How to Stop the BP OIl Leak

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ZZman

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Looking for Ideas to help BP out.

My idea would be to make a large heavy duty rubber bladder type object that could be shoved into the pipe and then inflated so it would fill the pipe and stop the leak. They could then maybe inject some type of hydralic cement behind the bladder to plug it up permanently.

**Not sure with the pressure if the rubber bladder could take it though.

What are your ideas?
 
Should have called in a fleet of vacuum tankers 45 days ago to suck the stuff up as it was coming to the surface. As we use to say, they have really screwed the pooch on this one. The greenies are going to have a field day with this.
 
Stuff that pipe full of the idiots in the current administration that delayed giving Lousiana permission to build barrier islands.
 
a) buy bio-petro
b) buy large stock in other oil companys
c) enjoy a stiff drink because the coastal beaches are gonna be flooded with oil and were paying $$$$ for it

actually i watched on cnn plan #4 involved detonating a nuclear device this coming from BP... I mean seriously????? lol
 
Actually a Nuke is a good idea.
You dig another well to get close, bury the nuke with a timer, get out of there, and it melts the rock to seal things up.

However, it is politically incorrect and will violate about a dozen international treaties that the US has taken the lead and pushed on the rest of the developed world over the past 40 years.

So pretty much if we light one off, everyone gets to do the same. Which is not good.

I think it will be 6 months to a year before they have this thing under "control". The current well they are drilling to intercept is a extremely difficult method of capping this first well. It is like hitting a tea saucer via drilling rig from 2-3 miles away and 1 mile underwater.

I think the first, and probably the second, of these wells they dig will not "cut off" or intercept the well that is spewing oil into the gulf.

BTW, Life as we know it is over in the Gulf. Fishing and industry will not be the same for the rest of our lives.
There are still MAJOR issues due to the previous spill by Exxon and this one seems to be larger by several orders of magnetude.
Who knows? Maybe this will contaminate British and Europe's waters?
In any case there will be fallout for all this over the next 100 years or so. The majority of it will be over in the next 50, but don't expect wildlife to return during that time.
 
Originally Posted By: Win
Stuff that pipe full of the idiots in the current administration that delayed giving Lousiana permission to build barrier islands.


The hot air from them would cause another blow out.
 
There is an extreme amount of pressure down there. There are just not a lot of things that are going to hold up that depth that will stop the leak.
They should have gotten the Vacuum tankers out there. It has worked before.
 
Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
Actually a Nuke is a good idea.


no it is not.

A nuke would blow everything up into the water and crack the surrounding rock and earth. The pressure from the oil will keep flowing and blow away any debris that falls on top of it. What is needed is a giant butt plug.
 
Originally Posted By: Loobed


A nuke would blow everything up into the water and crack the surrounding rock and earth. The pressure from the oil will keep flowing and blow away any debris that falls on top of it. What is needed is a giant butt plug.



No, it wouldn't. The idea would be to detonate the nuke DEEP underground, not at the seafloor. The pressure is already astronomical, and the overpressure wouldn't displace a lot of rock or dirt. What it WOULD do is melt the rock and collapse the original well casing, creating a huge glass plug. The very "butt plug" you suggest, in fact!

I'm not saying we're to the point where that's something that should be considered- the pipe tophat and vacuum trick appears to be making some progress as of this morning. If they can harvest >80% of the oil as it leaks and keep that up until the conventional relief wells are complete, there's no need to go radical. But people completely misunderstand the nuclear option here. Its very frustrating to me that a viable, beneficial use for a technology that has always been seen as nothing but a weapon of mass murder has been proposed, and politicians refuse to consider it because "it sends the wrong message." Screw the "message" (and the politicians) if it fixes the problem.
 
How much PSI of pressure do you guys think the oil is at exiting the pipe ?
21.gif
 
As much as this pains me to say, I think for the first few weeks the O-Administration liked this disaster. They wanted it to continue. Why? Because it serves their purposes with pending "Cap and Trade" (or whatever they call it now) legislation. It's shameful, it's terrible, but I'll stand by that assessment. They wanted more political clout to "stick it to the oil companies", to "save our environment from oil".

Now that it has spiraled out of control, I would bet that they have second thoughts. Or maybe not, I just don't know.
 
The worst thing about this whole catastrophe is that a very similar episode occured 31 years ago and the oil industry learned NOTHING from it...absolutely nothing. Then they go on to drill in even deeper waters so there is less of a chance to mitigate damage or fix a leak.

Of course if BP han not been cheating the system and not maintaining things properly and cutting corners on a regular basis we likely would not be in this dire situation, and never cut corners where the results can be CATASTROPHIC!

The oil industry has nobody to blame but itself on this one.

I know how to stop leaks like this..adhere to good maintenance proceedures, have a relief well ALREADY in place like Canada and Northern Europe mandate.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Should have called in a fleet of vacuum tankers 45 days ago to suck the stuff up as it was coming to the surface. As we use to say, they have really screwed the pooch on this one. The greenies are going to have a field day with this.


That has been my thinking too.I just can't understand why they have not done this to mitigate the surface oil. It seems an obvious thing to do.
 
nuclear option will not work - nuclear bomb is a fusion device, that operates like the sun, releasing huge heat energy from loss of mass, via e=mc2 . this would just make the huge mess worse, flood the gulf with instantaneous realease of millions of barrels of boiling oil. the "plan" to seal the leak with glass is really naive = a nuclear explosion is completely uncontrolled, instantaneous, and the IMMENSE pressures will crack apart the ocean floor, liberating the hosemen of the Apocalypse, for the gulf. probably there will be some glass formed, but not where you want it.
 
The nuclear option is wishful thinking and will never work.

There are claims that cleanup workers were being sickened by the fumes from the oil they were exposed to. It just keeps getting worse and worse. The people of Pensacola and Destin area are next to get the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
How much PSI of pressure do you guys think the oil is at exiting the pipe ?
21.gif



As it exits the pipe, its at exactly the same pressure as the seawater at that depth. Assuming its 5000 feet deep and water pressure is 1 atmosphere (~14 psi) for every 32 feet... its about 2200 psi.
 
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