Has there EVER been a nuclear weapon detonated a mile underwater?

[Hugabear]

How can anybody seriously consider detonating a nuke to seal the oil leak, when a nuclear device has never been tested in such an environment? We have absolutely no clue what could happen, it could very easily make matters much, much worse. We can't even run a computer simulation with any degree of accuracy, because there's just so much that we don't know.

Have we really gotten so used to watching crappy made-for-TV movies that we think that nukes are the answer?

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Because people want a quick easy answer...

If, they chose to detonate a nuke, it would require drilling a deep shaft to a non permeable layer, which would take some time, maybe as long as it will take to drill the relief wells. They then seal the weapon at the bottom of that shaft, under a mile of water. They set the sucker off.

Meanwhile, if you follow what is going on, the only real answer to this problem is the relief wells. There is no quick fix. This will take time.

[tekisui]

17. Not relief wells. Relief well.

They are only drilling one.

[NYC_SKP]

2. It's not gonna happen, IMHO.

The relief well is expected to intercept the well at 18,000 feet below sea level, about another 13,000 feet below the seabed and the BOP.

The rumors about the casing being too worn, or the rock strata around the casing being too loose or unstable just don't make sense.

I can't think of a reason in this particular situation to use some nuclear device rather than a relief well.

:shrug:

[agent46]

3. Why not?

Jack Bauer alone determined U.S. national policy for years. :sarcasm:

[Posteritatis]

4. There's hints that the Soviets did that a few times, but I couldn't point to specific evidence. (nt)

[Psephos]

5. Here, you can see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpPNQoTlacU

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Under a Mile of Water? No they didn't and it was a natural gas leak

A Tsunami would result because of explosion itself and the collapse of the oil cavern.

Look up Nuclear underground testing......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_nuclear_testing

Then tell me this is a bright idea.

[old mark]

6. Great- radioactive particles over all the redneck riviera...sounds good -

let's just try it and watch it blow!!!

But what if it just makes a huge hole and all the oil comes out at once ....but no that could NEVER happen!


mark

[KillCapitalism]

7. I would be all for it if...

it would immediately stop the leak.

If that were the case, I think using a nuke would be better than allowing the leak to continue for decades, or even centuries.

[zbdent]

8. semi-related note ... there was a RW idiot in Cleveland who, after Katrina,

suggested they nuke hurricanes ...

good idea, a**hole ... with the currents in the wind, let's just totally spread radiation all over ...

[rucky]

9. If anybody would know, it's Chu's team.

Fortunately, they're the ones seeing to the solution, too:

Barack Obama sends nuclear experts to tackle BP's Gulf of Mexico oil leak
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7726142/Barack-Obama-sends-nuclear-experts-to-tackle-BPs-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-leak.html

[eowyn_of_rohan]

11. NO NUKES

:scared:

[rug]

12. WIGWAM took place in 1955 at 2000 feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wigwam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8grR9_CJHy0

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. It still had 14,000 feet of water under it

Operation Wigwam consisted of a single nuclear detonation, (both the operation and test are known as Wigwam), conducted 400-500 miles SW of San Diego, California(about 29 Deg N, 126 Deg W).

It was a deep water test (the ocean is 16,000 feet deep at that point) to investigate the vulnerability of submarines to deep nuclear weapons, and the feasibility of using depth bombs in combat (there was considerable concern about problems with surface contamination).

The test device was a B-7 (Mk-90) Betty depth bomb that was suspended by a 2000 ft cable from a barge. The dry weight of the bomb was 8250 lb, 5700 lb when submerge .which would not effect the substratum as would placing a device on or below the well head in the Gulf situation. they need to not only blow the well head but collapse the oil cavern.

[slackmaster]

24. I love the fluttery audio on that YouTube piece! Sounds like a classroom 16 mm projector...

...with sound sync issues. Or the Firesign Theatre's "Thomas Jefferson" Hero or Hophead?"

