Fix the oil leak...

[ColJack]

how far down is this pipe? presumably too deep for divers?

how is the water / oill mix freezing if the rest of the ocean around it isn't? it can't be that cold or it would be a block of ice surely..?

 

[snico]

how far down is this pipe? presumably too deep for divers?

how is the water / oill mix freezing if the rest of the ocean around it isn't? it can't be that cold or it would be a block of ice surely..?

Its about 5000 ft depth to the sea bed, gas leaking from the pipe mixing with cold sea water creates crystals which then rise, blocking off the funnel they placed on the leak

 

[Mickymoody]

They are currently pumping heavy mud(?) and concrete into the pipe to prevent the leak.

Obama has actually asked for the population to provide an answer, so if it's posted in this thread, does the OP get a lifetime tax break?

The leak is from a well head pipe, that's 3 meters across I believe, pretty big pipe. So no valves to switch off. I think plan D is to cut the pipe, and cap it, but would take many months to organise.

My method of madness would be to drill a small hole in the pipe before the leak, then sink a sheet metal down to the site, before the leak but after the drilled hole, severing the pipe in two, but the drilled hole would create backpressure in the pipe, thus sucking the plate metal into place, forming a seal, the drilled hole can then be tapped and drained off at a lower pressure than the backpressure, (as it's being pumped upto the surface), while the block is welded, and everything is under control.

Do I win?

 

[LastMagicBean]

Do I win?

Nope..............Balloon......

 

[Mickymoody]

The problem with using a balloon, is that the pressure down there is so high, that not even normal submarines can operate at that depth, they would be crushed by the pressure. They are using specially built deep sea unmanned submersibles.

So what type of iron balloon would work?

Unless, of course, you are calling me a balloon, in which case that's fine, when I win the prize!

 

[maltaron]

It would have been solved if the yanks had not played the blame game with BP at the beginning. It should have been "all hands to the pump" to solve the problem, then sort out who pays.

 

[joe-90]

I don't see how drilling another bore hole will fully sort it either - what's to stop it coming out along with the new stuff?

 

[empip]

....Obama has been down there himself and still ain't fixed, he's got a nobel prize so if he can't fix it no one can.

They gave one of those to Al Gore didn't they ? Out of date Green shield stamps may have more value now....

 

[ColJack]

The problem with using a balloon, is that the pressure down there is so high, that not even normal submarines can operate at that depth, they would be crushed by the pressure. They are using specially built deep sea unmanned submersibles.

So what type of iron balloon would work?

Unless, of course, you are calling me a balloon, in which case that's fine, when I win the prize!

pressure is relative..
you don't have to fill a baloon with air..

if you take it down flat then it's empty inside, then you pump something into it that's denser than salt water, like mud or some other liquid..

this is one way they were considering for raising the titanic, lots of balloons on it then fill them with fresh water, as fresh water floats on top of salt water the balloons would rise..

 

[JMLanders]

[if you take it down flat then it's empty inside, then you pump something into it that's denser than salt water, like mud or some other liquid...

Or even salt water itself. It only needs to be held in place long enough to creates a suitable sarcophagos

 

[ColJack]

I was thinking that mud, having a solid component, would be better as once in it's less likely to deform and be pushed out..

 

[JMLanders]

I was thinking that mud, having a solid component, would be better as once in it's less likely to deform and be pushed out..

Quite probably. I was thinking of something that could be pumped in quickly and easily with a high pressure pump that would be less likely to get jammed up

 

[oompah]

I don't see how drilling another bore hole will fully sort it either - what's to stop it coming out along with the new stuff?

Heres an article explaining why the are drilling two extra bore holes,
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...n-to-seal-oil-leak-at-first-try-update1-.html
With reference to the leak in the Timor sea I don't recall hearing of that when it happened.

 

[Mickymoody]

Seems the latest idea is quite close to my own...cut off the broken bit, with a chopper, as I suggested, then also cut off the well head end, where the pipe is bent, and cap it.

I thought the pipe was meant to be lying flat, apparently not, it fell over and bent during the initial failure.

A UK company with millions in reserve, but they charge us so much for fuel! Who's going to pay at the end of this? US. (No - not the U.S. - me and you!) And also American wildlife.

I have half a mind to do my next car oil change on the forecourt of a BP station, and when they complain about the spillage, either soak it up, and say 'see!', or say 'you're the experts, sort it'..

Kinda middling protestor lol

 

[joinerjohn]

I don't see how drilling another bore hole will fully sort it either - what's to stop it coming out along with the new stuff?

Heres an article explaining why the are drilling two extra bore holes,
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...n-to-seal-oil-leak-at-first-try-update1-.html
With reference to the leak in the Timor sea I don't recall hearing of that when it happened.

Some expert they have then..
Quote" “What really separates them is the deep water in Gulf of Mexico,” he said by telephone today. “They are dealing with much higher pressures than the Apollo missions had in space.”"

Obvious there, the pressure in space is next to nothing!!
Where do BP get these "experts" from???