How Nuclear Power Followed Me to Colorado & Fracking Followed Me to New York (Part 1--The Rulison Project)

My dad was an old-school mechanical engineer and always said that "Someone has to make Clorox," when friends would talk wistfully about a return to a less technologically complicated world. He was of the firm opinion that someone--preferably in this country--had to generate energy, too. Well, "duh," as Clicker from my book would say, that's pretty obvious.

I was a big proponent of nuclear power growing up as I did not far away from the Millstone Power Station in Waterford, Connecticut. It was a fascinating place to visit. I even wrote a paper on it for Earth Science class in high school. I read about cold breeder reactors and how we could produce even more energy with less waste if we could just solve the consumption problem related to a necessary and expensive catalyst. Wow, that sounded great. Listening to my enthusiasm, my dad snorted and opined that "You don't get something for nothing," his favorite engineering maxim.

Millstone was making money hand over fist from its fuel rods and whirring turbines, selling surplus power out of state. It seemed like the industry born of a war weapon was maturing nicely. Uh, at least until Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima Daiichi. It seemed the "new" technology had a downside as all technologies do. Even wind turbines kill a lot of birds every year.

When I moved to Colorado in 2002, my husband and I found a little house in New Castle. During the negotiations for purchase, our lawyer tried to explain about mineral rights and "the split estate." True rubes from the East, we couldn't imagine what she was talking about. "Gas drilling," she said, "and someone else owns the mineral rights under your house. They don't come with the purchase." How strange, we thought. We didn't see anyone drilling for anything near our little housing development. So, we forgot about it and bought the house.

A couple years later, needing more space, we starting looking for an affordable property in Silt. We had an honest realtor, and after we looked at a nice house with some land up a county road, she brought out a map with lots of red dots decorating Garfield County. Gas wells. "I just wanted you to know what you're getting into--there's pretty intensive drilling out this way." This time we'd actually noticed a gas derrick not too far from our intended home. "Ah, so what?" we said, "Our country needs the gas--it has to be in somebody's back yard." Just like nuke plants, I thought. No big deal.

Getting back to industry born of a war weapon, not long after we'd moved in, we talked to a neighbor who asked if we'd ever heard of the Rulison Project or Project Plowshare. "Yeah, it was 1973 when they nuked Rulison, looking for gas. Put a nuclear bomb down the hole. We felt the ground shaking like an earthquake all the way back in Parachute." Turns out it wasn't just a local tall tale meant for the Eastern rubes. It was true.

Project Plowshare was created by the federal government to explore post-WWII peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (Some say it was also propaganda designed to desensitize Americans to the buildup of a nuclear arsenal.) The Rulison Project was part of the effort to prove the feasibility of using nuclear explosives to release gas held by the rock, the insane forerunner of hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a., fracking. The Rulison blasts under Fawn Creek our friend mentioned were about 30 kilotons each. Oh, the underground explosions released lots of gas from the rock all right. Except it was unacceptably contaminated with radiation and consequently unusable.

Unfortunately, those radionuclides are still down there, and conventional drilling activity creeps ever closer to the site--permits have been issued for as close as one mile from ground zero. "Yikes!" as Jude Hayes would say. Seems to me we don't need gas that badly. Sometimes it's worth taking the time to think a matter through. Which is exactly what the governor of New York is doing concerning gas drilling here. Stay tuned for Part 2 of my energy saga, probably in tomorrow's post.

In the meantime, here's my Jude Hayes quote for today:

“As a matter of fact, I know virtually nothing about the gentleman in question.” I glared at Jasmine who was studiously examining the wine list.

“I’m sure you’ll have a very nice time,” A.J. declared. “Jared is the grandson of an old school friend. He’s done very well in business owing partly to his prowess as an engineer— including an innate creativity.”

Great. He sounded like a nerdy guy with acne scars, a pocket protector, and three cell phones on his belt who collected Star Wars memorabilia and designed eminently boring things. Politely pretending interest, I asked, “What exactly is his business?”

Cheerfully ignoring my lack of enthusiasm, A.J. said, “Well, he’s an environmental engineer who started his own alternative energy company. Wind and water turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries—even those ‘out there’ applications like ‘free energy’ from magnetism. It’s all very au courant. I invested a few coins when it was a start-up.”

“Hmm. Okay. He might be kind of interesting.”

Jasmine folded her arms and fixed me with a full-on glare. “Jude Hayes, do not give me that condescending this-guy-must-be-a-serious-loser look when you haven’t even met him.”

“What?” I feigned innocence.