BP Officially Ditches "Operation Top Hat", Moves to Insertion Tube to Stop Oil Spill

BP is now opting to use an insertion tube to contain the oil leak off the Gulf Coast. The device has been lowered to the ocean floor and BP hopes to have it in place in the next 24 hours.
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The Deepwater Horizon Incident Response Center has just issued an update saying that their plans to use a containment dome to contain the estimated 70,000 barrel-a-day oil leak have been scrapped as the "next course of action."

BP -- the company responsible for the containment of this leak -- is now opting to use an "insertion tube" that will be pushed into the pipe using a remote controlled vehicle.

The device has been lowered to the ocean floor -- 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico -- and in the next 24 hours BP hopes to have it in place.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Here's the illustration of the operation sent to me by the Incident Center:

2010-05-15-bpoilspillinsertiontube.jpg

Here is the video of the earlier failed attempt to cap the leak using a 100-ton, 4-story high concrete containment dome:

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