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"If it fails, would a small nuke work?"

I would NOT want to try a "nuke". One of the older ways to SPEED UP production of formations used to be to set off an explosion in them. This opens cracks in the rock so oil can flow more freely.

At one time, it was thought that nuclear explosions would "be perfect" for this, and it was actually tried on a gas formation somewhere out West (in the days of "Project Plowshare". It worked, and production was significantly increased, but it turned out that the gas was too radioactive to use.

An increase in production is NOT what we want here. If the "Top Kill" doesn't work, we'll just need to be patient until the relief wells get done, which is slower but surer.

The following is from "The Oil Drum" (sent by my sis-in-law who is a geophysicist in Houston):

"........the larger numbers that have been quoted in the press, of 70,000 to 100,000 bd are purely sensational and not based on science. Unfortunately they also serve to increase alarm and suggest threats to the tourist industries of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida that do not realistically exist."

They have two relief wells being drilled. Nuke would be a very bad idea. :)

If you go to the BP website, they have a video explaining what they are attempting to do and their two other contingency operation in addition to the relief wells. The next attempt will be a top cap procedure designed not to kill the well, but to increase the amount of fluids they can capture. Another contingency is to attempt a BOP on BOP mount to kill the well. Both are pretty dicey, as is this top kill-probably less than 50/50.

Best bet is the relief well, as you stated. As a former "mud engineer," I'm glad I'm not running the mud on this job. No Thank you.

roger that . I was just going for the kill— not a frac. But we need that oil if they can tame it. Tremendous physics and chemistry at play here. I am optimistic about this heavy mud and cement. It sure is flowing nicely. BP says 24 hours should tell us. If government didn’t force this drilling so far out and allowed it on land like Anwar. This thing would never have even been known. But they government wants oil so people don’t riot but they shove the exploration out in the Gulf. This is what the environmentalists get.