Fracking can contaminate rivers and lakes with radioactive material, study finds

[Suppressed]

Fracking can contaminate rivers and lakes with radioactive material, study finds
Stream sediments were found to be so radioactive they were nearly at the level that would require disposal in a specialist facility in some US states
Ian Johnston; Environment Correspondent @montaukian | 22 hours ago
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fracking-dangers-environment-water-damage-radiation-contamination-study-risks-a7837991.html


A gas flare burns at a fracking site in rural Pennsylvania        Reuters


The vast amount of waste water produced by fracking can contaminate rivers, lakes and other waterways with radioactive material and hormone-affecting chemicals, according to new research.

The study tested sediments and groundwater downstream of a treatment plant in Pennsylvania that was designed to make the water used as part of the fracking process fit for release into the environment.

The scientists, from Pennsylvania State University and other academic institutions, discovered that despite this process there were “high loads of chloride, barium, strontium, radium and organic compounds” in the Conemaugh River watershed.

Stream sediments in Blacklick Creek, just downstream from one treatment plant, were found to contain about 200 times the level of radium upstream of the plant.

The highest concentration of radium found was just 14 per cent below the level at which it would have to be treated as radioactive waste in some US states.

However the researchers said the risks of the pollutants discovered were “difficult to assess”.

Writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the scientists said: “Large quantities of oil-and-gas wastewater with high loads of chloride, barium, strontium, radium, and organic compounds have been discharged into the Conemaugh River watershed.

“Stream sediments in Blacklick Creek immediately downstream of centralised waste treatment plant number one were found to contain [radium] levels that were about 200 times greater than activities measured in upstream and background sediments.

“Elevated concentrations of radium and other alkaline earth metals have now been detected in reservoir sediments about 19km farther downstream of this plant.

“Despite several other sources of contaminants such as coal bed methane, coal mine drainage, and flue gas desulfurization releases that can impact surface water quality, we document multiple lines of evidence that indicate the legacy of unconventional oil-and-gas wastewater disposal has impacted stream sediments and porewater [groundwater] on a watershed-scale.”

...

Excerpt.  Read more at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fracking-dangers-environment-water-damage-radiation-contamination-study-risks-a7837991.html

[Suppressed]

This is not big news, other than it confirming what any half-decent geologist already knew.  The black shales are loaded with NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material).  Anyone want to donate $1,500 so I can get the ES&T subscription I crave?  The abstract doesn't give a good feel for the magnitude of the detections.

[thackney]

So to save the cost of injecting deep well, they decided to treat the water until it was clean.

And to save the cost of treating the water, they just didn't?

[Suppressed]

So to save the cost of injecting deep well, they decided to treat the water until it was clean.

And to save the cost of treating the water, they just didn't?

Well, injections in western PA has led to minor induced seismicity, so they're a bit cautious on injections; plus, there's a desire to keep water in the watershed.  And, yes, costs.

Treating NORM isn't easy. 

[Joe Wooten]

So to save the cost of injecting deep well, they decided to treat the water until it was clean.

And to save the cost of treating the water, they just didn't?

Sounds like a government run operation doesn't it?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Treating NORM isn't easy.

That is a ridiculous statement.

The oil field has been treating NORM successfully for decades.

[Suppressed]

That is a ridiculous statement.

The oil field has been treating NORM successfully for decades.

Yes,  you're right.  I don't know what I was thinking when typing that!

[Idiot]

I personally think all frac'ing should be stopped in the U.S. until years of research is done to see what the actual damage to the environment really is.  Except for maybe a few counties in West Central Texas of course.   

[Suppressed]

I personally think all frac'ing should be stopped in the U.S. until years of research is done to see what the actual damage to the environment really is.  Except for maybe a few counties in West Central Texas of course.   

Yeah, the moratorium might end up being quite a boon for New York, saving its resources for when the resource is more scarce.

[Smokin Joe]

I personally think all frac'ing should be stopped in the U.S. until years of research is done to see what the actual damage to the environment really is.  Except for maybe a few counties in West Central Texas of course.   

And North Dakota. No induced quakes from wastewater injection, and that's how we get rid of it.
As NORM goes, there are 'hot' loads of cuttings, but then, the Bakken shales are 'hot'.

As for the article, though, on this side of the nearly $1/HOUR paywall, there is no quantification of radiation, concentration, or for that matter, even identification of the isotopes, which lead one to assume Ra226.

You'd think they'd release the data for something this important, at least until you see all the global warming articles, which make me question the veracity of the source.
 
From Wikipedia, which relatively speaking, is a font of knowledge:

Radium has 33 known isotopes, with mass numbers from 202 to 234: all of them are radioactive.[15] Four of these – 223Ra (half-life 11.4 days), 224Ra (3.64 days), 226Ra (1600 years), and 228Ra (5.75 years) – occur naturally in the decay chains of primordial thorium-232, uranium-235, and uranium-238 (223Ra from uranium-235, 226Ra from uranium-238, and the other two from thorium-232). These isotopes nevertheless still have half-lives too short to be primordial radionuclides and only exist in nature from these decay chains.[16] Together with the artificial 225Ra (15 d), these are the five most stable isotopes of radium.[16] All other known radium isotopes have half-lives under two hours, and the majority have half-lives under a minute.[15] At least 12 nuclear isomers have been reported; the most stable of them is radium-205m, with a half-life of between 130 and 230 milliseconds, which is still shorter than twenty-four ground-state radium isotopes.[15]

and

226Ra is the most stable isotope of radium and is the last isotope in the (4n + 2) decay chain of uranium-238 with a half-life of over a millennium: it makes up almost all of natural radium. Its immediate decay product is the dense radioactive noble gas radon, which is responsible for much of the danger of environmental radium.[17] It is 2.7 million times more radioactive than the same molar amount of natural uranium (mostly uranium-238), due to its proportionally shorter half-life.[18][19]

A sample of radium metal maintains itself at a higher temperature than its surroundings because of the radiation it emits – alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays. More specifically, natural radium (which is mostly 226Ra) emits mostly alpha particles, but other steps in its decay chain (the uranium or radium series) emit alpha or beta particles, and almost all particle emissions are accompanied by gamma rays.

Decay into Radon is the big worry, here, but that begs the question: Why were these fluids, truckloads, and effluents not monitored for gamma emissions, anyway? Or were those emissions so low as to not be a concern until concentrated in lake sediments?

[Smokin Joe]

Yeah, the moratorium might end up being quite a boon for New York, saving its resources for when the resource is more scarce.

The moratorium on fracking in NY is because of concern for the watersheds that feed water into New York City.

[Joe Wooten]

Yeah, the moratorium might end up being quite a boon for New York, saving its resources for when the resource is more scarce.

If those enviro-whackos have their way, that time will be never.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Yeah, the moratorium might end up being quite a boon for New York, saving its resources for when the resource is more scarce.

That is the height of irrationality.

Following that logic, why not just shut in all oil, gas, coal so we can preserve it for future generations when we are the only country to have any left?

And exactly how do you know it will be more scarce?  Our President Jimmy Carter declared we had only had a few more years of oil left


Since that time, world oil reserves have risen, production has risen, and remaining indicated years left has risen.