Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Top kill' planned to stop oil leak (Any fellow FReepers have other solutions?)
CNN ^ | 5/21/10

Posted on 05/22/2010 6:08:16 PM PDT by Libloather

'Top kill' planned to stop oil leak
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 21, 2010 11:20 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- A "top kill" method intended to stop the runaway flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be tried early next week, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Friday.

In the procedure, thick, viscous fluid twice the density of water will be pumped at a high rate into the site of the leak to stop the flow so that it can then be sealed with cement, Suttles said.

"Our best estimate is probably Tuesday," he said, noting that the operation has never been tried in such deep water.

The timing for the "top kill" effort appears to be slipping: BP Managing Director Bo Dudley said Thursday night that the company would try the procedure this weekend.

Suttles offered no explanation for the discrepancy.

"We're working very, very hard with BP on the timeline for the 'top kill,' " said U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, national incident commander. "That's the ultimate near-term solution."

Obama announces oil spill commission

BP is working to assemble "a massive amount of equipment" at the site, Suttles said, including three deep-water rigs, drilling rigs, sub-sea support vessels and up to 16 robotic submarines.

"These operations are quite complex, and we won't start the job until all the equipment has been staged and all the equipment is in place," he said.

But no one expects the effort to solve all the problems associated with the spill.

"We will not rest, even if they secure the flow, even if this 'top kill' is completed successfully next week," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bp; deephorz; energy; gulf; leak; oil; oilspill
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-97 next last
To: Libloather

does the US Navy’s reserve-fleet
have any aircraft carriers sitting around?

the 100 ton ‘top hat’ was much
too small


41 posted on 05/22/2010 7:15:30 PM PDT by element92
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
”In the procedure, thick, viscous fluid twice the density of water will be pumped at a high rate into the site of the leak to stop the flow so that it can then be sealed with cement, Suttles said.”

This is a huge mistake. This is what I do for a living fixing leaks in swimming pools while swimming underwater.

The materials will not hold and make it worse for the next time they try something. The balloon will not work because the soils will not hold the balloon.

First thing they need to do is stop the flow of oil. Otherwise no patch in the world is going to fix it.

In my business I usually let the water flow out until there is an equal pressure on the outside as on the inside. It is even easer to fix if the water is flowing into the crack while underwater. At that point just about any kind of patch will work.

In this case that cannot practically be done so the pressure needs to be equal using another method.
This also means the soils underwater at the top lair of the ocean floor will not hold any patch you place on it.

First you need to take drill or push a pipe deep down into the crack. This thing here will work fine and it will be easy to attach to any underwater sub: obviously you will need water pressure that will reach a mile down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbGUV7GQpMM

I was thinking using a large extremely heavy bell shaped tank that drops over the leak that digs itself deep into the ocean floor. In the center of the bell a tube/pipe that fits right on top of the leak and witch you have already drilled. The bell will only hold for a very short time before it starts leaking out the rim bottom of the bell.

But there will be a window of opportunity to poor down the tube/pipe I would suggest a wet mixture of thorite or it is often called water plug. Just poor in the wet mixture of thorite as fast as possible down the drilled pipe line. Thorite will dry underwater within minutes so you must work fast or you have to start all over. When finished I would just fill the bell with the thorite and leave it down there.

42 posted on 05/22/2010 7:17:07 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric cartman voice* 'I love you guys')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bean Counter

Is that you? You're HIRED!

43 posted on 05/22/2010 7:19:15 PM PDT by Libloather (Tea totaler, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Steve Van Doorn
The balloon will not work because the soils will not hold the balloon.

If it's INSIDE the pipe?

44 posted on 05/22/2010 7:21:02 PM PDT by Libloather (Tea totaler, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: GOPJ

What would the equivalent be underwater? Got ideas?


45 posted on 05/22/2010 7:21:45 PM PDT by OafOfOffice (W.C:Socialism:Philosophy of failure,creed of ignorance,gospel of envy,the equal sharing of misery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: thackney
But don't worry about actual facts, keep to your delusions.

Love u 2 man.

You and I both hope I'm waaaay off the deep end of wrong.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

46 posted on 05/22/2010 7:34:16 PM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: The Comedian
That much oil flowed from natural seepage from Santa Barbara to Mexico for hundreds of years until they drilled the Santa Barbara Channel, Long Beach Harbor, and Seal Beach to relieve the gas pressure.

Until the early 60s every beach from Santa Barbara to Mexico was covered with tar and it never hurt a damn thing except that every time I went to the beach I got a scrub down in a tin pan with kerosene and a scrub brush before I was allowed into the house.

There was so much tar at Golita that the beach was totally black and the Spanish used to beach their ships to tar the bottoms.

