That there oil spill....

[Dawnseeker]

Just to correct a few things erroneous things people have said here:

This is not an active well. There is not an oil pipe in the hole, just a drill casing, with the drill bit still in place. This is what is preventing most of the "normal" methods of capping it (such as a friction plug) from being possible. The tremendous pressure exerted on the casing would destroy it if a cap was put in place, making it even more difficult to stop and causing more oil to leak.

The idea behind an explosive demolition is that the force of the explosion above the well would cause the casing and base of the well to essentially implode, forming a plug in the well. The belief by the experts I've interviewed is that any form of undersea detonation would demolish the casing entirely, and probably widen the hole in the seabed, exacerbating the problem, instead of solving it.

As far as they have said, a nuclear blast would have roughly the same deleterious effect. Fallout is not a concern because the explosion would be done far enough beneath the surface that nuclear material would not rise into the atmosphere. It is also not likely that there would be a significant danger to coastal environments from the explosion because the nuclear material would have plenty of time to dissipate in the ocean. There have been dozens of nuclear blasts underwater and above ground, beginning in New Mexico in 1945 without any detectable human effects, other than the two detonated in Japan.

While it is true, as some have mentioned, that the Russians have successfully plugged 4 natural gas wells using nuclear explosions, these were all in land-based wells, not a mile beneath the ocean.

The idea that BP is not plugging the well out of "greed" is not rational. It is far more costly for the company to have to pay damages in the billions of dollars to the citizens of the gulf coast than they would make by salvaging the well. Furthermore, they are already in the process of drilling relief wells in the same field that will be collecting oil, so they'll be getting the oil anyway. If they could stop the leaking oil they would.

This is not America's Chernobyl. Its not even close. This event killed 12 people and there are not likely to be any more human deaths as a result. Yes, the damage to marine life is sad, but it is not catastrophic. If you go to Prince William Sound today, there is no evidence that Exxon Valdez ever happened. The wildlife fauna and flora have all returned and it is beautiful and scenic once again (the exception is a beach where the oil was "scrubbed" with harsh cleaning chemicals, delaying the return of life for 2 decades). Remember, crude oil is naturally occurring, and nature is resilient. In the longterm, the only effects of this spill will be economic, with the possible exception of the delicate Louisiana Wetlands, which experts say could permanently erode as a result of the oil washing in (which hasn't happened yet).