Lava From Kilauea Volcano Reaches Well at Geothermal Power Plant

https://gizmodo.com ^ | 5/28/18 | George Dvorsky

[BBell]

Lava from Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano has reached the Puna Geothermal Venture plant, covering a well and threatening another. At the same time, fast-moving lava flows are now threatening nearby communities, prompting new evacuations.

“Lava flow from Fissures 7 and 21 crossed into PGV [Puna Geothermal Venture] property overnight and has now covered one well that was successfully plugged,” declared the Hawaii Civil Defense Agency in a statement released on Sunday, May 27 at 6:00 pm local time. “That well, along with a second well 100 feet [30 meters] away, are stable and secured, and are being monitored. Also due to preventative measures, neither well is expected to release any hydrogen sulfide.”

Those preventive measures included a complete shutdown of the geothermal plant, the capping of all 11 wells, and the removal of some 60,000 gallons of flammable liquid. Those precautions aside, this is the first time in history—as far as we know—that lava has ever engulfed a geothermal power plant, so it’s all uncharted territory. There’s fear that a rupture of the wells could set off an explosion, releasing hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous gasses into the environment. As of this posting, the lava flows on the PGV grounds have stopped moving.

Residents have been worrying about such a scenario since the plant went online nearly three decades ago. Over the years, PGV owners have faced lawsuits questioning its decision to place the plant so close to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, as Reuters reports. The 38-megawatt PGV facility provides about 25 percent of power to the Big Island.

Meanwhile, sections of the nearby Leilani Estates community had to be evacuated owing to fast-moving lava from Fissure 7, one of 24 cracks that have opened up since the eruptions began on May 3.

At 7:00 pm local time yesterday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a statement warning that “a large perched lava pond created by lava flow from Fissure 7 breached, creating a fast-moving lava flow that ran down Leilani Avenue and Luana Street in Leilani Estates.” The same fissure is spewing lava at heights reaching 150 to 200 feet (45 to 60 meters), and generating a spatter rampart that’s now 100 feet (30 meters) tall. Residents were told to expect power and water interruptions, and that they should be prepared to evacuate with little or no notice.

For some, that notice came a mere 45 minutes later, with the USGS declaring at 7:45 pm, “Leilani Estates residents on Nohea St and Luana St between Leilani Ave and Kahukai, and Kupono Street between Malama Street and Leilani Avenue need to evacuate immediately due to a fast-moving lava flow from Fissure 7.” Fleeing residents were told to seek shelter at nearby community centers.

The USGS is also warning of new ground cracking, and possible new outbreaks of lava flows. An evacuation plan is currently in place should Highway 130 be covered in lava, a development that would sever the community from the rest of the Big Island. US Marine Corps stationed at a base near Honolulu have a pair of CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters ready should this happen.

The crater at Kilauea is continuing to erupt sporadically, spewing ash into the air. On Sunday, the volcano produced an ash column that reached 10,000 feet high (3 km). “Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time,” wrote the USGS. “Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.”

Adding insult to injury, the Pacific Trade Winds are expected to diminish today, expanding the area impacted by vog—a noxious haze comprised of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases.

Another day, another batch of headaches. Hopefully, this will all end soon.

[caww]

Lava inundates one of the wells at the PGV well site (not pictured)...........A production well at Puna Geothermal Venture in Puna was covered by lava late Sunday afternoon, Hawaii County Civil Defense reported.

The agency said the lava came from fissures No. 21 and No. 7, which at 7:45 p.m. Sunday evening was described by Civil Defense as “fast moving” and a threat to more structures in Leilani Estates.

The well, KS-6, along with a second well about 100 yards away, have been “successfully plugged” and “are stable and secured, and are being monitored,” according to Civil Defense. Neither well is expected to release any hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas used in the wells, the agency said.

At an afternoon media briefing in Hilo, Gov. David Ige said, “The Puna Geothermal Venture site is safe. We believe we have mitigated any risk to the community.”........ Ige said PGV employees and a task force assembled by the governor remain on site and are working to eliminate or minimize any hazards.

four wells on one of the power plant’s pads — production wells KS-5, KS-6 and KS-14, plus injection well KS-3 — “are presenting minimum interference to the lava. They’re all close to the ground and covered, so the lava should go right over them.” All are in the lava’s path, he confirmed.

