The Dam

4 responses to “The Dam”

1. 

   warhorse

   June 10, 2023

   the guy who was in charge of opening the spillway when it got to a certain depth got alcohol poisoning (a common thing for russians) and sent to the rear to detox a bit. no one else took over that guy’s job while he was gone.

   just a theory…

2. 

   John W Nowak

   June 10, 2023

   I have the feeling that this and the oil line explosion can both be ascribed to Russians screwing things up. It’s disturbing that simple incompetence can be so hard to distinguish from military action.

   1. 

      warhorse

      June 10, 2023

      the pipeline explosions were methane hydrate plugs. the images from the breaks in the pipeline curl outward, not in. the explosion came from inside the pipe.

      https://petrowiki.spe.org/Hydrate_plug_removal

      my guess is some russian with a hangover shut off a pump so he could sleep. not knowing or caring what depressurizing the pipe would do. once it exploded, they weren’t going to admit screwing it up, and the finger-pointing helps the chaos.

      russian incompetence is a pretty good bet.

   2. 

      scottlowther

      June 10, 2023

      Modern infrastructure is not resilient in terms of human indifference. Few things can handle lack of maintenance, or even someone staring intently as a status board. You might think a dam or a pipeline should be pretty rugged… but physics says otherwise.