by Vladimir Lagowski

3 May 2010

from ProjectAvalon Website

Original source in Russian

Just one nuclear bomb

could save the U.S. from ecological catastrophe
 

It's possible that unsuccessful attempts to stop the uncontrolled flow of oil from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico using underwater robots will compel engineers to take extreme measures. Namely - to explode a nuclear bomb near the damaged well.

It sounds dreadful and surreal, like a bad joke. But in fact there have been several incidents of oil catastrophes that were handled this way. This happened five times in the former USSR, when nothing else would work. Just like what's happening now in the Gulf of Mexico, where oil is pouring out from three places.

The first time an underground nuclear explosion was used to extinguish an uncontrollable burning gas well was in Urt-Bulak (80 km from Bukhara) on September 30, 1966. The yield was 30 kilotons. For comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was about 20 kilotons. But that was at a height of 600 meters; near Bukhara, the bomb was detonated one and a half kilometers underground.

The theory is simple: an underground explosion moves the rock to 'squeeze' the well closed.

These powerful nuclear "plugs" - sometimes as powerful as 3 Hiroshima bombs - were used up until 1979. And there was only one failure. They failed to block the gas blowout in the Kharkov region in 1972. The explosion there reached the surface, releasing a mushroom cloud. This inexplicably occurred although the charge was very small (only 4 kilotons), and was detonated at a depth of more than two kilometers.

So the probability of failure in the Gulf of Mexico is maybe 20 percent. The Americans might take the risk. The probability of dying during the flight to the Moon was higher.

Of course, we used this 'peaceful' nuclear explosion on land, while the Americans would have to do so at sea - underwater - where the ocean depth reaches 1500 meters.

But there is no difference in principle: you would still need to drill another well some distance from the one causing the problem - and place the bomb in it, just as in the movie "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis playing the driller. The calculations must be done correctly.

But there would be hope: the U.S. has many clever scientists and powerful computers. And Russia could help.

Some of our peaceful nuclear demolition experts are still alive.

An oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico: a view from space
 

The edge of the spill (for comparison, the tiny dots are big boats)

Nuclear weapons for a peaceful purpose

The USSR used underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes during the period from 1966 to 1988. In total, the former Soviet Union detonated more than a hundred atomic bombs. According to some sources, 124 - and to other sources, 169. And that's not counting the military testing of nuclear weapons.

According to official statements, the explosions were carried out in the interests of the national economy.

The majority were for seismic survey of deposits and for subsurface exploration. Explosions created underground reservoirs for gas storage and chemical waste. They were used to dig canals, build dams, and increase oil recovery. This was never regarded as anything harmful... although the hundreds of atomic bombs that were used would probably be more than in a nuclear war.

During this time, the USA was also playing with peaceful use of nuclear weapons. They actually began earlier, in 1962.

But in the end they produced much fewer explosions in the interests of their capitalist economy... although their plans were grandiose.

The Sedan crater in Nevada:

a funnel with a depth of 98 meters and a diameter of 390m. from the world's first industrial explosion,

carried out in the U.S. on 6 July, 1962.

The explosion with a 104 kt yield at a depth of 194m. immediately moved 12 million tons of earth.