One expert is calling on the U.S. government to nuke the Gulf oil spill. Christopher Brownfield, in an article at The Daily Beast, suggested that the government use nuclear or conventional explosives to “destroy the well and put the matter to rest.” Brownfield has experience with nuclear weapons; he’s a former nuclear submarine officer, an Iraq veteran, and a visiting scholar on nuclear policy at Columbia University. Brownfield says CNN reported last Thursday that the Russians used nuclear explosives on four separate occasions to seal runaway oil and gas wells underwater.
According to CBS News, at least one Russian newspaper has urged the U.S. to use nuclear explosives. What do you think of the use of nuclear explosives to close the BP oil well?
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I’m not a geoscientist, so my opinion counts for nothing.
In 1993 we invented and perfected explosive technologies using conventional explosives to “crimp” and/or crush “wild cat” oil wells.
To be clear there is no single “off-the-shelf” solution
Has explosive crimping ever been used to close a well at this depth?
Quick answer – NO
No: explosive crimping has not been used at this depth.
We won’t hide fact we are in new territory.
This technology has never been proven at this depth.
There has never been a blowout at this depth, before.
Proofing shots were carried out in water.
Water and pressure at depth are irrelevant to the technology & process.
There is no “off-the-shelf” solution our scientists and engineers need access to information which only BP, Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton have. Once our team has had access to intelligence, we can begin CFD modeling and proofing shots.
We have a plan of validation starting with mock-up proof-of-concept at Aberdeen SuperPond facility, (Canada DND DRES and other assets are standing-by to add to the brain trust including (Sandia Labs, NSWC and your DOD Energetics Center). Then at depth “proofing Shot’s” on remnant oil wells of known construction & pipe to fine-tune, additional modeling based upon after blast analysis will be done, final tweaking of the model and shot design/configuration, then and only then would we be in a position to go for the real deal.
From this Validation Plan, we would be able at any time through this process to give degrees of probabilities of effectiveness – before any “real shot” was done.
The more time we have tweaking the model(s), proofing shots and performing after blast analysis, the tighter our shot predictability becomes and our success rate increases exponentially.
Not golf balls!!! How about lead fishing wieghts? Like one pound rounds.
TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT SAVE US SIR, WY NOT THINK OF MAKING A ECO FRIENDLY NUKE < SOUND GREAT BLOW IT UP IT Rains
not Toys.r.us stuff ,,stop trying to say how to help build the Frankenstein oil farm under the oiled ocean, one pipe one hole easy to fix,,,,,,, 1000 pipes months to fix ,,,,,bullet to the head buy earth, mabey they sould try some gorilla tape yeahhh
besides fixing the problem now, in the future they should have a shutt off valve every 5 or 10 miles!!!so this problem can be avoided in the future, you will never have a spill bigger than what is inside the 5 or 10 miles of pipping!!!!!, they have to forget about what this line provides and completely seal it forever and start fresh!!!
OMG theres someone with brains, you are correct my hart goes to you, are earth likes inventors like you
your good stuff , like my goodness you are BRAINS Marlon big hugs and i bow agian to your masterfull thinking, I HOPE ALL YOUr DREAMs COME TRUE marlon i bow once more tip my hat turn around and leave, HOPE IS ALL WE NEED OH AND COMMON SINCE LIKE MAROLN WILL SAVE US ALL AND LOVE, ,,,,MONEY AND TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT,mabey just might fly us away from the oiled earth thats about it.
Well, this well is at just over 1 mile down, so I don’t think that would work, the blowout preventer that failed is in essence a large shut-off valve, now that it is broken, there is nothing between it and the big blue sea.
You know none of this is going to work. But we have to tip toe around bleeding hearts. We will eventually nuke the leak.
We should have done it two weeks ago. But then people would have bitched about how we should have tried the Top Kill method. All those poor dead fish from the nuclear blast.
And BP would be saying how it would have worked. Their 60% possibility would then be 90% and the government should not have done it.
