Risk-based monitoring designs for detecting CO₂ leakage through abandoned wellbores: An application of NRAP’s WLAT and DREAM tools

Journal Article · Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.102807· OSTI ID:1614875

Yonkofski, Catherine  ^[1]; Tartakovsky, Guzel D. ^[1]; Huerta, Nicolas J.  ^[2]; Wentworth, Andrew M. ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
2. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)

We report that one suggested approach to managing the risk of geologic CO₂ storage projects is to perform risk-based subsurface monitoring targeting early leak detection. The challenge in risk-based monitoring is that leakage impacts are expected to be small in comparison with the footprint of the stored CO₂ plume and could be at depths ranging from the depth of storage (often ~1 km bgs) up to surficial aquifers. Addressing this challenge requires a multidisciplinary effort capable of characterizing potential subsurface leakage in terms of likelihood, location, magnitude, impacts to overlying aquifers, and uncertainty as well as innovative monitoring technology design and implementation. The National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) was established to develop related risk assessment tools to provide guidance on such assessments. Here we demonstrate the application workflow of two of the NRAP computational tools, WLAT (Wellbore Leakage Analysis Tool) and DREAM (Designs for Risk Evaluation and Management), to a hypothetical CO₂ storage site based on a study area in the Midwestern United States. This workflow shows how CO₂ leakage may be estimated, evaluated, and monitored in terms of risk. Results provide guidance on monitoring configurations and technologies which minimize the time to leak detection, maximize the probability detection, and provide cost considerations.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1614875
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1570497
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-140291
• Journal Information: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 91, Issue C; ISSN 1750-5836
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
NRAP
CO2 storage
risk-based monitoring
risk assessment
DREAM