Why do people think nukes/dynamite will stop the gulf oil leaks?

The way it works is they drill a hole down into the ocean floor to some specific depth. They drill the hole in close proximity to the original well's hole.

One must remember the drilled hole for the oil well is very deep. The drill hole that the horizon was drilling was to target at a depth of around 18,000 feet deep. That is pretty deep and allows a charge to be placed adjacent to the main drilling hole.

Upon detonation of the nuclear package, inside a drill hole probably at a depth of around 100 feet or so, it would effective seal off the main drill hole adjacent to it.

Remember, all that has to be collapsed is the drill hole to the reservoir, which is several thousand feet deep.


It is also at a depth of over 5,000 feet underwater already. 5000 feet is almost a mile deep.

We have done underwater nuclear detonations in the past. They were usually conducted with the nuclear device at a depth of around 500 feet.

Compare 500 feet, to over 5000 feet. The effects on the surface would be minimal.

I for one am for it. Get it over with already. BP needs to stop trying to salvage the oil well and they need to just seal it.

Not to mention I would love to see one less nuclear weapon around in the world. Lets put them to peaceful uses.

Originally posted by spy66
No, but i am a well intervention supervisor so i know what i am talking about.

This well can not be compared to a Russian well or any other well. Because they are never the same.
The formation surrounding this well from sea bed to the reservoir cap, can never be associated with a well at a totally different location that has a totally different formation build up.

This is just common sense.

Thanks for posting here spy66, it's nice to see someone who knows what they're talking about.

I was formerly an open hole engineer and every open hole has the potential for "blowing out" like this, if the "drilling mud" doesn't have the proper density to contain the pressure. I think you're right that blowing it up would be a bad idea, not only is it possible it won't work, but it could actually make the problem ten times worse and harder to solve.

Originally posted by boaby_phet
also, if you are going to call an idea stupid, please share YOUR idea! as if your just calling ideas stupid and not coming up with any of your own your basicly just trolling and thats pretty pointless!

Edit - @spy66, just seen your reply, i get what ya mean now ! i was unsure before . i dont think their is going to be any strait forward answer to this problem if im honest, if that was the case it would probably have been stopped by now.

OK the idea of blowing it up is stupid, but I don't even have to come up with my own idea. I can read the news and see the plans discussed and know they are much better plans than blowing it up.

The relief well was mentioned in another thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by DaddyBare
ROBERT, La. - The ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Development Drill III had begun operations for drilling a relief well Monday, May 3, 2010. A relief well is designed to drill down and intersect the existing well bore and pump heavy fluids and cement in to stop the leaking oil. Photo provided by Transocean.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/483059826af1.jpg[/atsimg]

The heavy fluids are how all open holes are contained. If it weren't for the heavy fluids we use called "drilling mud", just about all open holes would "blow out" or leak like this one. So getting heavy fluids in the hole will work, as long as we don't blow up the hole first.

I looked for an update and found this:

news.yahoo.com...

The first chance to choke off the flow for good should come in about a week. Engineers plan to shoot heavy mud into the crippled blowout preventer on top of the well, then permanently entomb the leak in concrete. If that doesn't work, crews also can shoot golf balls and knotted rope into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it, Wells said.

The final choice to end the leak is a relief well, but it is more than two months from completion.

I'm not sure why it will take 2 months to complete the relief well but ultimately that will stop it if they do it right and pump in heavy fluids. Shooting the heavy fluids into the blowout preventer may not work because they may not get the heavy fluids to go down far enough, but it's worth a try. The other option with the relief well in 2 months is to shoot the heavy fluids into the hole at much deeper depths, and is more sure to work.

The standard way to cap a old pumped out well is to cement the bottom at and above the perforations up to the next cap rock level.

Then explosives are put in the well and blasted making a void.
this is pumped full of cement and filled with more cement to the next cap rock level.

This is continued till the well is up to water level.

This is the way its done to prevent oil from seeping unto water tables above the oil strata.

But these are old pumped out wells on land without high pressures like this blowout.