Every day we jerk around with “simpler” methods the bigger the mess.
Push the button and blow that leak back to prehistoric times.
Yeah, well, for the Nuke to be effective, it needs to be buried in the rock beside the well. This technique works by deforming rock and thus pinching/crimping the well.
In order to get the Nuke into the rock, one needs to drill a deep hole beside the well, stuff the nuke in, and then back-fill the hole with something like concrete, and only then can you light the fuse.
So, the Nuke option will in essence take just as long, or longer (since nukes are fairly large) than drilling the two relief wells. I think that in reality is one of the biggest reasons that it is not being aggressively pursued.
Here is an opportunity to use a nuclear weapon for what could be a positive outcome, but still someone doesn’t have the courage to take BP out of the equation and stop something that will kill far more than the nuke would have had it been used weeks ago.
It’s funny how the word “expert” triggers a sense of “this will work.” The 60-70% chance of success of the Top Kill procedure was also given by experts. Yet it didn’t work. Fact is, the most reliable method to find the right solution is trial and error. We have never tried solving an oil spill this deep with a nuclear head.
Using a nuke is enough of a problem in itself. Most marine life in the area will be exterminated, which you might argue will happen if the oil keeps spewing. Another challenge we won’t have to deal with unless we “nuke the well” is deciding how much energy the explosion should deliver. Too little will not work; too much will make the problem much worse. And the most important complication that will result from this approach is, if you don’t succeed, you will probably not have the chance for a second go. The scene will have changed.
I really want the oil to stop leaking, but this method doesn’t hold the highest success rate; digging relief wells does. On the other hand, it’s the potential solution associated with the biggest risk factors.
Well stated, and more importantly, if you don’t succeed, and the well continues leaking you now not only have a major oil leak at 5000 ft, you now have a major radio-active oil leak at 5000 ft… which is a lot worse…
How about giving us some facts and numbers before asking a question like “should we nuke the well.”
I don’t know. How much room is between the ocean floor and the oil pocket? That might be the first question to ask. I have yet to see any news channel actually make a drawing of what the lay of the land looks like. What are we dealing with exactly?
These would be good things to know before deciding to nuke something no?
It’s hard to believe that anyone is going to be able to model the effects of a nuclear explosion (e.g. at that depth and with that particular geoformation) well enough to make a secure decision.
Thousands (millions?) of tonnes of oil/water/dispersant droplets blasted into the air, who knows what current and oil plume disruptions and so on. And will it work? What if it just makes the leak worse?
It’s starting to seem as if the planet has the equivalent of defense mechanisms to protect itself. Too much CO2 – temperatures up until lifeforms creating the CO2 die off or stop. Too much drilling and damage to earth’s crust – spew out insane volumes of toxic compounds. Nuclear attack – ???
And if it’s a bust – who will deal with the civilian and economic consequences? Military rule all round?
About the possibility of radiation. That’s why you explode the nuke deep in the well or underground close to it. The blast caves in the rock above it and seals the radiation in.
I’ve seen some concerns on the web regarding a Tsunami if they used a Nuke: the deeper it’s buried the smaller the displacement of materials which is what would cause a Tsunami. The mathematics of crater size are explained here:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Effects/UndergroundEffects.html
even if it displaced something on the order of tens to hundreds of cubic metres would not cause a tsunami. It maybe a violation of the PTBT but that sure as s**t wouldn’t be the first international law the US violated. Anyhow I’m putting together a Facebook group in support of the nuclear option.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=130672743611109
My suggestion for sealing the leak….. Use a smaller pipe with some kind of inflatable material at the end and hydraulically inflate it inside of the well. Yours truly, Willis A. Thoen
Okay, so they drill holes and shove in the nukes, boom! rock and land etc cave in and seal leak. Then these bastards will go 5 – 10 – 20 miles away, set up shop and start pumping out some radioactive oil for us to use. This is the shit we get for not getting off this oil 30 damn years ago. We wanted oil, well we sure as hell have all we can handle now.
