NASA to Stop a Doomsday Supervolcano by Stealing its Heat

[Cyber Liberty]

You must be fancy folk.  The kid in our neighborhood would do it for a dime.

We were.  Even our geeks had agents.

[Elderberry]

Bureaucratic creep. A well known side effect of a mature bureaucracy.

Should this effort be within the purview of the government? If so, under what department should it fall? USGS, EPA, NSF, DOE, NASA, U. S. Army Corp of Engineers, FEMA, or one not listed?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Contaminated waste water disposal will be somewhat of an issue here. The watershed--the Snake River and its aquifer is the lifeblood for all of southern Idaho ag and extending until it hits the Columbia. The problem may be solved by the INL (Idaho National Laboratory). It is an interesting idea. The practicality of it as far as cooling the supervolcano is doubtful. I also wonder why this is a NASA project.

Somewhat? It is the big issue of course.

These are dangerous, very bad contaminants we are talking about. 

And there is no way any 'cooling' effect of a super volcano will ever be significant.

That is the stuff of fairy tales.

[Smokin Joe]

Somewhat? It is the big issue of course.

These are dangerous, very bad contaminants we are talking about. 

And there is no way any 'cooling' effect of a super volcano will ever be significant.

That is the stuff of fairy tales.

Let's suppose that whoever tries is successful at transferring heat from 10km down to the surface.

That heat will end up in the atmosphere.

Already on the hook for the whole AGW scam, and maybe even some sketchy data, this will promote an increase in atmospheric temperatures which would otherwise not occur, except after a long time of that heat being transferred through over 30,000 feet of crust.

(30K ft. is pushing it for depth. I'd love to have a piece of that wellsite work, 'cause that won't go so quickly after the first 15K.)

[bigheadfred]

Somewhat? It is the big issue of course.

These are dangerous, very bad contaminants we are talking about. 

And there is no way any 'cooling' effect of a super volcano will ever be significant.

That is the stuff of fairy tales.

Ya got me. I was trying to be nice. I hear tell there is Plutonium in the aquifer now. With the Idaho National Laboratory here they may be the ones to run this project and deal with the waste water since they handle nuclear waste now. DOE site.



I live 6 miles south of Idaho Falls.

[catfish1957]

More

Would have to research more, but first pass seems like a scientific "hold muh beer" moment to me.

[Elderberry]

Let's suppose that whoever tries is successful at transferring heat from 10km down to the surface.

That heat will end up in the atmosphere.

Already on the hook for the whole AGW scam, and maybe even some sketchy data, this will promote an increase in atmospheric temperatures which would otherwise not occur, except after a long time of that heat being transferred through over 30,000 feet of crust.

(30K ft. is pushing it for depth. I'd love to have a piece of that wellsite work, 'cause that won't go so quickly after the first 15K.)

More atmospheric heat is good!  I don't like being cold. And it appears there are colder years ahead.

[catfish1957]

More atmospheric heat is good!  I don't like being cold. And it appears there are colder years ahead.

I am more in the camp is we don't know that much about these super volcanoes.  We don't what might trigger (besides simple overpressure) an eruption either.  Can any one verify that venting some pressure (basically) won't cause a thermal chain reaction, domino, or many of the other unintended consequences which may pop up.

I am not really into tempting or jacking with mother nature.

[bigheadfred]

Let's suppose that whoever tries is successful at transferring heat from 10km down to the surface.

That heat will end up in the atmosphere.

Already on the hook for the whole AGW scam, and maybe even some sketchy data, this will promote an increase in atmospheric temperatures which would otherwise not occur, except after a long time of that heat being transferred through over 30,000 feet of crust.

(30K ft. is pushing it for depth. I'd love to have a piece of that wellsite work, 'cause that won't go so quickly after the first 15K.)

I thought of this earlier but dismissed it. Yellowstone is giving off a lot of heat and it will be easy for them to bury the numbers in the numbers.

[Smokin Joe]

More atmospheric heat is good!  I don't like being cold. And it appears there are colder years ahead.

My concern it that they'd finally be able to say "See! It is warming!". 

[IsailedawayfromFR]

(30K ft. is pushing it for depth. I'd love to have a piece of that wellsite work, 'cause that won't go so quickly after the first 15K.)

why not move to Russia?  They spent 19 years drilling this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

You can finish off your drilling career and be drinkining vodka, both at the same time.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I am more in the camp is we don't know that much about these super volcanoes.  We don't what might trigger (besides simple overpressure) an eruption either.  Can any one verify that venting some pressure (basically) won't cause a thermal chain reaction, domino, or many of the other unintended consequences which may pop up.

I am not really into tempting or jacking with mother nature.

Water leaking into Krakatoa's magma chamber caused its massive eruption.  I do not wish to take those types of chances by the same government scientists who gave us the Gold King mining disaster.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Ya got me. I was trying to be nice. I hear tell there is Plutonium in the aquifer now. With the Idaho National Laboratory here they may be the ones to run this project and deal with the waste water since they handle nuclear waste now. DOE site.



