Crews struggle to ‘quench’ geothermal power plant wells as lava advances
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/05/22/hawaii-news/crews-struggle-to-quench-geothermal-power-plant-wells-as-lava-advances/Workers at the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant found themselves in a race against nature Monday as they attempted to seal off a particularly troublesome, deep geothermal well while lava from Kilauea Volcano advanced from the south to a point uncomfortably close to the well pad area.
The plant has been closed since shortly after the May 3 eruption began, and the company sealed the production wells with metal valves. Still, area residents and state and county officials have worried that a lava flow or earthquake could damage the wells, causing an uncontrolled release of hydrogen sulfide or other potentially dangerous volcanic gases.
Most of the lava on the surface of the Lower East Rift Zone is pouring toward the Puna coastline, but on Tuesday morning county officials said a relatively small lava flow had begun to move in the opposite direction and was advancing into the PGV property.
A Hawaii County Civil Defense spokeswoman said fissure 22 just south of PGV site displayed “very active fountaining†that scientists said reached as high as 140 feet at times, and it was a finger of lava from that fissure that advanced to the northeast toward the well pad at PGV.
Tom Travis, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said that by Monday afternoon the lava advanced to within about 200 or 300 yards of the PGV facilities but stalled at a berm on the property....
...a third production well, known as KS14, presented special problems because the advancing magma in the Lower East Rift Zone apparently caused the contents of the well to heat up, said Travis.
Even after pumping cold salt water into KS14, the fluid and steam below continued to generate pressure at the well head, Travis said. The latest plan is to use denser “mud materials†that are used in drilling operations to seal off the well, he said.
“We should have an idea of whether that’s successful or not tonight,†Travis said Monday. “Once that step is taken, we will be in a much more solid state for having lava overflow the site.â€...