How to stop the Gulf oil gusher: Nuke it!
Beleaguered multinational oil giant, British Petroleum, has tried one fix after another to choke off the oil gusher one mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Top hat, top kill, and five other solutions have all failed.
Now some experts are citing a successful fix that the Soviet Union used to kill runaway wells. According to Russian reports, during the Soviet era engineering experts relied on thermonuclear devices to cap wells that had become oil catastrophes. Presumably, five different incidents were dealt with by detonating low-yield nuclear bombs.
Geologists explain, reports Komsomoloskaya Pravda, that the explosion fuses rock strata and instantaneously seals the bore hole.
http://www.helium.com/items/1850155-how-to-stop-the-gulf-oil-gusher-nuke-it
Just don’t blow a bigger hole into the ocean floor.
Former nuclear weapons tech in the US Navy. I’m having trouble understanding what these risks are. Since we are talking about crushing a 21″ steel pipe, something like to a depth of a few hundred feet below the sea floor, it seems to me the only risk is not using a powerful enough detonation. The difference in explosive power required to do that and one that would create all these wild speculative destructive scenarios is immense. Not being a physicist or geologist but simply taking a “shot in the dark” I would think a small tactical size nuke of 10 to 20 TONS (not kilotons) would accomplish that. Even if it required a substantially larger detonation, it wouldn’t be anything nearly powerful enough to create fissures in the crust, radiation fallout, or even very measurable radiation contamination anywhere but in the immediate blast area. Under a mile of seawater I can’t see it making more than a ripple at the surface.
I’m for ending this nightmare now with a well planned explosion. Let the fanatics scream the sky is falling and “we’re all gonna die” all they want. Nothing a small nuke does could compare to the ecosystem damage that will occur if this doesn’t end soon.
DO IT NOW, STOP WITH THE RELEAF HOLES ITS ALMOST SO LATE
STOP THE P+OIL PIPE FARM UNDER THE OCEAN YOU KNOW WHAT I CALL BPS OIL PIPE FARM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA ok the tousand pipes that are leaking there 1000 leaky penis’s and will have to be fix lots, IT A BIG OIL POCKET BP’S WORM HOLE IS IN MILLIONS BILLION METRIC TONS OF PRESSURS WE CAN NOT PRESESSIT WITH THE FIX ONE HOLE ONE POLE EASY TO FIX BP ” 1000 leaking oil penis’s 3 vaginas all in 1 hotel room ,the erath is done say bye poeple , Classic way one penis one vagina love and happyness one easy fix
oh thos soon to be 3 sluts in the hotel romm had AIDS ;( happy sailing im going to puck this world is no good no more
I am not a scientist just a photographer and former photographer (retired) from the USAF, trying to make a living in business as a beach photographer on the Gulf Coast since 2002. My business is taking a hit but not as bad of course as the poor fishermen and shrimpers on this coast. BP lost my credibility when the CEO, Tony Hayward told reporters initially that the oil leak was so small compared to big Gulf of Mexico. That sums it up for me how this arrogant bastard feels about what his company did. If this is the attitude from the top down then anything they do to stop the leak will not be relevant to me. I think our planet or Mother Nature for that matter is trying to tell us something here. It is like Karma, what goes around comes around. We want our oil from the earth well here it is in your face. We have to step back a minute and truly see what we are doing to ourselves in the name of greed. We knew that in these depths we are probing in the realm of the unknown but we continued just to appease our lust for oil. Let us learn from this disaster and move on. Mother Nature is giving us a valuable lesson, don’t f#!k with her.
Hello All… I am about to receive my PhD in Geology, and I have been telling my friends and colleagues that a tactical nuclear blast crimp would have decisively ended this disaster within a week of the initial failure of the well had the decision been made right away. I am still in strong support of the nuke. The proof of the problem (or how BP sees it) is in the language they are continuing to use; phrases like “optimize production” mean that they are still looking at the well as a potential revenue source, as opposed to the source of the worst ecological disaster in US history. The powers that be are doing everything possible to preserve the structural integrity of the well rather than shut it down permanently.
