In , Andy Burns
wrote:


I don't know why the news is reporting that it has now been capped,
but
they need to wait 24hours to see if it's a success? Clearly it's not
fully sealed, but from the BP video it seems they didn't expect a
complete seal anyway.


They've left 'vent' valves open in the sides of the cap, in case it
started sucking too strongly. There'll be an enormous 'chimney' effect
at the base of the new 5000 foot pipe/hose if/when it's full of oil
weighing only 70-80% of the surrounding seawater. Sucking too strongly
might re-introduce the hydrates problem they had with the orignal
coffer-dam idea.

I think they're now trying a combination of tightening up the seal
around the cap (to make it harder for water to get in) and
progressively closing down the vent valves.



--
Roger Morton