Full Description

Commercial-scale geological carbon sequestering (GCS) projects are now being seriously considered as ameans of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to help mitigate climate change. In GCS systems, largeamounts of super-critical carbon dioxide would be injected primarily into deep saline formations (TDSgreater than or equal to 10,000 mg/L) where the COsub2/sub would be contained for decades to centuries. Although the COsub2/sub injectionzones will be separated from underground sources of drinking water (USDW or sources with TDS10,000 mg/L) and the GCS systems will be designed to minimize the risk of COsub2/sub leakage, there is thepotential for some of the stored COsub2/sub to leak into USDWs over the project lifetime (several decades). Thepotential COsub2/sub leakage routes include the following:gaps in the confining layer;fault and fracture zones;abandoned wells;slow diffusion through confining layers or through injection well casings; and,down-gradient flow of inject zone water to other groundwater aquifers through long distancetransport.The proposed regulations for GCS injection wells are expected to address these potential leakage routesthrough site assessments, monitoring, and mitigation measures. Nevertheless, it is important to understandhow potential increased levels of COsub2/sub in groundwater supplies could affect their water quality andbeneficial uses. Includes extended abstract only.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2009 Number of Pages: 2File Size: 1 file , 740 KB