I’ve blogged before about the radioactive tracers in the sand used for hydraulic fracturing.
All that fracking sand everywhere is unhealthy
And, I’ve blogged plenty of times about the radioactive waste that is produced in natural gas development including the most recent news:
Radioactive contamination widespread in Barnett Shale
Well, someone stole a load of that radioactive sand. Seems to be some pretty dangerous stuff.
Radioactive Waste Stolen From Vehicle In Texas
Tuesday, March 30 2010
(Austin, TX) — A thief in Austin, Texas may not know that he or she is in possession of dangerous radioactive waste. Cops say someone stole a half-dozen containers of radioactive tracer sand from a vehicle parked at a Wal-Mart late last week.The vandalized vehicle belongs to a Houston-based laboratory and state heath services officials say the thief may be at risk of radiation exposure.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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So…the stuff is dangerous after all!
Everything they do is dangerous.
Wonder if the Lab soil was on it's
way to be tested, who would want
to stop that?
Apparently you didn’t understand this. And now you are misleading these other people who didn’t understand this. You need to look into what tracer sand is. It was not soil. And it was not being tested. It was going to be injected into a shale so that basically a downhole Geiger counter can be used to to evaluate the frac job down the road. And it’s being injected into a naturally radioactive rock so it isn’t polluting anything. And I see someone said they have no idea what the sand is make of. You may be able to find that online. They are several isotopes. Some are completely safe to handle, others must be approached with more caution but you may be able to find that info online if it interest you!
Just FYI, this lady is now deceased. She likely died from exposure from the many gas facilities emitting toxic air pollutants in her area. UNLIKE the oil & gas industry, she would never have intentionally mislead anyone about anything.
If people are confused about what the industry is doing it’s because this is a secretive industry that doesn’t want anyone to know what they are doing.
Hmmm…Smart person! You may be right.
That's a great point and it's just how they operate.
Does anyone know if this Radioactive tracer sand used in hydraulic fracking would show up as Radium 226? (NORM found in water wells)
no Radium is not used
I have no clue what's in the sand. But the Radium 226 could come from the NORM that should stay down hole but is brought up in concentrated amounts with the gas and produced water.
It’s used to precisely map where the fracs and sand are propagating. It’s injected into a frac , then a downhole tool can measure it’s concentration later on. It’s generally very low radioactivity… You can touch it and be around it without major concerns. But whoever stole it should watch out, I wouldn’t keep it in my house. And no, it wasn’t soil going to be tested. It was tracer sand that was going to be injected into an already naturally radioactive rock. Don’t stretch this into some big conspiracy!