Abstract Reinjection of the discharge from the power-plants of a geothermal field can cause serious, irreversible damage to the field itself , so that such operations must be mnitored continuously. Tracer techniques are particularly useful for this purpose.

In rn reinjection studies tritiated water was used as a tracer, but this method has certain disadvantages as well as advantages, one disadvantage being the destruction of the natural tritium balance in the reservoir.

The natural abundances of tritium at Larderello were, and are still, used to study field recharge from meteoric waters, so that another tracing method had to be applied to avoid disrupting these studies. The discharge fluid from the p3crFer-stations is traced naturally by its 180 and D ampsitions with respect to the steam ccmposition of the field. As these isotopes do not create the same difficulties as tritium we are checking their possible utilization as tracers.

This papr presents the results obtained by applying this method in the first phase of a reinjection experiment now under way in a central area of the field which has been exploited for long periods. Some limits of this method are also discussed.

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Copyright 1981, Stanford Geothermal Program: Readers who download papers from this site should honor the copyright of the original authors and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.