Government Dispatches Crack Scientist Team To Houston to Solve Oil Leak

They are just going to end up capping it with a nuke.

They just don't want to admit it since this seems like such a bad way to go when in reality they've already done more harm than any small nuke would.

Sink a huge chunk of steel around the pipe. Then use a megaton bomb (One without radiation) to flash melt it around the pipe.

Heheheh. I love the craziest solutions to problems.

By now they could have drilled a well that would intersect the original well somewhere far below the ocean floor and then use conventional explosives to seal the well, seriously we don't need Ben Aflak and Bruce Wilis fighting over who is going to save the world. Saw that one and it was kinda blah 12 years ago.

Actually let me retract that statement. The government is involved so I foresee some kind of Rube Goldburg device that uses recycled aluminum cans and costs $3.5 trillion tax dollars.

They said that it would take a couple of months to drill an intersecting well. So, no, they could not have completed that by now.

Has anyone contact Bob Ballard yet? He's kind of an old hat at deep-sea problems.

Thor, a megaton bomb without radiation? please elaborate where you would find such a device? Other then a pure fusion bomb(which does not exist yet) that is not possible.

1 MT is overkill for what they need. Im thinking something like a B61 tactical nuke, set at its lowest yield (I believe around .3 kilotons) IF 300 tons of TNT does not seal that leak then I dont know what will.

Hahaha, really? Could this oil spill make our country look anymore pathetic? We can't solve this problem?

I guess they're giving up hope, "well, we can't just seal it shut, close it off, or cap it, so let's throw bombs at it and see what happens. Sea life around that area is already dead so the radiation will be but a minor effect."

Aren't there any more practical methods? Surely someone has thought of something.

Why don't they saw off the pipe thats gushing out the oil, and just clog it up by topping it with ocean dirt, and rocks?

Oh yeah, BP = Blame Petroleum.

Omar, it's also 5,000 feet underwater. Maybe using a nuke is'nt the best idea, BUT, while we are hesitating on using a low yield device, we are doing more harm then the nuke would have if we used it in the first place. It also does'nt take a rockest scientist to realize the amount of pressure thats being produced by a leaking pipe gushing out tens of thousands of gallons of oil per day...I don't think "clogging" it with a few rocks and dirt is going to do anything.

@Setarip

Yeah, it doesn't take a rocket scientist, apparently it takes all kinds of scientists. I guess nuking it would do something, but I don't think it would fix the problem.

Well, considering all that we have done so far has done nothing to fix this, using a low yield device might be the answer. For one, nuclear bombs produce tremendous amounts of overpressure and heat. There is a chance that this could collapse and fuse the leak.

Hey, Im not saying this is a good idea. But given the current circumstances, if this leak goes on for another couple of months---how much worse is it going to be rather then stopping the leak right now with a low yield device?
Im hoping for the best right now in that they can come up with a solution that stops the leak without having to use any explosives, but if knowing that using a bomb will stop the leak and prevent the whole Gulf from being ecologically destroyed, then I say go ahead and do it! And sorry for coming off a bit rude in my previous statement- no hard feelings!

I'm wondering if using an explosive is as safe as people assume. What if the explosion caves in the top of the underground oil bubble and releases the entire amount into the sea?

Simple solutions are the best. This was suggested by David Letterman....drain the gulf and let it fill up with oil. No more drilling needed. Brilliant!

First of all this is hopeful - these are not government agency members, they are exceedingly bright individuals. I'll let that one sink in for a minute.

The one component I keep seeing in all of the solutions is the fact that they want to "pump the oil onto a ship". No one is trying to stop the leak and walk away from it, they are trying to capture the oil. They all want the oil.

Scary times.

To the person who said drill another well - they are trying but I believe I read an article where it said that another drill will take weeks to arrive? Can anyone confirm?

Anyway good luck team.

This is what we should expect because we have more lawyers than engineers, now. Maybe we should sink a ship load of lawyers to the bottom of the sea. Regardless if it works, everybody would be better off. This would minimize global warming (due to the lack of hot air), but stench destroy the gulf.

This is what we should expect because we have more lawyers than engineers, now. Maybe we should sink a ship load of lawyers to the bottom of the sea. Regardless if it works, everybody would be better off. This would minimize global warming (due to the lack of hot air), but the stench would destroy the gulf.