Since moving things provide less resistance I don’t think that you can count on any kind of blast to compact something that will stop the ejection of the oil.
i hate to alarm all you rocket scientists….but – we are fucked!
>Russia’s department of natural resources summed it up nicely:
total destruction of the eastern united states.
Considering that there are “plumes” being reported out as far as 20 miles from the hole, it looks like the pressure is already so great that the pressure alone is breaking the casing apart and then the rock apart after breaching that. I do not believe a nuke will make things better, but worse. What I want to know is why the CEO of BP sold 44% of his stock just a little over a week before it blew, along with goldman sachs and other banks that sold over 40% of their stocks in the week prior to this event.
I would also like to know why attorneys are stating that workers from the Rig itself was making depositions that the leadership on the rig was arguing with BP execs for weeks prior to the actual event and warning them that the well was already compromised and was going to blow if they kept going.
This well will flow for years to comes while they try to figure out what to do.
This is what the green freaks get you. We can not drill on land, so they moved to the water. Louisiana approved it in 500 ft of water, but Washington said NO because the green freaks were crying! move out a little further to 5000 ft of water they said.
If this would have been on land, it would have made a mess, but it could have been stopped once an accident happened because you could get more accurate info because it is easier to access compared to 5k ft below the surface of the water just to the floor of the gulf~!
I think the explosive idea has real merit, since you could seal and fracture the rock around the bore hole. Nukes, not so much, simply because of their nasty side effects. I work for a govt. contractor who has worked on sub sea and submarine systems for decades. The Navy already has the deepwater technology to handle this type of explosive project. Frankly, if I was the Prez, I would have turned it over to the Navy after the 1st week (not a slight to USCG who doesn’t have the budget and resulting toys the Navy does). Unfortunately, I think the Govt. and the Prez are reluctant to take over because then they would be responsible for the results – its easier to sue BP afterwards. Sad though, because the Gulf is being ruined because of indecision and fear of accountability.
SOLUTION : GRADUALLY Stoppering the Gulf Oil
Gusher with an EXTREMELY-SLOW_!, Long,
Tapered ‘Missile-Contraption’ Guided INTO
That Pipe To Sequentially Extend Many sets-of
‘Anchoring-Rails’ Against Pipe’s Interior.
Its body and ‘head’ possessed of enough
slippery bearing-surfaces and flexibility ….
… Thru a pipe neatly cut and chamfered or
‘funneled-at-that-pipe-entrance’. Removable ??
Use on Future Such ..! Refs.: EADS & Raytheon
Hey_! :
My verified-by-NIST_(then NBS) fuel-and-smog
saving program-invention (stolen by industry,
as is the norm), “Meister Grind”, has, from 1983,
already, saved the world enough fuel and smog –
if indirectly, as a quality-control aid (i.e.,
cam-profile designer’s intent realized) in
camshaft production (masterless and master-cam).
Nuke the gulf are you outta ur damn mind, theres 40% methane on the sea floor and a possible methane bubble, nuke and the whole gulf coast will go kaaaaaaaboom! then a tsunami will follow, and so forth :p
I would have to disagree with methane bubble explosion comment made. Where is all the Oxygen going to come from to oxidize and create the explosion subsea??? There is n ot any!!. For this same reason, the oil/gas did not explode until it actually made
it to the deepwater horizon platform and had all things common to any fire/ explosion. Ignition source, Oxidizable fuel source, Oxygen (aprox 27%). So, if you do not have one of those three then you do not have an exothermic explosion or fire. So, I think no one wants to nuke the gulf right now, b/c of all the seafood that comes out of it to our tables and what not, but I think serious consideration will be given if the first interventional well does not do the job. However, unless we want an unstopable problem on our hand, it would be wise to not ignore the possible degredation of the downhole piping and 12 degree tilitng of the BOP(by the way it weighs 254tons, and is 30+ feet tall.) I think it might be prudent to start drilling a hole in the correct proximity for a controlled collapse of the formation for placement of a nuke. If that option is ever needed, it will take a few months to complete.
