Saturday, May 22, 2010

Oily thoughts

Here's the BP live video feed of the oil leak under the gulf.

Some thoughts:

  1. Why not take something "like" a balloon, something expandable (but obviously more rigid), stuff it into the main broken riser, and expand it? If it's, say, 6-12 feet in length, there should be enough force/friction on the sides to keep it from being blown out by the oil in the riser (of course, I could be wrong, as I don't know the exact pressure). Sort of like one of those "drain unstoppers" of heavy rubber that you connect to a hose, insert in the drain/pipe, and turn on the pipe - it causes the rubber to expand, blocking backflow, and pressures the blockage through the drain. This would be similar, but only for blocking.
  2. Why not crush the pipe? It wouldn't stop the leak, but it might slow it a bit while they're working on the other alternatives.
That's all for now, about to head out to lunch.
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