19 ms·

Look, I'm as uncomfortable with the physical world as anybody here, but I just can't see why you would have something called a "blowout preventer" that doesn't

Look, I'm as uncomfortable with the physical world as anybody here, but I just can't see why you would have something called a "blowout preventer" that doesn't also have a freaking valve somewhere along the line. Turn valve, oil stopped. Is it really that hard? There's like 50 different places water from a city water tank and your sink can be stopped. And again, if you don't like that "Plan B", ask the BP engineer in line at WalMart with 50,000 boxes of X-out titleists what his solution is.

tedunangst 16y ago
The blowout preventer has a valve. They turned it. The oil didn't stop.
- ugh 16y ago
  So there were presumably multiple failures? I would assume there is some redundancy in the system (i.e. at least two valves).
  - jmtulloss 16y ago
    I'm not sure, but I think a lot of the failure prevention systems went down with the rig.
  - tedunangst 16y ago
    It's harder to find the news articles discussing the early efforts to close the valves because it's not exactly news anymore, but here's what wikipedia says. "The rig's blowout preventer, a fail-safe device fitted at source of the well, did not automatically cut off the oil flow as intended when the explosion occurred. BP attempted to use remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the blowout preventer valves on the well head 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below sea level, a valve-closing procedure taking 24–36 hours. BP engineers predicted it would take six attempts to close the valves. As of May 2, 2010, they had sent six remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the blowout preventer valves, but all attempts were ultimately unsuccessful."
ars 16y ago
A few things. It's 5000 psi at a 20 foot diameter! That's one monster of a valve. Also, it's not like a valve in your sink. It's designed to sit there, and they drill through the opening in it. It looks more like those circular portals you see on alien ships in movies. Like an iris door. You need tremendous pressure to move the sliders. It's even designed to be strong enough to cut right through the drill string if necessary. I don't know why they are unable to get it to close, but maybe it's jammed or there have no way of giving it pressure. So it's not as simple as "close the valve".
gvb 16y ago
Yes, it really is that hard. Water valves that someone can walk up to and spin by hand is very much different from a valve that is a mile away (vertically) under water. Wikipedia says the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere every 33 feet (10m)... 5000 feet would be more than 150 times atmospheric pressure. Marine Remote Operated Vehicles (MROVs) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MROV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MROV are being used, but it is very difficult to operate them even in good conditions (flat seas and minimal currents). Add to that, the dexterity of the tools on the ROV is nowhere close to the dexterity of a human hand.

tedunangst 16y ago

The blowout preventer has a valve. They turned it. The oil didn't stop.

ugh 16y ago
So there were presumably multiple failures? I would assume there is some redundancy in the system (i.e. at least two valves).
- jmtulloss 16y ago
  I'm not sure, but I think a lot of the failure prevention systems went down with the rig.
- tedunangst 16y ago
  It's harder to find the news articles discussing the early efforts to close the valves because it's not exactly news anymore, but here's what wikipedia says. "The rig's blowout preventer, a fail-safe device fitted at source of the well, did not automatically cut off the oil flow as intended when the explosion occurred. BP attempted to use remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the blowout preventer valves on the well head 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below sea level, a valve-closing procedure taking 24–36 hours. BP engineers predicted it would take six attempts to close the valves. As of May 2, 2010, they had sent six remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the blowout preventer valves, but all attempts were ultimately unsuccessful."

ars 16y ago

A few things. It's 5000 psi at a 20 foot diameter! That's one monster of a valve. Also, it's not like a valve in your sink. It's designed to sit there, and they drill through the opening in it. It looks more like those circular portals you see on alien ships in movies. Like an iris door. You need tremendous pressure to move the sliders. It's even designed to be strong enough to cut right through the drill string if necessary. I don't know why they are unable to get it to close, but maybe it's jammed or there have no way of giving it pressure. So it's not as simple as "close the valve".

gvb 16y ago

Yes, it really is that hard. Water valves that someone can walk up to and spin by hand is very much different from a valve that is a mile away (vertically) under water. Wikipedia says the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere every 33 feet (10m)... 5000 feet would be more than 150 times atmospheric pressure. Marine Remote Operated Vehicles (MROVs) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MROV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MROV are being used, but it is very difficult to operate them even in good conditions (flat seas and minimal currents). Add to that, the dexterity of the tools on the ROV is nowhere close to the dexterity of a human hand.