ph: (865) 576-8401 fax: (865) 576-5728 email: reports@adonis.osti.gov Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161 ph: (800) 553-6847 fax: (703) 605-6900 email: orders@ntis.fedworld.gov online ordering: http://www.ntis.gov/ordering.htm This document was printed on recycled paper. Abstract Sealed, chemical isotope radiation sources have a diverse range of industrial applications. There is concern

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... hat such sources currently used in the gas/oil well logging industry (e.g., americium-beryllium [AmBe], 252 Cf, 60 Co, and 137 Cs) can potentially be diverted and used in dirty bombs. Recent actions by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have reduced the availability of these sources in the United States. Alternatives, both radiological and non-radiological methods, are actively being sought within the oilfield services community. The use of isotopic sources can potentially be further reduced, and source use reduction made more acceptable to the user community, if suitable non-nuclear or non-isotope-based well logging techniques can be developed. Data acquired with these non-nuclear techniques must be demonstrated to correlate with that acquired using isotope sources and historic records. To enable isotopic source reduction there is a need to assess technologies to determine: (1) if it is technically feasible to replace isotopic sources with alternate sensing technologies and (2) to provide independent technical data to guide DOE (and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]) on issues relating to replacement and/or reduction of radioactive sources used in well logging. This document is a final report on the project that prepared an initial review of state-of-the-art nuclear and non-nuclear well logging methods and sought to understand the technical and economic issues if AmBe (and potentially other isotope sources) are reduced or even eliminated in the oil-field services industry. Prior to considering alternative logging technologies, there is a definite need to open up discussions with industry regarding the feasibility and acceptability of source replacement. Industry views appear to range from those who see AmBe as vital and irreplaceable to those who believe that, with research and investment, it may be possible to transition to electronic neutron sources and employ combinations of non-nuclear technologies to acquire the desired petro-physical parameters. In one sense, the simple answer to the question as to whether petro-physical parameters can be sensed with technologies other than AmBe is probably "Yes." The challenges come when attention turns to record interpretation. The many decades of existing records form a very valuable proprietary resource, and the interpretation of subtle features contained in these records are of significant value to the oil-gas exploration community to correctly characterize a well. The demonstration of equivalence and correspondence/correlation between established and any new sensing modality, and correlations with historic records, is critical to ensuring accurate data interpretation. Establishing the technical basis for such a demonstration represents a significant effort. The focus of this study is the understanding of the technical obstacles that hinder the replacement of and the disadvantages from the loss of extensive interpretation experience based on data accumulated with AmBe. Enhanced acoustic and electromagnetic sensing methods in combination with non-isotopebased well logging techniques have the potential to complement and/or replace existing isotope-based techniques, providing the opportunity to reduce oil industry dependence on isotopic sources such as AmBe. v