Physics professor: Oil leak could last for years

Physics professor Michio Kaku has some bad news: oil could gush from the leaking BP deepwater well for years.

After six methods for stopping the leak failed, BP is now trying a seventh method: "cut and cap." Underwater robots are attempting to trim the pipe connected to the blowout preventer -- and depending on how well the cut is made, either a "top hat" or "top cap" will be lowered from the surface which would then transport the spewing oil to a drilling ship.

The "cut and cap" method has several drawbacks. A perfect seal is thought to be almost impossible and some amount of oil will continue to leak into the Gulf. And the cap will have to be completely removed during inclement weather. The Gulf hurricane season began June 1, and it's expected to be the worst year since 2005.

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So this could be spewing oil for months. Could it last for a year?" asked (Today Show host Matt)Lauer.

"It could last for years, plural. Okay? If everything fails and all these different kinds of relief wells don't work, it could be spewing stuff into the Gulf until we have dead zones, entire dead zones in the Gulf. For years," Kaku said.

This is one of the smartest people alive. He says all of these methods BP has tried have worked at 200 feet underwater. He also reminds people this is a mile under water.

He makes a point too that this is all to capture the oil. Not seal the leak.

Link to video interview on today's Today Show.
People are saying there is too much negativity about this spill. Too much doom and gloom. Dr. Kaku certainly seems to not be very optimistic either.


[edit on 2-6-2010 by webpirate]

I Agree, this is just a greedy way to get more oil as more keeps leaking. The focus is to stop the oil gushing into the ocean ASAP. This oil is coming from some where with tons of pressure. If somthing is not pumped into there and this continues it could POSSIBLE colapse and cause a large "natural well" instead of this small pimple of a well.

This guy knows as much about the problem in the Gulf as I know about string theory. I have a conversationally familiar but would be absolutely lost actually doing the mathematics. His comments about the Gulf prove likewise.