Plugspertise
No shortage of ideas as to how to plug BP's unfortunate subsea gusher. A very bright engineer who became a college professor at age 18 is suggesting that tires be pushed into the leaking riser and inflated. The oil industry uses this technique already - rubber packers are routinely used to seal off segments of well bores.
Even more interesting is the suggestion by Matthew Simmons that a nuclear device be used to seal off the well. This method still requires the drilling of a relief well which pushes the timeline out until August. It also would make it impossible to try any other methods after the device was detonated. However, big problems call for big solutions... like that asteroid movie.
The Russians did it! Watch "A nuclear explosion puts out a gas well blaze"
I'm all in favor of crowdsourcing radical solutions to problems but I think this one can be handled using tried and true methods.
Even more interesting is the suggestion by Matthew Simmons that a nuclear device be used to seal off the well. This method still requires the drilling of a relief well which pushes the timeline out until August. It also would make it impossible to try any other methods after the device was detonated. However, big problems call for big solutions... like that asteroid movie.
The Russians did it! Watch "A nuclear explosion puts out a gas well blaze"
I'm all in favor of crowdsourcing radical solutions to problems but I think this one can be handled using tried and true methods.