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The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

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Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#31

Post by thenmar »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #18
frontline wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i suggest you investigate the side effects of corexit that have emerged since the incident

I note that the FDA didn't find a problem with food safety ( http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencie... ) the Wikipedia page references an unreliable Vice/MotherJones article. Not finding much on its side effects from research though. Do you have some additional pointers? these guys http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=24108904 suggest that it doesn't help the bacteria work, but doesn't s…

Here's the wikipedia page for anyone curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corexit#Toxicity

There are plenty of links to reliable sources there. Which page were you looking at?

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#34

Post by MichaelApproved »

fmstephe wrote: post #29
source99 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. That's a lot of down votes for a joke/movie reference that shouldn't have offended anyone. Maybe this community isn't for me!

I doubt that anyone was offended. But you will find a very strong negative reaction to jokes in the comments. I think there is a (very wise) desire to avoid a reddit type culture that rewards extended jokes and similar things. This may well be the community for you, but just be aware that a lot of people are justifiably frightened of what can happen to online communities. I think a good rule of thumb would be 'would…

> 'would be a waste of someone's time to read this comment'

That's not a good example to use for jokes because people can justify lighthearted humor as an improvement to their day. Having fun is healthy for you, and whatnot.

I think a better way to deal with it is to say that there's a time and place for comedy and HN is not usually that place.

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#35

Post by tempestn »

sliverstorm wrote: post #17
andreasvc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment you're replying to is arguing that corexit is harmful.

Obviously, but what does that comment have to do with anything? So corexit is harmful. My gp was talking about nuclear explosions and bacteria, not corexit.

The grandparent also said, "so it wasn't quite as big of an environmental disaster as first expected." The comment about corexit would appear to refer to that part.

You could argue that it was or wasn't as big of a disaster as expected, but the corexit comment was certainly relevant regardless.

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#36

Post by johnnygasgoine »

AbraKdabra wrote: post #32

Actually, controlled explosions are the best strategy against big fires.

What do you mean "actually"?

This whole article is about how a controlled explosion was the best strategy against a big fire, and then you rock up and chime in with "actually controlled explosions are the best strategy against big fires".

Duh! That's what the article was talking about!

It's like everyone was talking about how the sky is blue, and you come along as say "actually the sky is blue".

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#37

Post by FreakyT »

matthiasb wrote: post #33

I believe nuclear charges are not only used to stop spill but also to release natural resources. However I did not find a reputable source of information to confirm that.

You might be thinking of the natural gas stimulation experiments performed by the US in the 70s[1]. From that article, "it was found that the three blast cavities had not connected as hoped, and the resulting gas still contained unacceptable levels of radionuclides" so it never went past the experimentation phase.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plowshare#Natural_ga...

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#39

Post by InclinedPlane »

source99 wrote: post #4

The US and Russia cooperated on a program to do this in space in order to stop a asteroid from destroying the planet. Bruce Willis led the mission.

HN doesn't tolerate jokes well because they are usually a disruption to the conversation. If you want to make a joke here you can, but you have to ask yourself whether the joke is lame and a distraction or original and funny enough to derail the conversation momentarily. If your joke gets downvoted into oblivion that's a sign that people feel it's the former.

Re: The USSR used a nuclear charge to stop a gas well fire in 1966

#40

Post by TrainedMonkey »

Thrymr wrote: post #24
BrandonMarc wrote: post #3

... as well as once in 1968, twice in 1972, and once in 1981. 0.o The USSR had a whole program to investigate peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs), called Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy. [1] Sadly, some of these experiments went rather wrong, unexpectedly releasing lots of radioactive nasty near populated areas. The US also did this sort of thing from 1961 to 1973, and the program was cancelled in '77. [2]…

My "favorite" Soviet use of nuclear explosions was for deep seismic exploration: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=deep+seismic+sounding+wi...

I can't find any reliable sources, so treat this as my own speculation. I heard that there were programs for a while in two big countries with acronyms starting with US that aimed into exploration of causing earthquakes/tsunamis that would hit across the word by using multiple underground nukes and constructive interference.
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