Nuke the oil slick to seal it? Would this work?

[emilynghiem]

Nuke that slick - Julia Ioffe - The Moscow Diaries - True/Slant

Could this method still work in the Gulf if there is more mud than solid rock?
Is it even being considered, or not because it would effectively kill the well that BP is trying to save at the risk of greater damage.

 

[Old Rocks]

It might work. But if it did not, then we probably would have an even greater problem.

Time to end offshore drilling, period.

 

[Barb]

That's extreme, but they've tried everything haven't they?
This is going to sound nuts, but what about a giant tampon as a stop-gap? Think about it. Insert in hole, it sucks up and retards the flow, which can then be filtered through an attachment that feeds the reduced flow through an attached pipeline to containment.

 

[Old Rocks]

The problem with something like that is the pressure that you would have to exert to get it into the hole against the pressure of the oil that is coming out. That oil is under great pressure, and I simply don't know how one would be able to push against it. The other problem is that the pipe end is jagged and not uniform.

I wish that I or someone could see a real solution to this catastrophe. And what we are seeing on surface may be dwarfed by the damage the underwater plumes are doing. By the time this is finished, there may be oil fouled water off the coast of Britain.

 

[Barb]

The problem with something like that is the pressure that you would have to exert to get it into the hole against the pressure of the oil that is coming out. That oil is under great pressure, and I simply don't know how one would be able to push against it. The other problem is that the pipe end is jagged and not uniform.

I wish that I or someone could see a real solution to this catastrophe. And what we are seeing on surface may be dwarfed by the damage the underwater plumes are doing. By the time this is finished, there may be oil fouled water off the coast of Britain.

Tampons expand once inserted. They go in smallish, and blossom out. I'm not suggesting an actual tampon, but something structured to do such a thing. Hell, its a thought.The string could be the tube that feeds the pipe that contains the oil flow.

 

[Old Rocks]

The problem with something like that is the pressure that you would have to exert to get it into the hole against the pressure of the oil that is coming out. That oil is under great pressure, and I simply don't know how one would be able to push against it. The other problem is that the pipe end is jagged and not uniform.

I wish that I or someone could see a real solution to this catastrophe. And what we are seeing on surface may be dwarfed by the damage the underwater plumes are doing. By the time this is finished, there may be oil fouled water off the coast of Britain.

Tampons expand once inserted. They go in smallish, and blossom out. I'm not suggesting an actual tampon, but something structured to do such a thing. Hell, its a thought.The string could be the tube that feeds the pipe that contains the oil flow.

Barb, I fully understand what you are saying. We had a tool like that when I was working on construction of water treatment plants. You stuck this rubber sausage in a pipe, applied air pressure, and it sealed the pipe so no one could pump water through it, and drown you when you were down in a deep hole. Perhaps if they could fabricate a machine that would grip the blowout preventer so the 'tampon' could be inserted, that might work.

However, there is another issue here. Would the casing take the pressure if this were done? There is already worry that the casing may have other leaks beneath the blowout preventer. BP used a casing that by their own standards was not adaquete for the pressures and depths that they were working with.

 

[Barb]

The problem with something like that is the pressure that you would have to exert to get it into the hole against the pressure of the oil that is coming out. That oil is under great pressure, and I simply don't know how one would be able to push against it. The other problem is that the pipe end is jagged and not uniform.

I wish that I or someone could see a real solution to this catastrophe. And what we are seeing on surface may be dwarfed by the damage the underwater plumes are doing. By the time this is finished, there may be oil fouled water off the coast of Britain.

Tampons expand once inserted. They go in smallish, and blossom out. I'm not suggesting an actual tampon, but something structured to do such a thing. Hell, its a thought.The string could be the tube that feeds the pipe that contains the oil flow.

Barb, I fully understand what you are saying. We had a tool like that when I was working on construction of water treatment plants. You stuck this rubber sausage in a pipe, applied air pressure, and it sealed the pipe so no one could pump water through it, and drown you when you were down in a deep hole. Perhaps if they could fabricate a machine that would grip the blowout preventer so the 'tampon' could be inserted, that might work.

However, there is another issue here. Would the casing take the pressure if this were done? There is already worry that the casing may have other leaks beneath the blowout preventer. BP used a casing that by their own standards was not adaquete for the pressures and depths that they were working with.

Well, I submitted it as a suggestion, and qualified it with the fact that I'm not an engineer, so the nuts and bolts would have to be worked out by others. Like I said, they've tried everything else, and its something I haven't seen floated as an explorable option. The preventer is a good thought, maybe you should write them?
Horizonsupport@oegllc.com
Oh! And a tampon like device would already have some pressure release capacity from the "string." It would still let some through, only less, and controlled.