Investigating Effects of Pore Size Distribution and Pore Shape on Radon Production in Marcellus Shale Gas Formation

Abstract

Marcellus Shale gas development brings significant economic impact to the United States and local areas. However, potential negative impacts on health, safety, and environment also draw public attention. Numerous studies have documented the production of radon along with shale gas. Because of radon’s severe damage to human health, it is imperative to quantitatively evaluate radon emission in hydraulically fractured systems. This work proposes the equations to calculate radon generation in spherical pores. Then, through numerical simulation, it is noticed that pore shape and pore size distribution are influential factors in wellhead radon concentration. Moreover, the simulation results show that radon concentration at the wellhead ranges from 36 to 100 pCi/L, which is above the safe standard. Most importantly, the short transport time for such contaminated shale gas will result in high radon concentration in residential buildings, which is a hazard to the public health.

Research on the correlation between surface damage and radon release of uranium tailings dam after seismic based on binocular vision

“…It can be seen from Fig. 3d that the cracks in this region (6,5) and (6,7) widen to the point where the uranium tailing sand was exposed and the freesurface appears resulting in a rapid increase in the surface displacement of the dam body.…”

“…Covering potential radon sources with materials to weaken the spreading and convective behavior of radon gas is one of the effective measures for residents to avoid the risk of long-term exposure to excessive radon concentration [4][5][6] . Both geologic stability and radon gas migration are closely related to the water content, permeability, fissures, and surface displacements of uranium tailings dams, among which surface fissures and displacements, as a visual reflection of the internal damage of the dam, are often used as bridge data to study other performance parameters, such as stress-strain, shear strength, gas permeability, and so on [7][8][9][10] .…”

Contaminación físico química en zonas de fracking

“…En cuanto a los daños derivados del trabajo en fracking, concretamente las enfermedades profesionales se encontraron pocos estudios. En relación a la exposición al gas radón se encontraron trabajos que lo asocian con cáncer de pulmón [47] - [48] y trabajos que alertan sobre los impactos sobre la salud por el ruido crónico de los compresores [49].…”