The real problem is that the extreme pressures and corrosive substances pick up sediment from the well and act like a sand blaster but more intense. So what do you do when the whole caseing and BOP are ejected from the well??? Anyhow, it seems as though BP is still planning on trying to capitalize on the reserves found in the well, and I think that this is hampering their desire to actually shut it down. Its almost like telling a gold miner that found the biggest deposit of gold ever to blow up his mine, of course there is a conflict of interest there.
The methane ice on the ocean floor would expand its volume a hundred times into methane gas if headed by a thermonuclear explosion. An incredibly huge bubble would be created, causing a tsunami.
Let’s face it. No one really knows what would happen if the explosion option were executed, nuclear or conventional, because no one really knows what’s going on in the well itself or the surrounding geology. Who can be trusted to make a qualified risk evaluation untainted by political considerations? The Obama administration sees no political capital in taking command of the situation and potentially being blamed for making it worse. Meanwhile, the administration’s political opposition sees a prolonged crisis as their best shot to regain power by tarring Obama as ineptly indecisive. Neither faction really wants to lead on this disaster. Unless the American people rise up and seriously embrace the deeply painful sacrifices that must be made to end the use of harmful fuels, our future will feature many more needless energy-related tragedies. It’s high time that not only our leaders but our entire citizenry rediscover the courage necessary to battle our self-destructive complacency and truly change the course of history. This is not just an oil spill. It’s a wakeup call to arms.
Please google “nuke the BP well”
The scientific community AND the leaders are talking about parts of MY solution back in April on http://oilspillsolution.wordpress.com – THIS IS THE TIME TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE GOVERNMENT OR BP/DEEP HORIZON TEAM, I CAN HELP THEM MAKE IT HAPPEN.
What do you guys say, if you see my solutions they are HOLISTIC then just “nuking” the undersea well?
Imran Owais Kazmi
Chief Thinking Officer, Strategy2Action
Blog http://imranokazmi.wordpress.com
Dubai +971 55 8094119 Uk +44 750 9184690
A controlled blast may seal the spill. But a nuclear explosive radioactive debris is worst than oil for the environment. Russians some time use wrong solutions remember the theater “rescue” using soporific gases that killed a lot of people. Conventional explosives could be better but if they fail it could be worst than ever. Please keep an eye in my super cold solution (at contact us bottom)
No, we can’t nuke the well until scientist’s like myself have thoroughly examined the methane gas deposit data charts first. The danger is obvious here folks. All nukes produce a great deal of heat when these highly radioactive nuclear materials begin to melt we get a sizzling hot fireball.
Unfortunately, once the casing disintegrates the sea water would instantly surround the super-heating elements preventing an instant vaporization of these various components. Thus, minus the high temperature perimeters a detonation under the sea floor would cause a serious vacuum effect at a level that could dislodge an incredible amount of trapped methane gas.
