Underground storage

Abstract

Abstract UNDERGROUND STORAGE COMPRISED OF A CONDUIT SYSTEM EXTENDING INTO ONE OR MORE STORAGE SECTIONS OF A LARGE, VERTICALLY EXTENDED VOLUME OF VOID SPACES AND ROCK RUBBLE, SUCH AS A CHINNEY CREATED BY A SUBSURFACE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION. EACH STORAGE SECTION TRAVERSES AN IMPERMEABLE FORMATION AND IS SEPARATED FROM A MORE PERMEABLE NONSTORAGE SECTION BY ONE OR MORE LATERAL IMPERMEABLE BARRIERS AT LEAST PARTIALLY COMPOSED OF A TIME-SETTING MATERIAL WHICH HAS SET. THE BARRIERS MAY BE FORMED BY INJECTING ENOUGH FLOWABLE, TIME-SETTING BARRIER MATERIAL LIGHTER THAN A HEAVIER LIQUID IN THE VOLUME TO FORM A FLOATING LAYER OVER THE HEAVIER LIQUID WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY LOCATED OR LOCATED AND ADJUSTED TO A PREDETERMINED LEVEL WHICH SEPARATES IMPERMEABLE FROM PERMEABLE ZONES. A CONTROLLED FLUID LOSS MATERIAL MAY BE PLACED OPPOSITE PERMEABLE ZONES.

Inventors

• 👤 Henry F Dunlap
• 👤 Robert Wilson

Bibliographic Details