THE DOME IS NOT WORKING - ice crystals formed inside THE DOME

[underpants]

Iced-Up Containment Dome Removed from Oil Spill
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/iced-up-containment-dome-removed-from-oil-spill-dpgonc-20100508-jd_7441837

NEWSCORE - A containment dome put in place to contain a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico was moved after ice crystals formed inside it, a senior BP executive said Saturday.


Gulf oil spill: Setback for untested containment dome
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-setback-for-untested-containment-dome-.html

Crews dealt setback in placing containment dome in Gulf oil spill
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/08/gulf.oil.spill/?hpt=T1

Biloxi, Mississippi (CNN) -- The effort to place a massive containment dome over a gushing underwater wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico was dealt a setback when a large volume of hydrates -- icelike crystals that form when gas combines with water -- accumulated inside the vessel, a BP official said Saturday.

The dome was moved off to the side of the wellhead and is resting on the seabed while crews work to overcome the challenge, a process expected to take at least two days, BP's chief operations officer Doug Suttles said.

Suttles declined to call it a failed operation but said "What we attempted to do last night didn't work."

[grantcart]

1. damn just damn - hopefully they can modify it

[Warpy]

2. Apparently those same methane crystals are what caused the blowout

As they came toward the surface and their temperature rose as the pressure fell, they sublimated and became highly pressurized methane gas.

It looks like they are going to have to rethink deep sea drilling because this is likely to be a problem with many deep wells.

[underpants]

6. Sports analogy

Going long has its risks and rewards

Dumping it down to Kareem (or Sabonis)=2 points almost guaranteed
taking a three = 3 points or god knows what

kicking a 30 yarder= 3 points
kicking a 50 yarder = 3 points, a miss (and the ball on the spot going the other way), or a block and god knows what

etc.

[taterguy]

10. Sabonis? Dude's knees were shot by the time he got to the NBA

Dump it down to him against a quality center like Ewing or Olajuwon and that shit's going the other way.

[underpants]

18. back in the day he was unstoppable

he was the genesis of the Duncan, Gasaol, Hakeem type center

[Swamp Rat]

3. &#$%@*!!!

[mod mom]

4. I'll say it....FUCK!

:mad:

[texanwitch]

5. Damn I was so hoping this would work.

This is a horror movie, and the movie won't end with happy ending.

The Gulf Coast is dying because of fucking greed, just how much money does anyone need.

[Systematic Chaos]

7. Sometimes I just have to use a song as an answer to a question.

Finally tracked down the one I was looking for, and the fucking video that goes with it almost made me cry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7Ua3W9GkM&feature=related

Eerie synchronicity....

[DCBob]

8. BP official: "I wouldn't say it's failed yet".. the "yet" part bothers me..

This guy does not sound too confident. I suspect they are a long way from a solution. What a mess.

[berni_mccoy]

9. Oh Damnit. This is too sad.

[fishwax]

11. fuck.

two days to solve this problem, and then even if they come up with a solution, who knows what the next snag might be :grr:

[chill_wind]

12. Haul it up and recycle.

It would make a great containment facility for a whole lot of reckless and corrupt parties
that brought us this disaster. In any just world, at least, it would.

I can't take credit for that suggestion, though I liked it a lot:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8288814

[Statistical]

13. They need to devise a method to keep the dome "warm"

Warm being above the freezing point of methane at 5,000 ft under water. Not sure what that is.
The plan was to pump hot water into the pipe to keep methane "warm" as it flowed up the pipe to ship. Guess they didn't anticipate methane crystals forming inside the dome before pipe is attached.

I think it can still be done.

Of course this illustrates perfectly how stupid it is to NOT HAVE A BACKUP PLAN before you start drilling.

They could took all the time in world coming up with a backup plan (with 10 failures along the way) before they drilled and it wouldn't have mattered. Doing it after the diaster is a whole lot worse. Kinda like trying to think up the concept of a seatbelt while you car is about to crash.

[izquierdista]

14. Insulate the pipe?

That oil has got to be about 300F exiting the hole in the ocean floor. Unless they can keep it sufficiently warm during the one mile trip up through cold water, things are going to solidify and get stopped up. Somebody put in an order for a LOT of heating tape and some pipe insulation....

[gratuitous]

15. Now, I'm no petroleum engineer

Okay, quit gasping.

BUT, if I was an engineer, I'd expect that I would know that it's frickin' cold at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and while this looks like a decent idea at sea level, it's a lousy idea at that depth, pressure and temperature.

Any more bright ideas, BP?

[DCBob]

16. The latest is now they may try something called a "junk shot"... probably appropriately named..

Suttles said BP is mulling two other short-term fixes, including installing a new blow-out preventer on the leak site and trying to clog up the existing failed blow-out preventer with an injection of rubber and other solids, known as a "junk shot."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0817889720100508

Seems like they should have tried this in the first place. I suspect they were more concerned about retrieving the oil than stopping the leak.

[cutlassmama]

17. No doubt. Greedy bastards

[tekisui]

19. That wouldn't surprise me. It could also be it is such a far-fetched

and unlikely fix, it was dismissed early.

Either or both could be.