jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (04/06/91)
From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov Here are excerpts from an article (in our lab newsletter) on the Oil Fire Symposium. This was a conference held in Washington, DC, April 2-3 to brainstorm ideas for the unprecedented task of stopping the Kuwaiti fires. Except for my stuff [in square brackets] it's all from the article by Judith Goldhaber of LBL. Here I edited for length, hopefully without harm. At the end is an address for contributing ideas--I've restricted posting to serious-minded groups in order to keep the signal-to-noise ratio decent. Followups to sci.research will be passed along to them if you so indicate (I'm on Uncle's in-house phone system, so it's cheap and easy). A brief survey of the facts: 520 wells burning, 80 spewing, everything coming out under considerable natural-gas pressure, and the vicinity seeded with land mines to some upredictable but possibly large extent. Testimonial to the lawyer glut: I happen to know some of the individuals mentioned but am not speaking in any official capacity for LBL or DOE. *** Begin article *** The attendees agreed that the worst aspect of the disaster is the presence of land mines around the wells. "We've heard a lot about the crudeness of some of the Iraqi armaments," says Muller [LBL physicist Rich Muller, one of the organizers], "but these mines are anything but crude. Many are 'maliciously fused' -- they don't explode the first or second time you touch them. They are designed to avoid mine sweeping and kill mine sweepers. It's not too difficult to clear the first 95 percent using conventional military techniques, but the remaining 5 percent could kill a lot of people. The oil-fire fighting companies will not risk their people's lives in these mine fields, so it is essential to find a safe way to clear the mines and provide access to the wellheads." The most promising method of doing that was suggested by Stirling Colgate, now at Los Alamos. Colgate suggested readily-assembled sand blasting equipment that would use high-pressure air to sweep away the top 6-12 inches of desert sand -- mines and all -- in an area at a safe distance (up to 100 feet) ahead of the operator. [No mention of how wide the corridor would have to be. Idea is being feasibility- tested now.] Other promising ideas included "flame conditioning" by hanging a pipe or chimney over the fire, which then burns at the top of the pipe. Livermore's Carl Henning presented an idea that involves putting a "lid" with oil-gas separators over the whole oil well. Albert Petschek of New Mexico Tech suggested using implosion techniques (developed in nuclear weapons work) and explosive welding methods to shut off the flow. Other suggestions involved robotic cranes, as well as [consultant Bill] Wattenberg's invention, used in the war) of a large helicopter-towed sled for mine clearing. Ideas should be sent to the attention of George Helland at DOE, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585. Phone (202) 586-0153; fax (202) 586-3047. --Joe