Plans to nuke BP oil spill gathers steam

[Ickorus]

Article:

You can stop polishing your glasses ? you're reading that right. A plan proposed to detonate a nuke to seal off that troublesome oil well is gaining support with each of BP's failures. The Russians apparently used the tactic five times between 1966 and 1981. They went four for five.

Still, those first four times saw wells successfully sealed off, including one that had been raging for three years (the spill in the Gulf ? the worst oil leak in U.S. history ? has been at it for over 40 days, by comparison). The method didn't work for the last well, and those responsible wonder if they just had poor geological data.

The call to go nuclear is spearheaded by voices such as Matt Simmons, a Houston energy expert and investment banker, who claimed the plan was thanks to "all the best scientists." He went on, saying, "Probably the only thing we can do is create a weapon system and send it down 18,000 feet and detonate it, hopefully encasing the oil."

The government's Energy Department was not as enthralled, as one senior official remarked, "It's crazy."

Will it ever happen? According to an anonymous source at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico ? y'know, the guys and gals who created the Bomb in the first place ? no. "It's not going to happen," continuing on with "Technically, it would be exploring new ground in the midst of a disaster ? and you might make it worse."

Source [http://dvice.com/archives/2010/06/nuking-the-oil.php]

I'd hate to know what Mr. Simmons does when he gets a bug problem.

 

[Irridium]

Perhaps this is why you should have, oh whats the word... a contingency plan for this kind of thing!

Does no one have any foresight?

 

[LongAndShort]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

That'd be awesome! And you yanks'd finally use your nukes instead of just letting them sit and collect cobwebs.

Who knows what other issues can be solved with nukes?

 

[Icecoldcynic]

They should just attach a really big pipe to wherever the oil is leaking from, that then diverts back into the system. Easy.

 

[Glamorgan]

They should just attach a really big pipe to wherever the oil is leaking from, that then diverts back into the system. Easy.

While that may be true, everything is better with explosions.
LAWYERED!!!

 

[Dexiro]

They should just attach a really big pipe to wherever the oil is leaking from, that then diverts back into the system. Easy.

I think they already tried that twice. Although i can't remember them saying what went wrong with it other than "it didn't work".

 

[mb16]

They should just attach a really big pipe to wherever the oil is leaking from, that then diverts back into the system. Easy.

i like this plan get a 5m,10m,15m wide pipe, what ever is needed. then pin in over the well the use a funnel to link it to a smaller pipe with a pump at the top to bring it to the surface. then you can use a oil tanker to hold the oil/water mix. sure you many not stop it but you stop it spreading

or get a steel bung (pole) a few mm less than the current broken pipe and ram it im and then weld it in place

 

[fix-the-spade]

Does no one have any foresight?

Didn't you know, everything that makes a profit is perfectly safe and will never go wrong, never run out and never do something unexpected.

Positive trends are permanent people, don't let those nay saying commies tell you otherwise!

 

[vallorn]

theyve already capped the well and are siphoning away the oil. as seen here

plus detonating a nuke underwater releases a lot of fallout into the ocean and atmosphere via radioactive steam.

and im sick of people saying that BP arnt doing enough to cap the well. remember that every barral of oil lost from that leak is a barrel that THEY CANT SELL. plus the fact that they have to pay for the cleanup means that they'r gonna lose Billions of pounds on this.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I hadn't heard much about this before and thought, 'well I suppose they could just put some big ole dam around the well and just scoop up all the oil, doesn't stop it leaking but...oh, it's underwater...fuuuuuuuck'

 

[Plank of Wood]

This is by far the manliest thing ever proposed.

"Sir, we're running out of ideas to stop the oil flow!"
"You pussies don't know jack shit! There's only one way to solve any problem, and that solution is a NUKE!"
"But what about fallout! The air around it will be almost unbreathable!"
"Pussy! I don't need no air! I get my oxygen from two things: Punching and NUKING! In fact, I'll RIDE THE NUKE DOWN MYSELF! YEEEHAW!"

And that is why Gordon Freeman got demoted to cart pusher.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Nukes make everything moar awesome, I say go for it!

 

[VanityGirl]

How awful of an idea! Maybe a regular bomb, but a nuke? Wouldn't that be... bad? I mean, wouldn't all that radiation be harmful to wildlife and humans who swim in the ocean?

 

[Abedeus]

How awful of an idea! Maybe a regular bomb, but a nuke? Wouldn't that be... bad? I mean, wouldn't all that radiation be harmful to wildlife and humans who swim in the ocean?

You wuss, radiation makes people grow big, and strong, as opposed to killing them in a painful and horrible death.

Be a man, eat a battery a day!

 

[Lord George]

What happens if Cthulhu retaliates though?

 

[MindBullets]

Wow! What could possibly go wrong?

 

[e2density]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

That'd be awesome! And you yanks'd finally use your nukes instead of just letting them sit and collect cobwebs.

Who knows what other issues can be solved with nukes?

*Cough* Climate Change *Cough*

 

[Davrel]

I suggest a 50mt warhead minimum...just to be safe (and unbelievably awesome).

 

[Evil the White]

NUKE IT FROM ORBIT

Sorry, had to be done.

I'm surprised this hasn't come up sooner.

 

[Sonicron]

Yeah, no. This 'solution' has the potential of screwing with the aquatic ecosystem in ways the oil spill couldn't possibly manage. They need to find the proper siphoning process, that's all... detonating a nuke down there could even exacerbate the oil spill problem on top of all the other crap it might cause.