47 posted on 05/22/2010 7:36:54 PM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
A live look at the flow:
48 posted on 05/22/2010 7:37:21 PM PDT by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !! Â)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thackney
1/10th the amount of other wells?
NO NO NO NO NO!
You are way behind the times. You haven't heard the latest.

Claims are now being made that it's LEAKING anywhere from 5 to 50 MILLION BARRELS.

To hell with the well, I wish Nurse Ratchet would hurry up and patch that hole in the wall where that big Indian threw the sink through it.

49 posted on 05/22/2010 7:45:28 PM PDT by IMR 4350
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: dalereed
That much oil flowed from natural seepage

To what volume are you referring?

This thing is somewhere between a 10x and 100x larger flow than is being broadcast. Do the math. Also, don't forget the methane and other natural "cracking" byproducts at depth, and what that results in. (prepositional tail supplied on purpose to avoid expletive noun terminator).


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

50 posted on 05/22/2010 7:50:46 PM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: The Comedian

I would say hundreds of thousands of barrels a day 365 days a year.

There was a solid oil slick from the Channel Islands to Mexico 10-15 miles wide.

The only birds and sealions that washed up on the beach were one that died naturally.


51 posted on 05/22/2010 7:55:10 PM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: The Comedian
We are about to experience, at minimum, a 30% loss of planetary marine life.

Now that's funny! You forgot the /sarc

52 posted on 05/22/2010 8:18:09 PM PDT by OCC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: thackney
methane hydrates and would not allow the oil to flow up through their new riser.

Then maybe they should have taken some methane hydrates and stuffed them into the well head to stop the leak

53 posted on 05/22/2010 9:06:39 PM PDT by vigilante2 (2398)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
noting that the operation has never been tried in such deep water

It is a given that Zero is overjoyed at this disaster, that it serves his anti-American agenda, yadda, yada, yadda. It is also true that they are drilling so deep because environmentalist wackos won't let them drill any closer to land.

However...

This IS a big problem, maybe very big, and it's not clear that there is a good tech solution.

It may be necessary to stop this kind of drilling until the science of it is better understood.

54 posted on 05/22/2010 9:12:46 PM PDT by Jim Noble
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thackney

Agree!
The Mexican spill was many times worse and would still be worse if BP did nothing.

Maybe many don’t know or prefer to not acknowledge that the formations in the Gulf leak crude all the time and have heard at a greater rate than the BP leak. The oceans have the ability to handle crude oil, its only the thongs at the beach that is flippin out.


55 posted on 05/22/2010 9:17:07 PM PDT by dusttoyou (libs are all wee wee'd up and no place to go)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

“Oil Companies have to reach beyond the barrel to power our” .....oh, wait a minute, that was just a shill actor speaking in a BP commercial a few years ago. You know “BP” - “Beyond Petroleum” or was it, “Beyond Blow-out Preventers”? Anyway...the whole commercial was just some tree-hugging hype thrown out there for the sleeping masses...


56 posted on 05/22/2010 9:28:27 PM PDT by FDNYRHEROES (In just His first 3 days, the War on Terror became the War on Free Speech.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
Actually, I think I have a solution.

Take a disc of steel (picture a manhole cover, only larger) Cut a hole in the center of the disc. Weld hinges to the perimeter of the disc enabling the attachment of pipes. The hinges will allow the pipes to be extended from the disc to form a cone, with the small end at the top. Attach nylon (or other fabric) cloth to the pipes, forming a tent-like structure. (Picture a tepee.) Insert the "tepee" into a sleeve enabling it to be deployed at the end of a long flexible pipe, like a folded umbrella in a sheath. Maneuver the "tepee over the leak, slide it out of the sleeve and spread the pipe framework into the cone shape resting the large end on the sea floor. Suction the oil and gas out the top of the cone via the suction hose.

The material between the pipe frame would contain the petroleum while allowing water to pass under and through it, allowing the oil to migrate to the top where it could be suctioned.

57 posted on 05/22/2010 9:36:55 PM PDT by oneolcop (Lead, Follow or Get the Hell Out of the Way!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Comedian
This thing is somewhere between a 10x and 100x larger flow than is being broadcast

Propaganda from the left. Don't get sucked into their fantasy world.

58 posted on 05/22/2010 9:50:20 PM PDT by plain talk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Jim Noble
It may be necessary to stop this kind of drilling until the science of it is better understood

They wouldn't have to drill so deep if the liberals made shallower waters and Alaska available.

59 posted on 05/22/2010 9:51:31 PM PDT by plain talk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Good ole Boys might have the answer..

Not a bad idea, but it’ll sure take a lot of hay !!!!!!!! And a lot of recovery!!!!!!!

http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/


60 posted on 05/22/2010 10:27:13 PM PDT by Mier (I'm a birther and I don't care! Obama is not an Amereican!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-97 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson