re: #463 Bagua

Specifically, the depth at which the small nuke would be detonated would be deep into the rock below the ocean floor. This would contain the radiation. But if such an attempt failed, it would no longer be possible to do any sort of Top Kill on the well.

What if it fractured the well at depth and removed the relief well option? Then the leak wouldn’t end until the reservoir was depressurised. (I am just guessing here that this is a possibility.)

Indeed. The resevoir is something like two miles below the sea bed, but I simply don’t know the deformation mechanics of sedimentary rock at that depth. I tend to think that the lithostatic pressure would prevent wholesale fracturing, but I would have to go look up a number of papers on that. I have had a class in structural geology, but absolutely no practical experience.