Friday, April 11, 2014

Putting out gas fire with nuclear explosion

Only in CCCP.


From Wikipedia:

Use of nuclear explosions

On Sep. 30, 1966 the Soviet Union in Urta-Bulak, an area about 80 kilometers from BukharaUzbekistan, experienced blowouts on five natural gas wells. It was claimed in Komsomoloskaya Pravda that after years of burning uncontrollably they were able to stop them entirely.[25] The Soviets lowered a specially made 30 kiloton nuclear bomb into a 6 kilometres (20,000 ft) borehole drilled 25 to 50 metres (82 to 164 ft) away from the original (rapidly leaking) well. A nuclear explosive was deemed necessary because conventional explosive both lacked the necessary power and would also require a great deal more space underground. When the bomb was set off, it proceeded to crush the original pipe that was carrying the gas from the deep reservoir to the surface, as well as to glassify all the surrounding rock. This caused the leak and fire at the surface to cease within approximately one minute of the explosion, and proved over the years to have been a permanent solution. A second attempt on a similar well was not as successful and other tests were for such experiments as oil extraction enhancement (Stavropol, 1969) and the creation of gas storage reservoirs (Orenburg, 1970).[26]

H/t to Jay.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Can you be more awesome than that? Imagine the scientist in charge, coming back home to his children, "Daddy, what did you do today?". Not only did them put a nuclear bomb to a gas fire, BUT IT WORKED!!

Sanchez said...

Actually peaceful nuclear explosions were done by both USSR and USA. Luckily for the human race they didn't get much use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_nuclear_explosions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagan_(nuclear_test)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_(nuclear_test)

Anyway nuclear weapon is tied with one of the most bitter chapter in the history of Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site
http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/features/under-a-nuclear-cloud/