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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: combjelly who wrote (569581)6/1/2010 10:51:07 PM
From: tejek  Read Replies (2) of 1577191
 
"..a safeguard that might have prevented this disaster."

No, actually it wouldn't have. The BOP stack was damaged, leaking hydraulic fluid. Reports have also indicated the battery was dead. So once power was interrupted from the platform, there was no way the BOP could be triggered. Which is probably why the deadman switch failed.

Which isn't to say that acoustic triggers are a bad idea. They just wouldn't have helped in this particular situation.

Thanks for your input but I am not sure what I believe anymore. Where did you hear that a battery was dead? That seems odd given that this is a fairly new installation. There is so much speculation its hard to discern what's real and what isn't......for an example, here is another observation re. the acoustic switch and why the BOP failed:

"While very sophisticated, the system basically performs the safety function of a "deadman" system, where the BOP will slam shut if it loses communication with the rig through the umbilical in the event of a catastrophic event such as this one. In this particular incident, something clearly jammed the shear rams in the BOP; so, even if the Horizon had had an acoustic system installed, it very likely would not have resulted in a different outcome."

dailyhurricane.com

I can't determine whether industry regulation has been fairly sound and BP simply ran into a patch of bad luck, or if the Gulf rigs were simply an accident waiting to happen. I guess we will find out soon enough.
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