Nuke the oil spill?

[mattbell]

I'm not an expert in this area by any means, but I find this an interesting approach.  Apparently the Russians successfully sealed several large natural gas and oil leaks this way a few decades ago.  It's starting to get serious media attention. 

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/05/nuke-bomb-oil-spill-cleanup-crazy-russia-gulf-bp

Sure, detonating a small nuclear weapon deep underwater will release some radioactive pollutants into the deep ocean.  Is that better or worse than an ongoing leak that's releasing tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day and damaging hundreds of miles of coastline?  I don't know. 

Comments

[happyinmotion.livejournal.com]

Possibly, but you need to put a lot more energy in to melt rock than you do to break it. So around the point source of a nuke, you'll get a small volume of melted (and vapourised) rock surrounded by a much larger area of broken rock.

As for verification, the Soviets certainly let nukes off like firecrackers, but no thorough review is available of their successes or side-effects (wikipedia on this topic).

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Good to know. Thanks for the link.