Dumb question on oil spill: why can't they just lower a really big, heavy slab of concrete on it?

[yurbud]

it seems like most of solutions they're trying are methods to control not stop the flow.

This is another good reason to take BP out of the driver's seat and put them into the back of a paddy wagon.

[gateley]

1. I think the pressure would just blow it right off. If that would work, they would

have done it. It's costing them money every day they don't contain this, so we know they're motivated.

[yurbud]

3. as the guy posted below, are you sure they haven't done it because they want to mend it not end it?

[gateley]

7. Again, if they could have mended it they would have. Even if they mended it,

I don't think they'd be allowed to drill at that site because of all the clean up that needs to be done. I've been glued to the cams, reading industry blogs (that are over my head) and have learned a lot. I'm personally convinced they want this over with as soon as possible because of the $$$. I'm also convinced they're lying about the extent of the damage and that BP is a vile, evil corporation, so I'm not kidding myself their motives are because they want to do the "right" thing. It's always the money. Always.

[subsuelo]

17. Why aren't they going to be allowed to drill at that site?

I've tried to keep up with all the latest, but I miss some things. Is there some official word that they will no longer be allowed drilling access? You say because of necessary clean up, but I don't see how that would stop them from continued drilling there. This will take some government action, which I have not seen any indication as of yet. (again, I could have missed something)

[Hempathy]

12. Geez...not this shit again...

This well will never be used as a production well.

That has been stated VERY clearly, MANY times throughout this ordeal.

Some people REALLY need to start paying attention. It's really not that hard.

[yurbud]

26. oil companies say a lot of things that turn out to not be true.

[Hempathy]

27. With all the damage done to the riser, anybody who thinks that it's going to be a production well...

is not thinking very clearly.

They also don't have a very knowledgable grasp on the reality of the process that will be used to seal the well off by the relief wells.

Sad, really.

You'd think that they'd at least have the intellectual curiosity to learn the facts before making ill-informed assumptions...or posing ignorant questions.

Apparently not.

[rurallib]

13. plus they would have the bubble problem like the top hat.

[begin_within]

2. They don't want to stop the flow, because to them it's liquid gold

[Individualist]

5. +1

[Webster Green]

8. They are going to kill this well. (eventually).

This is not going to be a production well. It's going to be sealed and abandoned.

[harkadog]

10. It's not liquid gold when it is in the water

If they stop the flow they can still access the reservoir at other places. That is what the relief well that is being drilled is for.

[Webster Green]

15. The relief well is not being drilled to tap the reservoir.

The relief well is going to intersect the damaged well pipe and fill it with heavy drilling mud and then concrete.

This well will not be used for production.

Real info from pros: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6549

[harkadog]

24. I was replying to the poster who was implying BP did not want to stop he flow

So they could continue to use the oil. That is nonsense.

[uponit7771]

4. Fishers mostly as I understood tonight on hardball but not a bad idea, should post this on...

...BP's website.

It'd be practically the same thing an explosion would do but more precise.

[Webster Green]

9. You all really need to visit the oil drum site.

This stuff has been discussed many times by the pros over there.

It is one of the best possible sources for what's going on down there, what might work, and what will not work (and why).

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6549

[USArmyParatrooper]

6. I'm not an engineer but

it seems to me it would fail to create a seal. The oil is gushing out of busted pipes.

A side note, and that depth the water pressure is 2000 pounds per square inch! If you were at the bottom it would be like having a small car placed on every inch of your body. That is insane pressure.

[applegrove]

11. Why can't they just dump a gazillion tons of sand on the hole?

[Webster Green]

14. Oh my.

10,000 psi. (at least). Sand would quickly be dispersed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. And that is without counting the fluid dynamics

and the different areas in the water column. People do not realize that water temp in the water column can be the same up to oh lets say 700 feet, and then you have a "wall" and the next layer is oh for shits and giggles 40 degrees.

The Water at that depth is bellow freezing. It is ONLY still liquid, and syrupy as hell, because of that column of water over it, and the pressure.

Boyle's Law comes to mind...

(And all that stuff one slept through in Physics class helps to understand this at the most basic of levels)

[Webster Green]

19. Interesting.

I thought the water temp down there was just below freezing, like 34 degrees F.

I sure never made it to physics. Math threw me for a loop, and still does. I have no affinity for it whatsoever. It makes me nuts. :crazy:

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Hubby explained why one of the physicists did not

go into those pesky details on the national teevee... he'd have to deal with this water is bellow freezing... which most folks will not get.

I'll admit, I got mechanical advantage FINALLY, not in physics class, my teach sucked... but in mountain rescue... suddenly all those formulas clicked. And this about pressure... I never quite was nuts enough to volunteer for the water rescue team... I hate swimming, but we were taught advanced material on the Bends... and all that joy. And divers never ever go that deep, when you look at the water column... we are squishies. When we did the Bends, that is when Boyle's Law FINALLY made sense. You try to explain the theory, I am thick as a brick, but put it in a real world application... and it finally clicks.

I hated to swim but was crazy enough to volunteer for some HAZMAT training. At least had the common sense not to volunteer for the main teams...

:-)

Now talk about craaaazzzyyyy... and of course getting tested for all kinds of crap every three months...

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Pressure

the ONLY final solution to this are relief wells. Everything else, if it works, will mitigate the damage.

[TransitJohn]

20. Bouncy and thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouyancy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure

[meow mix]

22. lots of pressure it would just tunnel out through the bottom..

it will just blast a way through the surounding seafloor, even if you drop mt everest on it.

[gristy]

23. Yes. It would leak out everywhere. In channels under the slab. In (reported) cracks in the casing.

[TwilightGardener]

25. How about lead? Like giant lead sinkers. And since it's soft, maybe the sinkers will deform

once in place under the pressure and fuse together. That right there was my Deep Thought Of The Day.