[KharmaTrain]

13. Cause It Sounds So Macho...

Most of the advocates of this "solution" live in a sci-fi world where Art Bell has all the answers :sarcasm:

I'm always amused at how people become instant experts on any subject at the drop of a hat. Yesterday it's healthcare and Afghanistan, today it's deep sea drilling...they never miss a beat, and if you can build in every conspiracy and off-the-wall idea, so much the better.

Our culture is used to easy solutions...no matter what the problem, "we" can solve it in 60 minutes, including commercial breaks. Another version of American Exceptionalism on display.

[Javaman]

15. I say we just get chuck norris to roundhouse kick it closed.

I mean honestly, why hasn't anyone suggested this yet????

[Ganja Ninja]

16. Not that I'm promoting the idea but ...

It wouldn't just be underwater. It would be underground as well, presumably far enough down to contain the radiation.

[lunatica]

18. There have been lots of them tested deep underground in the Nevada desert

The craters in the photo are what's left of the nuclear tests



CAPTION: FINAL TEST PREPARATIONS INCLUDE running miles of cable downhole which will transmit vital test information to the diagnostic trailers to the left. A rack containing instrumentation to go downhole is assembled in the tower to the right. Subsidence craters from earlier underground tests dot the landscape.

[MattBaggins]

19. Do you think you detonate the thing on the ocean floor?

You drill a hole next to the original pipe deep in the rock and detonate there.

I am not advocating doing this but it's not like people think where we just close our eyes and let a nuke drift to the ocean floor.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. The Nuke makes its own cavern that collapses plus the oil cavern collapses

Now think for a second...........what happens to the water above it?
Well it moves and fills the void....... then what happens to it?
You have displacement which again makes the water react again and that's a huge amount of water we are talking about.

The substratum there is not stable like what was used in Nevada.

The rock closest to the location of the blast is vaporised, forming a cavity. Further away, there are zones of crushed, cracked, and irreversibly strained rock. Following the explosion, the rock above the cavity may collapse, forming a rubble chimney. If this chimney reaches the surface, a bowl-shaped subsidence crater may form.


Within milliseconds, a bubble of high-pressure gas and steam is formed. The heat and expanding shock wave cause the surrounding rock to vaporise, or being melted further away, creating a melt cavity.


The shock-induced motion and high internal pressure cause this cavity to expand outwards, which continues over several tenths of a second until the pressure has fallen sufficiently, to the level equal to the level roughly comparable with the weight of the rock above, and can no longer groW

Although not observed in every explosion, four distinct zones (including the melt cavity) have been described in the surrounding rock.

The crushed zone, about two times the radius of the cavity, consists of rock that has lost all of its former integrity.

The cracked zone, about three times the cavity radius, consists of rock with radial and concentric fissures.

Finally, the zone of irreversible strain consists of rock deformed by the pressure.<26> The following layer undergoes only an elastic deformation; the strain and subsequent release then forms a seismic wave


IS THIS SOUNDING GOOD?

Now the oil cavern collapses in addition to the one formed by the nuke.


BOY THIS GETTING TO BE FUN NOW!!!


All that water ...... and it starts to move...... now which way does it go?

It is after all radioactive..... you have a Tsunami on your hands heading around the Gulf.

It really doesn't even have to be a large one to do damage to the costal areas.


LETS DO IT!!!!

[MattBaggins]

22. Did I not say "I do not advocate doing this"?

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. No, but I say we do it anyway to prove I'm right or wrong

LOL!!!!!!!!

[Nihil]

20. 1) No. 2) Because they are idiots. 3) Yes.

i.e., in response to
1> Has there EVER been a nuclear weapon detonated a mile underwater?

2> How can anybody seriously consider detonating a nuke to seal the oil leak,
2> when a nuclear device has never been tested in such an environment?

3> Have we really gotten so used to watching crappy made-for-TV movies that
3> we think that nukes are the answer?

Any more questions? :hi: