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Salt caverns have been used for several decades to store various hydrocarbon products. In the past few years, nine facilities in the United States have been permitted to dispose nonhazardous oil field wastes in salt caverns. Two of these are also permitted to dispose of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated oil field wastes. Several other disposal caverns have been permitted in Canada and Europe. Argonne National Laboratory has completed studies analyzing the technical feasibility, legality, economics, and health risks associated with disposing both nonhazardous oil-field wastes (NOW) and NORM contaminated oil-field wastes in salt caverns. To receive a copy of the brochure "An Introduction to Salt Caverns & Their Use for Disposal of Oil Field Wastes," contact John Veil via email, jveil@anl.gov, or phone, 202-488-2450. |
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Overview of Salt Caverns
Basic information on salt deposits, salt cavern uses, and costs and health risks associated with use of salt caverns for waste storage. U.S. Salt Deposits
Salt deposit types and their geographical distribution in the United States. Description
Characteristics of salt caverns and salt cavern formation, salt cavern siting and design criteria, and closure processes. Uses
Uses for salt caverns, including solution mining, hydrocarbon storage, waste disposal, and compressed air energy storage. Studies
Links to salt cavern studies funded by the Department of Energy (DOE).
Links
Links to Web sites containing useful
information on salt caverns and related topics.
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The Salt Cavern Information Website was developed by Argonne National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO) in 1999. It was originally hosted on the NPTO website. A few years later, NPTO became part of DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and the NPTO website was discontinued. The Salt Cavern Information website is now being hosted by Argonne's Environmental Assessment Division. |
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