Nuclear in situ recovery of oil from oil shale

A plan is presented for production of oil by retorting oil shale in situ after breaking it with underground nuclear explosives. Reserves of oil shale of thickness and grade suitable (greater than 20 gal/ton) for this process occur in the Piceance Creek Basin of Colorado, and are estimated to contain 640 billion barrels of oil in place. Cost projections indicate that this oil could be produced at a price ranging from 00 to 30 at the wellhead with a 20% rate of return on investment (discounted cash flow). The price and production rate vary with oil shale thickness. At a rate of 32 nuclear chimneys per year in oil shale ranging in thickness from 1000 to 2000 ft, production varies from 28 million bbl/yr ( 30/ bbl) to 121 million bbl/yr (P2.O0/bbl). Capital requirements for this in situ process are estimated to be 20 times less than those reguired by a surface retorting process. Environmental problems such as the need to dispose of large volumes of waste rock associated with conventional mining and surface retorting of oil shale would be largely avoided. Problems of seismic ground motion and possible contamination of the oil and groundwater appear manageable. The necessity for government action arising from federal ownership of the resource as well as the requirement for a significant government contribution to the development of the nuclear in situ retorting technology requires either government development of the resource or a policy defining how industry and government may jointly develop it. The potential contribution to the energy resources of the nation is so large that this method of recovery from oil shale must be considered. (auth)