Exploring for oil with nuclear physics

Mauborgne, Marie-Laure; Allioli, Francoise; Stoller, Ch.; Evans, Mike; Manclossi, M.; Nicoletti, L.

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201714609009

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…A new technique has been prepared in Centrum Výzkumu Řež for the measurement of prompt capture and inelastic gammas coming from neutron interactions. These gammas are essential for safety during reactor operations (worker's protection or radiation damage [1]) or have applications in many areas like element identification in soil [2] and space [3]. Despite its importance, the prompt gamma production in present nuclear data libraries is generally discrepant [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New setup for measurement of prompt gammas from neutron interactions

et al. 2023

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Prompt gamma radiation from neutron interactions is an important issue as it affects the operation of nuclear facilities (radiation protection or gamma heating issues) or has various uses (non-destructive identification of elements). Despite of importance, its production is inaccurately described in present nuclear data libraries. Therefore, a set of experiments have been carried out focusing on this radiation - prompt gamma from neutron inelastic scattering on oxygen and prompt gamma from radiative capture on manganese, both present the form of an aqueous solution. The gammas were induced by the Am-Be neutron source (for oxygen) and 252Cf spontaneous fission neutron source (for manganese). In the case of oxygen, the present libraries can be used, but all the libraries tested overestimated the experiment by 20–30%, considering the experimental uncertainty of 6-9%. INDEN-4.0 library is giving the best results. In the case of manganese, none of the libraries tested give acceptable results. The INDEN updated data for gamma production on manganese give usable results, but there is still a discrepancy from -36% to 55% with uncertainties from 6-15%.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New setup for measurement of prompt gammas from neutron interactions

et al. 2023

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“…The downhole drilling environment can be severe: these tools must work at temperatures that may exceed 175 ºC, are exposed to repeated shocks of 100 g or more, and must be protected by housings withstanding downhole pressures of 2000 atm or more. In these difficult environments, delivering accurate and reliable measurements is a challenge [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library on modeling nuclear tools for oil exploration

et al. 2020

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In the oil field, exploration of the subsurface through well logging provides measurements of the characteristics of rock formations and fluids to help identify and evaluate potential reservoirs. Downhole nuclear measurements focus on formation properties such as natural radioactivity, formation density, and hydrogen content, as well as the identification of the elemental and mineralogical composition of the rock through spectroscopy. Accurate nuclear modeling is a fundamental part of nuclear well logging tool development, from concept through design to response characterization. Underlying the accuracy of nuclear modeling is a good knowledge of nuclear cross sections of the elements in the tool, borehole, and subsurface formations. The recent focus on replacing tools based on radio-isotopic sources with those based on D-T neutron generators opens many opportunities for new measurements but highlights the deficiencies of current cross sections. For example, in neutron-induced inelastic and capture gamma ray spectroscopy, major obstacles come from a lack of or inaccuracies in the cross sections of essential materials.

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“…Well logging provides measurements of rock formation characteristics and fluids in their pore space. Nuclear measurements are central to this evaluation [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing tools for oil exploration using nuclear modeling

et al. 2017

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Abstract. When designing nuclear tools for oil exploration, one of the first steps is typically nuclear modeling for concept evaluation and initial characterization. Having an accurate model, including the availability of accurate cross sections, is essential to reduce or avoid time consuming and costly design iterations. During tool response characterization, modeling is benchmarked with experimental data and then used to complement and to expand the database to make it more detailed and inclusive of more measurement environments which are difficult or impossible to reproduce in the laboratory.We present comparisons of our modeling results obtained using the ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-VII cross section data bases, focusing on the response to a few elements found in the tool, borehole and subsurface formation. For neutron-induced inelastic and capture gamma ray spectroscopy, major obstacles may be caused by missing or inaccurate cross sections for essential materials. We show examples of the benchmarking of modeling results against experimental data obtained during tool characterization and discuss observed discrepancies.

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Exploring for oil with nuclear physics

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

New setup for measurement of prompt gammas from neutron interactions

New setup for measurement of prompt gammas from neutron interactions

Impact of the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library on modeling nuclear tools for oil exploration

Designing tools for oil exploration using nuclear modeling

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