Oil Spill ideas

[EJSTES2005]

Why cant they stack up like a 100 or 200 feet of the largest diameter concrete sewer type "tubes" that can be made quickly with a special locking system to hold them in place vertically and then shove as many sucking hoses in as they can ? fill up 20 or more tanker at a time with a water oil mix ?


The maybe gradually make the top larger until they can fit on a multi-hose lid on top ?
I'm no engineer but maybe these fuckers should of had a back up plan since they didn't install the acoustic switches or use adequate concrete base systems.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Yea, I was thinking boats unloading gravel and rocks on it.

Thats what I was thinking, just keep heaping up rocks on it till the weight of the rocks is more then the oil.

Not sure if they got boats with rocks. But I like rock love songs, so trying that approach.


But in metaphor.
Pirate Radio
http://www.hulu.com/watch/97896/movie-trailers-pirate-radio

[Nihil]

6. Good move.

> just keep heaping up rocks on it till the weight of the rocks is more then the oil

Just how big a "heap" do you think you are going to need to create here?

Consider that there was over 18,000 feet of rock on top of the oil
before someone put a pipe into it ... that is a *lot* of pressure to be
stopped by "heaping up rocks on it", especially when the water is "only"
5000' deep anyway ...

:banghead:

[RandomThoughts]

10. That is an interesting point.

When they put a cement cap on those wells, a common procedure, how much do they weigh?

It seems that the gravel would have to be linked together so that all the preasure is on the leak, maybe a V shape on the hole so all the weight is on the exit point of the leak.

[BeFree]

2. Makes sense to me

But then I'm not an BPer.

I like the idea.... a stack of pipe allowing the flow to continue unrestricted so there is no pressure problem and with enough room inside to hold thousands of gallons and the hoses suck all of it to the surface without polluting anymore?

That's a Big Phuking idea.

[EJSTES2005]

3. I don't know much about oil drilling

but hopefully someone comes up with something soon.

[atomic-fly]

4. keep em coming....good or bad

They are currently working on this "Top Hat" contraption.
Looks like they are more concerned about keeping the flow coming, than
stopping the leak for good.



The hole looks small enough where it could be plugged with some
dense material, but of course that is not their objective.


Actual leak.



This is what they are working with.

[Nihil]

7. That's the "monkeys & typewriters" approach isn't it?

At some point, the finite (though incredibly small) chance that
they'll generate something useful will pay off!

:P

FWIW,

> Looks like they are more concerned about keeping the flow coming,
> than stopping the leak for good.

Nope. The "thing" that they have to put in place is fighting against
so much flow that it cannot be emplaced without allowing flow through
the device. Imagine trying to block a high-volume firehose by putting
an empty can over the nozzle. Now scale that up by a few orders of
magnitude.

> but of course that is not their objective.

There are enough real problems with this situation (together with
plenty of real blame to go around) without having to dream up new
conspiracy theories to twitter about.

:hi:

[atomic-fly]

8. Petersen Inflatable Multi-Flex Pipe Plug Insertion System

Petersen Inflatable Multi-Flex Pipe Plug Insertion System installs a plug into a pressurized pipeline without removing pressure. This allows for maintenance of pipelines without reducing pressure or emptying the pipeline. There are two Petersen Hot Tap Insertion Systems.

They make these up to 96", it sounds better than pumping garbage into the hole.

[Nihil]

9. That would work if it was a leaking drain or maybe a water main ...

... but as the "heavy duty" version of this has a max inflation
pressure of 4.1 bar (~58psi) it really isn't that good an idea
for this application ...

Thanks anyway.
:shrug:

[Nihil]

5. No offence but you are right in one respect ...

> I'm no engineer

If you were, you would realise the scales involved with this problem.

Actually, you are right on a second thing too: maybe they should have
had a backup plan but if wishes were fishes, they'd probably be coated
in oil too ...