). Some oil-based and synthetic-based muds are recycled; other such muds, however, and nearly all water-based muds, are disposed of. Numerous methods are employed to manage drilling wastes, including burial of drilling pit contents, land spreading, thermal processes, bioremediation, treatment and reuse, and several types of injection processes. This report provides a comprehensive compendium of the regulatory requirements governing the injection processes used for disposing of drilling wastes; in particular, for a process referred to in this report as slurry injection. The report consists of a narrative discussion of the regulatory requirements and practices for each of the oil- and gas-producing states, a table summarizing the types of injection processes authorized in each state, and an appendix that contains the text of many of the relevant state regulations and policies. The material included in the report was derived primarily from a review of state regulations and from interviews with state oil and gas regulatory officials.},
doi = {10.2172/819454},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2002},
month = {Fri Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2002}
}
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DOI:  10.2172/819454
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  • ; ;
    This report provides a comprehensive compendium of the regulatory requirements governing the injection processes used for disposing of drilling wastes; in particular, for a process referred to in this report as slurry injection. The report consists of a narrative discussion of the regulatory requirements and practices for each of the oil- and gas-producing states, a table summarizing the types of injection processes authorized in each state, and an appendix that contains the text of many of the relevant state regulations and policies.

  • ;
    This report presents an analysis of the fabrication and field test requirements for a drilling machine that would be applicable to the drilling of large diameter holes for the emplacement of radioactive waste canisters in an underground repository. On the basis of a previous study in 1975 by RE/SPEC Inc. for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, it was concluded that none of the commercially available machines were ideally suited for the desired drilling application, and that it was doubtful whether a machine with the required capabilities would become available as a standard equipment item. The results of the current study,more » as presented herein, provide a definitive basis for selecting the desired specifications, estimating the design, fabrication, and testing costs, and analyzing the cost-benefit characteristics of a custom-designed drilling machine for the emplacement hole drilling task.« less

  • ;
    An analysis of the fabrication and field test requirements for a drilling machine that would be applicable to the drilling of large diameter holes for the emplacement of radioactive waste canisters in an underground repository is presented. On the basis of a previous study in 1975 by RE/SPEC Inc. for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, it was concluded that none of the commercially available machines were ideally suited for the desired drilling application, and that it was doubtful whether a machine with the required capabilities would become available as a standard equipment item. The results of the current study, asmore » presented here, provide a definitive basis for selecting the desired specifications, estimating the design, fabrication, and testing costs, and analyzing the cost-benefit characteristics of a custom-designed drilling machine for the emplacement hole drilling task.« less

  • This report reviews applicable guides, standards, and codes which govern the design, manufacture, selection, installation, and surveillance practices for components and systems important to control room habitability. It covers the fundamental guidance contained in General Design Criteria, Regulatory Guides, and applicable sections of the Standard Review Plan, as well as numerous documents referenced by this guidance. Instances are cited where the present guidance is misleading, contradictory, or vague. In some cases, the problems in the guidance result from inadequate technical bases; in other cases, the problems result from several documents which are not completely consistent. To independently assess the suitabilitymore » of the regulatory guide which covers accidental chlorine releases, a computer program was developed to calculate chlorine concentrations in the control room following chlorine release. Although problems with the assumptions used to develop the guide were found, the conservative nature of the chlorine calculations appears to adequately compensate for these problems.« less

  • Two processes are identified that can influence the quantity of wastes brought to the ground surface when a waste disposal room of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is inadvertently penetrated by an exploratory borehole. The first mechanism is due to the erosion of the borehole wall adjacent to the waste caused by the flowing drilling fluid (mud); a quantitative computational model based upon the flow characteristics of the drilling fluid (laminar or turbulent) and other drilling parameters is developed and example results shown. The second mechanism concerns the motion of the waste and borehole spall caused by the flow ofmore » waste-generated gas to the borehole. Some of the available literature concerning this process is discussed, and a number of elastic and elastic-plastic finite-difference and finite-element calculations are described that confirm the potential importance of this process in directly removing wastes from the repository to the ground surface. Based upon the amount of analysis performed to date, it is concluded that it is not unreasonable to expect that volumes of waste several times greater than that resulting from direct cutting of a gauge borehole could eventually reach the ground surface. No definitive quantitative model for waste removal as a result of the second mechanism is presented; it is concluded that decomposed waste constitutive data must be developed and additional experiments performed to assess further the full significance of this latter mechanism.« less