This report summarizes a Radiation Source Replacement Workshop in Houston, Texas, on October 27-28, 2010, which provided a forum for industry and researchers to exchange information and to discuss the issues relating to replacement of americium-beryllium (AmBe), and potentially other isotope sources used in well logging. The workshop had about 60 attendees, with the majority from the petrochemical well logging sector. Federal government speakers introduced terrorism scenarios, including recent

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... hreats and how stolen radioactive sources might be used. A presentation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stimulated considerable discussion around possible nuclear source alternatives being pursued. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulation questions specific to the well logging industry in Texas were presented. A series of presentations reported development/improvement of electronic neutron sources and described products in the pipeline industry (both gamma and neutron sources) with potential application to the well logging industry. The Nuclear Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) was introduced as an excellent vehicle for staying abreast of nuclear needs and developments in the petrochemical well logging industry. Presentations then followed on the seismoelectric well logging method, the use of local gravity measurements for measuring rock density and then an overview of electronic radiation sources (both x-ray/gamma photon and neutron) and a discussion of a combined nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)/acoustics tool for source-less porosity measurements. It was reported that NMR tools will not make nuclear logging obsolete. Electronic deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutron sources and legacy porosity logs acquired with AmBe sources were discussed and it was shown that they can be compared with logs acquired using high energy D-T neutron sources. However, some in the industry dispute this point and are looking for data in logs that look like historic records. Finally, the presentation by Ron Cherry from Halliburton pointed out that nuclear density measurements are necessary to correctly interpret NMR log data. Group discussions both during and after the presentations made clear the following points: • New AmBe neutron sources are expensive and hard to obtain.