I live 6 miles south of Idaho Falls.

You are better off than the folks who live along the Columbia River.

The Hanford site is the #1 environmental hazard in the country, which sits along the Columbia River in Washington state.  Part of the Manhatten project and first plutonium reactor.  Friend of mine visited there once and told me it is so bad, the government cannot do anything for it, so it just sits there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Would have to research more, but first pass seems like a scientific "hold muh beer" moment to me.

Or poking a big cat with a stick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn0r88RJFD4

[Joe Wooten]

Should this effort be within the purview of the government? If so, under what department should it fall? USGS, EPA, NSF, DOE, NASA, U. S. Army Corp of Engineers, FEMA, or one not listed?

If you were going to be logical about it, then DOE, since this is energy........

[Smokin Joe]

why not move to Russia?  They spent 19 years drilling this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

You can finish off your drilling career and be drinkining vodka, both at the same time.

I have worked around a couple of Russians. I don't drink. I'll stay with American Rigs and crews, thanks.

[thackney]

You are better off than the folks who live along the Columbia River.

The Hanford site is the #1 environmental hazard in the country, which sits along the Columbia River in Washington state.  Part of the Manhatten project and first plutonium reactor.  Friend of mine visited there once and told me it is so bad, the government cannot do anything for it, so it just sits there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

It is true they are cocooning the reactors to allow decay to reduce the radiation.  But it is not true they cannot do anything are are letting it just sit.  Massive amounts of work have been done and still ongoing to remove contaminants outside the reactors.

https://energy.gov/em/hanford-site

2,300 tons of spent fuel removed, 741 contaminated buildings removed, 798 waste sites along the Columbia River shores remediated, 12,000 cubic meters of waste removed, etc...

[IsailedawayfromFR]

It is true they are cocooning the reactors to allow decay to reduce the radiation.  But it is not true they cannot do anything are are letting it just sit.  Massive amounts of work have been done and still ongoing to remove contaminants outside the reactors.

https://energy.gov/em/hanford-site

2,300 tons of spent fuel removed, 741 contaminated buildings removed, 798 waste sites along the Columbia River shores remediated, 12,000 cubic meters of waste removed, etc...

my friend is an environmental specialist in groundwater cleanup.

He told me that this DofD site was also used to store chemicals.and the amount of drums was staggering.   His expert opinion was that there was no way anything could be done.

They may be spending money,  but it may be like trying to bail the ocean.

[Cyber Liberty]

my friend is an environmental specialist in groundwater cleanup.

He told me that this DofD site was also used to store chemicals.and the amount of drums was staggering.   His expert opinion was that there was no way anything could be done.

They may be spending money,  but it may be like trying to bail the ocean.

Those barrels got there one at a time, no more are being added, and they can be removed one at a time.  To where, who knows?  Eventually they'll be gone, it's mathematically inaccurate to say there's no way to clear them out.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Those barrels got there one at a time, no more are being added, and they can be removed one at a time.  To where, who knows?  Eventually they'll be gone, it's mathematically inaccurate to say there's no way to clear them out.

Mathematics has nothing to do with it.

The barrels are leeching and bubbling fluids outside the barrels, only God knows what is in them, and no one will touch them. They cannot.

This is not a scientific exercise, it is a survival exercise.  To survive, don't touch.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

A residential sized unit would not be approaching magma depths.

Even for Al Gore's house(s)?

[Just_Victor]

Water leaking into Krakatoa's magma chamber caused its massive eruption.  I do not wish to take those types of chances by the same government scientists who gave us the Gold3 King mining disaster.

So maybe we could set it off by simply pumping water into the magma chamber?

 

apocolypse!!!!!

[Suppressed]

Considering the EPA couldn't drill a well well enough constructed to test for frac contamination, I'd hope they would leave this to professionals.

Were those EPA drillers...or contractors?

[Smokin Joe]

Were those EPA drillers...or contractors?

If they were contractors, they were operating under EPA direction. I'm referring to the test wells they drilled near Pavilion, WY. The USGS wouldn't even test them--one was drilled into a hydrocarbon bearing zone, the other was a trainwreck.

[bigheadfred]

You are better off than the folks who live along the Columbia River.

The Hanford site is the #1 environmental hazard in the country, which sits along the Columbia River in Washington state.  Part of the Manhatten project and first plutonium reactor.  Friend of mine visited there once and told me it is so bad, the government cannot do anything for it, so it just sits there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

Thanks for the link. I didn't now Hanford was a DoD site that produced a lot of weapons grade plutonium. Explains the waste problem.

The INL was a different ball of wax.

"The history of nuclear energy for peaceful application has principally been written in Idaho".[1]

Various organizations have built more than 50 reactors at what is commonly called "the Site", including the ones that gave the world its first usable amount of electricity from nuclear power and the power plant for the world's first nuclear submarine. Although many are now decommissioned, these facilities are the largest concentration of reactors in the world.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_National_Laboratory