Top Kill Fails

[Zebo]

Wait a minute here, people are seriously considering that the solution to an environmental disaster is a nuclear detonation?

Oh lord the irony, my sides are aching from laughing...or is it crying?

That made me laugh which is hard ...I'm pretty sardonic.

 

[Kur]

You mean a standard nuke? Cause that's what the term implosion bomb refers to "as opposed to the now defunct gun type nuke". It's just like any other bomb really.

I don't know the exact name of the bombs but there are non-nuclear bombs that create an implosion type effect that are non-nuclear but have a somewhat small area of effect.

 

[Locut0s]

I don't know the exact name of the bombs but there are non-nuclear bombs that create an implosion type effect that are non-nuclear but have a somewhat small area of effect.

Well all bombs explode and create a rapidly expanding fireball that accelerates outwards at tremendous speed. Some of the larger bombs DO create a vacuum in their wake which sucks things back in afterwards but this effect would be no where near as powerful as the initial explosion. I don't think any type of purely implosive devise would even be physically possible.

 

[Possessed Freak]

After 3 Mile Island, we stopped all nuclear power plant construction. I fear that after this is resolved we will stop all off shore drilling construction.

I am all for reform, but do not stop construction just because of an accident. Learn and improve.

 

[Kappo]

It's interesting that people want to blame Obama or BP for this. What these people really want is to have cheap gas and no bad news. If something does go wrong they want a scapegoat. Drilling for oil in the Gulf is a challenging technological feat and sooner or later it was inevitable that something like this would happen and collectively We the People wouldn't have it any other way.

Every now and again I have said that an Apollo-like national energy program is needed. Usually the response was that we're spending money on it. Nothing like Iraq, or the bailout or what passed for health care reform, but something.

By the time the TCO of this mess hits fully I expect a trillion dollar price tag. Guess who will pay for it? We the People.


We're short-sighted cheap ass bastards who would rather spend a dollar to fix a catastrophe than invest 10 cents to prevent it.

Didn't we already have a plan in place that we paid for?

 

[DrPizza]

:thumbsup:

There's a tremendous subsurface plume of oil moving along the Gulf's Loop Current. It dwarfs the surface slick.

Has BP finally admitted to this/verified this? I recall that one of the research ships switched the research they were doing to researching this spill (because whatever they were researching would still be there when they got back.) They discovered the huge underwater plume. BP's PR spokesman said something to the effect of "I haven't heard about that, but in these here parts, I've always been taught that oil floats."

 

[CallMeJoe]

Has BP finally admitted to this/verified this? I recall that one of the research ships switched the research they were doing to researching this spill (because whatever they were researching would still be there when they got back.) They discovered the huge underwater plume. BP's PR spokesman said something to the effect of "I haven't heard about that, but in these here parts, I've always been taught that oil floats."

BP is denying such plumes could exist; since they're in the oil business, I suppose we should take their word over that of academics at the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Southern Mississippi University and Louisiana State University...

(Google "oil plumes")

 

[PJABBER]

BP is denying such plumes could exist; since they're in the oil business, I suppose we should take their word over that of academics at the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Southern Mississippi University and Louisiana State University...

(Google "oil plumes")

Can those plumes exist if BP is using heavy amounts of dispersant at the point of discharge? Isn't their purpose to break down the crude?

 

[vhx]

Well this sucks. Going to suck even more come hurricane season.

EDIT: Also GMA video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7MD9ldxGgQ

Shows the oil from a divers perspective and the effectiveness of the dispersant.

TLDR: The gulf is f'd.

 

[Patranus]

Didn't we already have a plan in place that we paid for?

They paid for the plan to be put in place in 1994 but didn't buy the equipment.

 

[Patranus]

After 3 Mile Island, we stopped all nuclear power plant construction. I fear that after this is resolved we will stop all off shore drilling construction.

I am all for reform, but do not stop construction just because of an accident. Learn and improve.

Yup.

And had the "progressive" not stonewalled nuclear for 30+ years (and the U.S.A embraced it like Europe) that little electric cars might be reality and the need for oil would probably be significantly less.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

It certainly seems possible to enginer some device that could be inserted into the riser and expand/inflate to form a seal against the inside of the riser pipe. If they can temporarily overcome the outflow pressure by pumping mud, they should be able to force a device like this down the well bore

I actually had a different idea that wouldn't risk damaging the pipe more, as something that expands and seals it might.

So, basically take the first idea they had with that huge metal box (the one with methane crystal formation), but instead of it being a metal box make it out of concrete. So, there is a massive concrete box that then has a cone/inverted funnel shape inside that goes up to where three hoses (three for redundancy) is attached to suck the oil out as it leaves the pipe.

Also, I'm not familiar with how methane crystals form, but as I understand it a major cause to their formation is the cold temp. If that is the case, why wouldn't a simple heater coil work (like an electric stove coil and electric heaters) imbedded into the steel prevent ice from being formed? Basically like a heating blanket that keeps the steel above the temp the crystals form at? Maybe I'm missing something here, anybody who has more knowledge on it care to comment?