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BP's Final "Top Kill" Procedure For Gulf Oil Spill

Posted by Soulskill on from the aww-i-wanted-a-nuke dept.

eldavojohn writes "So far every attempted fix has resulted in failure to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with the exception of the riser insertion method that appears to be little more than a mile-long tube sucking up oil. After attempting many options to allow the continued collection of crude oil, BP is finally considering a 'top kill' option that will kill the well. A vessel at the surface will use 30,000 horsepower pumps to slam kill mud and clay into the well's bent riser, allowing them to cap the well off with two relief wells (which won't be ready for several months). If that fails, the vessel will move on to a 'junk shot' that involves spewing larger debris like shredded rubber and golf balls into the lines to gum up the flow and stop it. Government officials acknowledge that while this may provide a solution, it may also worsen the situation if the resulting pressure causes the lines to blow or fail at other points. While this is likely one of the worst environmental disasters to hit the gulf, BP's debacle has caused Shell to pre-build cofferdams into seven wells that it is currently drilling in the gulf. These would drop into place in the event of such a catastrophic failure of a riser under the well."

7 of 593 comments (clear)

  1. top kill by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    $ man top |grep -A5 -B5 -w kill

    * <k> :Kill_a_task
    You will be prompted for a PID and then the signal to send.
    The default signal, as reflected in the prompt, is SIGTERM.
    However, you can send any signal, via number or name.

    If you wish to abort the kill process, do one of the fol-
    lowing depending on your progress:
    1) at the pid prompt, just press <Enter>
    2) at the signal prompt, type 0

    Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
    Filter error: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.
    Lameness Filter is stupid. I have to add a bunch of regular characters to add "code characters" to a technical page? LAME.

  2. Yes MUCH better by DarthVain · · Score: 5, Funny

    We will solve this horrible situation by dumping shredded tires and golf balls into the ocean until the problem is solved!

    "But perhaps...

    I said until it was solved!

    1. Re:Yes MUCH better by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 5, Funny

      We will solve this horrible situation by dumping shredded tires and golf balls into the ocean until the problem is solved!

      "But perhaps...

      I said until it was solved!

      I agree. What we should be doing is dumping a bunch of shredded oil executives in the hole until the oil stops flowing.

      --
      This ain't rocket surgery.
    2. Re:Yes MUCH better by sconeu · · Score: 3, Funny

      What if we use Torgo's Executive Powder?

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  3. Re:Environmentalism by jewelises · · Score: 5, Funny

    Accept car accidents don't kill of entire ecosystems.

    OK, I accept.

  4. Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe the government should step in and put and end to this situation themselves.

    How?

    By passing a bill outlawing oil spills, naturally.

  5. Re:Environmentalism by Translation+Error · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great... Now even Slashdot comment threads are starting to have EULAs.

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.