Travis said KS-5 and KS-6 have been quenched and plugged with large master valves, and cinder has been put into the well cylinders as a buffer between the lava and the valves.

[SE Mom]

Amazing photos! Thanks for posting them.

[NonValueAdded]

now it’s an exothermal plant

[sheana]

They’ll just wait til it switches directions, cools down, and then build on top of the lava. It’s what they do.

https://www.curbed.com/2017/8/4/16092676/tiny-house-volcano-hawaii-lava

[seawolf101]

“>

[CJ Wolf]

You know, a second look it seems that the amount of population near the oceans might cause the outlying islands to tip over under the constant pressure of the micro pounding. The more population the more risk it seems they have.

[Torquay]

And now it looks like a cow pasture full of crap!!!

[ASOC]

Since the plant has been on line 30 YEARS - no, it didn’t trigger anything.

BTW - the plant produced a quarter of the power for the entire Big Island while burning **no** fossil fuels.

[21twelve]

The hot spot is in the same place as always. The earth’s surface is moving to the north. At some point the hot spot will create a new island south of the existing one. At the least, they maybe should have built the plant on the north side of the active zone. Although at 30 years old, I’m guessing they probably made their money off of it. Hopefully they didn’t just go through a major upgrade or something.

[Myrddin]

At low concentrations, hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs. A slightly higher concentration paralyzes the olfactory nerve removing all sense of smell. A bit higher and you die. It is "poor man's cyanide".

[mewzilla]

Update, with report of Pele’s hair...

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.html

[caww]

Hawaii is getting a haze of this stuff...(Vog)...not good.

[GOPJ]

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/maps_uploads/600x450/image-450.jpg

from link:

“This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 1:15 pm on Monday, May 28. The flow from Fissure 8 that reached Pohoiki Rd. this morning stalled, though activity restarted at Fissure 8 in the afternoon shortly after this map was made. The channelized flows that had reached the ocean were inactive today - a small amount of residual lava was draining from the abandoned eastern channel into the ocean, creating a weak ocean entry plume. Fissure 22 restarted today with lava starting to reoccupy the drained channel. The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map. Temperature in the thermal image is displayed as gray-scale values, with the brightest pixels indicating the hottest areas. The thermal map was constructed by stitching many overlapping oblique thermal images collected by a handheld thermal camera during a helicopter overflight of the flow field. The base is a copyrighted color satellite image (used with permission) provided by Digital Globe. (see large map) “

[Larry Lucido]

It could put out the volcano.

They shouldn’t put volcanos next to oceans.

[mrsmith]

Jay Furr @jayfurr 18h
@USGSVolcanoes Is it safe to roast marshmallows over volcanic vents? Assuming you had a long enough stick, that is? Or would the resulting marshmallows be poisonous? @JimGriffith_SV @DrFunkySpoon

USGS Volcanoes🌋 ✔ @USGSVolcanoes
Erm...we're going to have to say no, that's not safe. (Please don't try!) If the vent is emitting a lot of SO2 or H2S, they would taste BAD. And if you add sulfuric acid (in vog, for example) to sugar, you get a pretty spectacular reaction. 9:58 PM - May 28, 2018

[1Old Pro]

So is this the end of the world?

[BBell]

For now.

[PAR35]

the plant produced a quarter of the power for the entire Big Island

They must not use much electricity out there. The transformer yard doesn't look any more impressive than our neighborhood substation, and I'm not spotting any high voltage transmission lines (I found the transmission map for Oahu, but not for the island of Hawaii)

[mewzilla]

http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts

Update. Lava has crossed Hwy 132, more evacs, and Vacationland and the Kapoho Beach lots will now be w/o electricity for an extended period.

[Myrddin]

Yellowstone National Park is a 2 hour drive from my house. My wife and I visited often between 2003 and 2008. When the wind is still, the low lying areas accumulate hydrogen sulfide gas. There have been many incidents of bison killed by H2S under those conditions. We don't visit the park on calm days. With a good breeze, the occasional waft of rotten egg smell is encountered.