WATCHING THE WORLD NUCLEAR FALLOUT FOR OIL INDUSTRY

The world's nuclear power industry is generally viewed so unfavorably these days it is easy to overlook the positive fallout from nuclear research.

The negative image has been enhanced by the sector's tendency to cover its tracks.

For example, AEA Technology, a U.K. government agency that has applied nuclear industry findings to oil and gas, was so named to hide its roots in the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority.

"AEA Technology's first contact with the oil and gas industry was 15 years ago," said Martin Wall, manager of materials technology at AEA Technology, Harwell, U.K.

"We helped write the software for the intelligent pig that was then being developed by British Gas plc."

Wall explained that government's version of the Department of Trade & Industry at that time had decided the atomic authority should let other areas of British industry benefit from the technology it had developed.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

High risks of nuclear power led AEA to develop safety and risk assessment techniques that were more advanced than for any other industry Similarly, the need for secure operation of engineering materials led AEA to develop sophisticated nondestructive testing methods.

AEA Technology set out its stall as a troubleshooter for nuclear and nonnuclear concerns. It grew as a research and development organization designed to respond directly to customers' needs.

A typical project was development of an oil tank floor scanner. Ten years ago, British Petroleum Co. plc asked the agency to improve spot testing techniques then available, said researcher David Saunderson.

AEA devised an electromagnetic scanner that can quickly check a tank floor without the need for major cleaning beforehand, Saunderson said. The scanner rapidly identifies likely problem areas, which can then be more thoroughly inspected with time intensive ultrasound checks.

The scanner was built and operated under license until a year ago. Now AEA Technology has completed an Mk II version and is booking orders.

This "hands on" approach to sales coincides with government's plan to privatize AEA Technology in mid-1996.

READY FOR MARKET

As privatization nears, the future AEA Technology plc is completing work on three oil field tools in projects sponsored by groups of oil companies:

An ultrasonic downhole inspection caliper claimed to be able to scan 95% of the inside surfaces of well casings, compared with 5% using conventional mechanical calipers.
An ultrasonic multiphase flow meter for use in deviated wells in which conventional instruments fail.
MAPS, a nondestructive technique to measure stress in steel and welded joints. Such tests normally require drilling a blind hole.

Wall expects little change in AEA Technology's business practices in the prelude to privatization: "Everything is in place. We've essentially been acting as a private company for the last 5 years."

AEA Technology's management aims for a unitary privatization, but Wall said such details are for government to decide. Whatever the case, privatization will sever the agency's direct ties with the nuclear industry.

"We are primarily not a nuclear company now," Wall said.

Potential liabilities to investors in a privatized AEA Technology, from past nuclear industry projects, will be retained by government.