Testing subterranean water for a hazardous waste material repository
US10434550B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 10, 2019 |
| Grant date | Oct 8, 2019 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 10, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC E)Fixed Constructions
- CPC primaryE21B49/0875
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Techniques for testing subterranean water for one or more radioactive isotopes for a hazardous waste material repository include collecting, from a test drillhole formed from a terranean surface to a subterranean formation, a subterranean water sample from the subterranean formation; determining, with an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system, a concentration of a radioactive isotope of an element in the subterranean water sample relative to a stable isotope of the element in the subterranean water sample; comparing the determined concentration of the radioactive isotope of the element in the subterranean water sample with a concentration of the radioactive isotope of the element in a surface water sample relative to the stable isotope of the element in the surface water sample; and based on the determined concentration of the radioactive isotope in the subterranean water sample being a specified percentage of the concentration of the radioactive isotope in the surface water sample, determining that the subterranean formation is a hazardous waste storage repository.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.