Drop a wrecking ball on it as many times as necessary to crush it closed.

will that cause any techtonic issues? can you imagine if we sealed it with a bomb but caused a tsunami in s. america? that would be the cherry on this cake

Why don't they just plastic-wrap the pipe?

Not to underscore the seriousness of the situation, but am I the only one who thought the Bio for Alexander Slocum was hilarious? It read like some kind of dating website..."He also studies nanotechnology and enjoys scuba diving"...does he also enjoy long walks on the beach?

Wait...they're bringing in a "hydrogen bomb expert"?

We're not SERIOUSLY considering the Russian plan (blowing the leak up with a nuke)...are we?

I think for starters you have to cut off the bent and broken pipe so you only have one leaking hole to shut off.
I think if you can drop a long enough and heavy enough weight that has a low enough drag to freefall down the pipe through the flowing oil and gas; you can have it pull a series of 30 inch deflated rubber bouncy balls with car airbags inside them and then inflate them all inside the pipe. Or have it pull a series of bombs to collapse the pipe.

The nuke idea is probably a valid one, but it's a lot more complicated than most of the people posting on here seem to realize. You can't just set a nuke next to the leak and blow it up. That will just make a crater, destroy the pipe, and make the leak come out somewhere else. You have to set the nuke off at around 1.5km below the sea floor. This creates the pressure that closes the well column. The Russians did this successfully a few times 30+ years ago, but that was with surface wells. Not wells that are a mile deep in water. I hope that if there aren't any better ideas soon, this will at least be considered.

This is to all those who took my nuke comment WAYYYYY to seriously.

It was a joke, you were supposed to imagine it in your mind, chuckle, then let it go. Not take it as real then try to disassemble it like a puzzle.

Wow! Just suck the fun right out of everthing!

Don't we have someplace something known as "BUNKER BUSTER" bombs? Big things, very heavy, and non-radioactive?

Sort of thought so.... If not, maybe we should look into
that.

Martin's comment is more interesting, IMO.

martin064105/14/10 at 9:35 pm

"I'm wondering if using an explosive is as safe as people assume. What if the explosion caves in the top of the underground oil bubble and releases the entire amount into the sea?"

Now, there's a thought.

BP used to have a suggestion page on its website. They suddenly and quietly removed it.

They might sink a rod, slightly smaller than the pipe, into the pipe. As it goes down, it would get heavier, and more able to resist the upward pressure of the gas and oil.

As the length of the rod inside the pipe approaches 3000 feet, the depth of the well, the rod would get wider, until it gets a tight fit, and would have a lot of force moving it downward, as well as lubrication. The force would be more pull than push, without a problem of the rod bending or getting knocked around by a hurricane. Eventually the rod would be wide enough to lodge in the pipe, and would plug it, with a permanent force (gravityl.)

It is possible to maintain a welding flame underwater. A welding flame coupled with excess oxygen could ignite the plume underwater.

On the surface, scattering salt peter on the oil mat could provide oxygen, and a flame thrower could ignite the oil. Salt peter and sulphur combined could provide an even hotter flame.

Solution to stop leaking from well bore:
Connect underwater robot arm (use remotely operated vehicle ROV) and ship with strong plastic tube. Inner diameter of tube is about half inch. Then put inside in order 2 or 3 plastic balls and after that strongest Neodymium( NdFeB) or other kind magnet and again and again... Fill tube all way from robot to ship.
Use ROV to close end of tube (robot arm) to well bore installation on seabed. Cover outside installation about two or three meters from the leaking hole with lot of magnets (in many layers - about 20 cm thickness). Then put inside robot arm in leaking hole about three meters and shot magnets from tube. NdFeB magnets will stick for pipe installation inside and stick for each other with strong forces. And make some kind of magnetic mass shutter. Then cover it with iron dust to fill gaps between magnets. And leaking will be 100% stopped. This process will close up leaking pipe slowly and it is important to prevent so called hidro(oil) dynamic shock which probably can blow up installation from seabed. Well bore installation is very heavy and magnets are, too. If it not enough weight to keep well bore installation on seabed, it is easy to cover it with more magnets and iron parts (junk).
Plastic balls are imported to keep distance between magnets on way from ship down to robot and end of tube. They will flow away with oil when they go out from tube.
Magnets not needed to be ball shape; important is to easy go down through tube. Few tones of magnets is needed to fill pipe inside and outside and make flange.

If somebody likes my idea and want more details for technology, please ask!