After the atomic bomb went off, there was left a large hollow chamber. What happened to all the material that had occupied that space before?
On Sun, May 31, 2020 at 1:18 PM Steve Keselik <skese...@gmail.com> wrote: > The miners and engineers at the salt dome I worked at on Weeks Island in > Louisiana would beg to differ on the no fluid flow and permeability line of > thought. Morton salt has or had (1978) a large salt mine there and leaks > would increase in size and flow at an alarming rate and had to be plugged > ASAP. I would suspect that maybe before a huge man made cavity 1200' down > was made there that the problem wasn't an issue and the weight and > plasticity of the salt keep it in one gigantic piece. This was on the coast > of very wet Louisiana and not the drier New Mexican desert.so that probably > made the difference. It was a very interesting project, my brother was the > surveyor that had to lay out the 30' diameter main shaft and the helical > shat that they could drive equipment up and down into the mine. He started > the helical shaft at the top and bottom at the same time and when they met > the walls came out only a few inches apart ! This was before GPS, he no > doubt had several years of disturbed sleep checking and rechecking his > math. The shaft was 1200' deep. > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> > Virus-free. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> > <#m_1475836728146400418_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> > > On Sat, May 30, 2020 at 5:44 PM Dwight Deal <dirt...@comcast.net> wrote: > >> Hi Nancy: >> >> >> >> Forgive me if this is not quite cave and karst related, but ---------. >> >> >> >> A smaller but similar "event" occurred about 25 miles southeast of >> Carlsbad in 1961. This was the Gnome Project and the first test as part >> of Project Plowshare, a poorly-conceived attempt by Sandia National Labs >> at demonstrating the "peaceful use" of atomic bombs. The idea was to blow >> a big hole in the middle of the Salado Salt (about 2,000 feet thick there) >> and use it to store petroleum as part of our strategic reserve. >> >> >> >> In some ways it worked quite nicely, except for a couple of details. >> >> >> >> >> 1. The plug failed and the blast vented to the surface. Official news >> releases stated "Some radiation was released and detected off-site, but it >> quickly decayed". True enough, but the cloud of radioactive particles was >> blown northwest and right over the town of Roswell. I attribute that >> event >> to the next generation of natives behaving erratically and embracing the >> belief that aliens from outer space crashed near Roswell. >> >> >> >> >> 1. A blast chamber was formed (with a glassy, fused salt floor but >> with breakdown on top of it) and the surrounding salt remained impervious. >> The chamber remained a good container for fluids. The detonation created a >> cavity about 170 ft wide and almost 90 ft high. They actually drilled a >> shaft (a little over 1,000 feet deep) into it after the blast and lowered >> men down. I have talked with one of the guys that was down in there. Six >> months after the detonation, the temperature inside the cavity was still >> around 140 °F. Unfortunately the radioactivity in the blast chamber was so >> high and long lived that any petroleum that would have been stored in it >> would become too radioactive for later use. >> >> >> >> Duh!!!! >> >> >> >> There was also the idea that perhaps the cavity would be so hot that you >> could pump water into it and then produce "geothermal" energy. Not a >> chance! >> >> >> >> I got involved in the 1980s-90s because the Gnome blast was very close to >> the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) where I was the geotechnical >> manager. The WIPP is where a peculiar kind of radioactive waste is now >> being stored. Opposition to the storage facility was concerned that water >> might carry contaminated materials away underground from the WIPP. >> >> >> >> There is no fluid flow through the salt at those depths because under >> that much confining pressure (the weight of the overlying rocks - roughly >> 14 atmospheres) the salt flows plastically and there is no permeability >> (connected pore spaces) for fluids to flow through. You must have >> connected, open pores for fluids to move through rocks. The Gnome site was >> a location where you could prove that the containment of radioactive waste >> at the WIPP was safe. If no contaminated fluids flow through the >> undisturbed salt away from Gnome, they could not flow away from the next >> door WIPP site. >> >> >> >> But don't befuddle me with science and facts! >> >> >> >> DirtDoc >> >> >> >> Attached is an image taken inside the blast chamber before the entry >> shaft was permanently sealed. I think that is a person on top of the >> rubble pile for scale. >> >> >> >> >> >> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >> >> On May 30, 2020 at 2:06 PM Nancy Weaver <nan...@prismnet.com> wrote: >> >> oops said the geologists. gotta love the scientific ’try it and see what >> happens’ attitude >> >> https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/do-underground-nuclear-tests-have-fallout?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=52ab7f1d89-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-52ab7f1d89-71292933&mc_cid=52ab7f1d89&mc_eid=994603381e >> Nancy >> _______________________________________________ >> Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com >> Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ >> http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com >> Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ >> http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >> > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >
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