Radiological assessment of the level of safety in logging operations in the Nigerian petroleum industry

摘要

Petroleum prospecting and producing activities have been going on in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria for about 40 years. During this period controlled substances such as chemicals and radioactive materials have been widely used in petroleum exploration and exploitation. Deviations from acceptable levels of certain parameters relevant to safety and environmental protection have been encountered, but most have not been investigated or documented. In particular, cases involving the unsafe use, loss and abandonment of radioactive materials have neither received the desired attention nor been reported. This work reports a radiological assessment of safety in the use of radioactive and radiation producing materials in logging and well study operations in the Nigerian petroleum industry. The assessment protocol used for the evaluation is based on a numerical ranking system. Based on a scale of 100, it is found in this logging and well study that the level of safety as defined in the text is around 60% for all three sites assessed. There is substantial work needed to raise the radiation protection standards further at these sites.