An grave error that we will soon all pay for is now in the works… at that depth the pressures are quite staggering indeed…
We’re still not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination for man with his greed to guide him in all unrighteousness has made a very serious miscalculation here. Call it the biggest blunder of all-time if you will… Putty man is going to pay dearly for bridging the ocean to this source of oil beneath it. In the end, terrifying pressures you can only imagine will rip the ocean floor apart. Thus, a hydraulic back pressure within just a few hours of erupting will cause the collapse of thee entire basin… Thus, with some rock friction in the billions of tons per square inch, this highly explosive methane gas in what will truly be called an explosion of biblical proportions will ignite… We have roughly calculated a precise yield using the gas data reference materials obtained from the (Freedom of information act) All computer models point to an explosion in excess of 500 megatons. Which would transform the Gulf Coast as well as change our country’s geographic makeup for countless centuries to come too…
dumb idea could effect the wild life in the water and on land
IT WOULD NOT BE A WISE DOING, BECAUSE WE ARE HAVING A VERY HARD TIME IN BRING THIS LARGE OIL SPILL TO A STOP , BLOWING UP A SEA FLOOR IS TAKING A BIG DANGERS RISK, IN OUR WATERS, WE MIGHT PUT MUCH GREATER RISK OUT THERE THAT MIGHT KILL ALL THE SEA’ S AND LIFE BREEDING CREATURES, THATS NOT THE ONLY CHANCE WE HAVE , IN SAVING OUR WATERS, I WAS VERY HAPPY TO COME IN TO HELP BP/HORIZON RESPONSE TEAM, BUT I AM VERY HONOR TO HAVE SOME ONE LIKE PROFESSOR ROBERT BEA AND US COAST GUARD AND CEO TONY HAYWARD AND ALL TEAM PLAYERS THAT CAME IN TO PLANS TO HELP BP/HORIZON GET THRU THESE BAD TIMES, BP/HORIZON, WAS GOING THRU, A LOT OF HARD NEW DISCOVERY THANK GOD HIS PLANS CAME INTO LIFE IN MY PRAYERS SO ASK GOD COULD I HELP BP/HORIZON STOP THIS LARGE FLOW OF OIL, AND ALL OF GOD PLANS CAME TO ME TO SEND OUT 5 NICE WORKING PROPOSALS TO CONTAINMENT.
BP/HORIZON AND US GOV /INNOCENTIVE AND US COAST GUARDS I HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT BP HAS NOT SENT OVER TO ME A THANK YOU LETTER OR SAYING HERE IS A REWARD FOR HELPING US GET BACK TO BASIC BUT COULD HAD SOLD OUT MY PLANS TO SOME LARGE OR SMALL COMPANY BUT I WANTED TO INVEST MY PLANS TO STOP / CONTAIN THE OIL AND ALL MY GREAT IDEAS CAME TO A GREAT HELP FOR BP/HORIZON AND MANY OTHERS , I AM NOT RICH IN THE WORLD, BUT I DO TAKE RISK WITH MY IDEAS AND PLANS, THAT SOMEDAY MAY MAKE ME SUPER RICH ONE DAY BP/HORIZON YOU NEED TO BE VARY HAPPY WHEN YOU BELIEVE IN VISION THAT GOD CAN PUT INTO MAN, AND THAN YOU MAKE IT, AND IT’S WORK, AND NOW YOU CAN MAKE GREAT DEALS OF INVESTMENTS WITH NEW INVENTIONS, I AM THE REAL LATE NIGHT MYSTERY MAN THAT WAS ON THE CALL WITH PROFESSOR ROBERT BEA, AND I HAD GOT IN TOUCH WITH THE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SUPPORT TEAM TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AROUND LATE APRIL OR MAY AND TOLD THEM THAT I HAD SENT OVER IDEAS TO BP/HORIZON AND I HAD GIVING OUT MY PROPOSALS TO HELP BRING IN NEW PLANS AND NEW IDEAS ON THREE NEW CONTAINMENT DOMES AND NEW BOOM DESIGNS AND NEW DESIGNS FOR SMALLER SIZE CONTAINMENT TOP HAT OR CAP TO NEW DESIGN CONTAINMENT STYLE PIPES THAT COULD CONNECT TO NEW DESIGNS CONTAINMENT STORAGE SHIPS, TO DESIGNING A NEWLY REMOTE ROBOTIC AND MANY MORE IDEAL PLANS WERE IN DISCUSSION, IN MY FIVE PROPOSALS PLANS, I CAN NOT DISCUSS, ALL DETAILS, BUT ALL MY THANKS GO’S TO ALMIGHTY GOD FOR GIVING ME A CHANCE AND A GREAT MIND VISION TO ACT AND TAKE BIG RISK, I DON’T COME PLAY I COME TO WORK HARD AND PRAY FOR A MUCH BETTER LIFE FOR ALL ON OUR FATHERS AND MOTHER PLANTED
{ 1 trackback }