NORM inventory forecast for Australian offshore oil and gas decommissioned assets and radioactive waste disposal pathways
Scott McKay A , Stuart A. Higgins A C and Peter Baker BA Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6824, Australia.
B Wood, Level 1, 240 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: stuart.higgins@curtin.edu.au
The APPEA Journal 60(1) 19-33 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19159
Submitted: 6 December 2019 Accepted: 20 February 2020 Published: 15 May 2020
Abstract
This research establishes a decommissioning timeline for the existing oil and gas facilities across all of the Australian offshore oil and gas production basins. Minimal data exist in the public domain to estimate these decommissioning timelines and, more importantly, the significant waste volumes generated; including potentially hazardous wastes such as naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). At this time there is no approved onshore radioactive waste disposal pathway in Australia to accommodate this material. Applying an estimation methodology, based on Norwegian decommissioning data with regional activity factors, allows a NORM waste forecast to be established for the decommissioning of Australian oil and gas offshore infrastructure. The total NORM disposal burden is estimated to be in the range of 223–1674 tonnes for decommissioning activity to 2060, with over 68% of this material generated between 2018 and 2025. Due to the sparsity of public domain data this forecast is deemed to be uncertain and excludes the NORM contamination anticipated to be present in subsea export pipelines, trunklines and well production tubing. Current regulations governing the categorisation and disposal of radioactive wastes across Australia are complex and regionally dependent. This regional variation makes the implementation of a national radioactive waste disposal facility more difficult, and encourages the export of radioactive wastes overseas for final disposal. Exporting of radioactive wastes potentially presents a higher risk compared with in-country disposal and is likely not an effective long-term proposition. A comprehensive NORM data collection and quantification assessment programme, spanning all onshore and offshore oil and gas infrastructure, needs to implemented to drive and verify a NORM waste management strategy for the wave of facility decommissioning projects that are fast approaching.
Keywords: activity threshold, ARPANSA, decommissioning, exempt waste, IAEA, national radioactive waste disposal facility, naturally occurring radioactive materials, NORM activity levels, NORM contamination, NORM decontamination and processing, NORM storage facility, NORM waste disposal pathways.
Scott McKay has over 20 years of oil and gas industry experience, including 14 years offshore in the UK and Norwegian sectors and 8 years in Australian LNG. He has worked with operators, engineering consultancies and specialist machinery and equipment providers across both brownfield and greenfield projects. He studied a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and recently completed a Masters of Subsea Engineering from Curtin University, Perth. He currently works for Chevron Australia as Rotating Equipment Technical Team Lead. |
Stuart Higgins graduated from Monash University in 1988 with a BEng(Hon) in Mechanical Engineering and was also awarded a PhD in 2000 from Monash University. Stuart’s professional career has spanned 25+ years with oil and gas operator-specific field development expertise, spanning appraise, select, FEED, execute, operate and decommissioning phases covering multiple asset types and international regions. Developments have included subsea, pipeline, fixed and floating deep water greenfield and brownfield assets from Mauritania, Mediterranean, North West Shelf, Browse basin and the Gulf of Mexico. Joining Curtin University in 2015 as an Associate Professor, he has managed and delivered the Master of Subsea Engineering and MSc (Global Subsea) programs and is the Curtin Oil and Gas Innovation Centre portfolio manager – delivering industry-based research currently focusing on well decommissioning. He is a member of SPE, a committee member of SUT Perth and board member of Subsea Energy Australia (SEA). |
Peter Baker is a graduate of the University of the West of England with a BSc Mechanical Engineering. Peter is an experienced Project and Technical Manager with over 30 years in the oil and gas industry with offshore experience covering deep and shallow water projects in Australia, New Zealand, SE Asia, the Gulf of Mexico, UK North Sea, Norwegian Sea, offshore West Ireland and the Egyptian Mediterranean. Peter has a full range of technical engineering experience and has been involved in concept, front end and detail design, manufacture, inspection, assembly, test, FAT, EFAT, SIT, transport, installation, commissioning, setting to work and operational support roles. He is currently employed by Wood PLC as Principal Controls Engineer and is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE) and Chartered Engineer (CEng). |
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