The Nord Stream Pipeline Repair Dilemma

Gibraltar Messenger

The Nord Stream Pipelines attack may end up being an environmental disaster to equal the Fukushima disaster, with the release of millions of cubic metres of methane-gas into the environment, from the attack and in an attempt to save the pipelines. 

It has been reported that the Russians are having to maintain gas-flow through the Russian end of the pipelines to prevent seawater entering and starting a process that, once started, never ends – rusting. Rust never sleeps once it has started.

So, unless they have a tool for removing and killing the rust, they have two options:

  1. Keep pumping gas through the pipelines and thus damage the marine life and the environment with massive amounts of released methane.
  2. Abandon the pipelines as being scrap, after costing billions to build, and laying new ones, that evil lunatics could also destroy.

Depending upon the amount of damage and whether the pipes are just holed, or separated and twisted out of shape will determine how difficult they are to repair, if that is decided upon. They can only pump gas through the Russian end to prevent rusting, but obviously not through the other end past the damage in the side terminating in Germany, which will inevitably fill with seawater and rust, thus needing to be replaced, if they cannot kill the rust.

It is possible to repair pipes under water using a hyperbaric welding system and at 70 metres depth, mixed-gas saturation divers who are Lloyds qualified and certified welders, but it would be a monumental task, because the pipes are coated and encased in concrete and then are possibly below the seabed. If the Russians have used the normal method of jetting the pipes into and under the seabed, using a system whereby an huge sledge sits on top of the pipe and moves along it, whilst having high pressure jets to blow the sand away from underneath the pipe, creating a trench that the pipe settles into, then getting to the pipe to repair it will be even more difficult.

The question for repairing is: did the pipes just sit on the seabed, or were they jetted into it? At 70 metres depth it would not be vulnerable to anchors dragging into it, like in shallower waters, but the water-depth is not uniform, especially as the sea approaches land.

If they sat on the seabed they would be more vulnerable than if jetted-in, but easier to both find to repair and to attack.

Welding conventionally underwater makes the weld brittle, because the weld does not cool naturally like on land, but is instantly cooled by the seawater. That’s why with something like these pipelines the hyperbaric-welding system is used, because it uses a gas-pressurised chamber over the pipeline, to keep the water off the welding, so it cools slowly like on land.

Gibraltar Messenger

3 thoughts on “The Nord Stream Pipeline Repair Dilemma

  1. So I’m readin’ at the source page about the pipeline and then run smack into the story of the second coming and the Rolex watch that Christ will get to wear. Yet the frikkin’ watch is for sale!!

    It’s predawn and I’m wondering what kind of day it will be and if the ocean is dying. And who is “Jah?” And why are there entrapments in this world?

    Christ in a Rolex. Rolex worth $Billions. Which of our 10 Articles covers the crime of deception? Which protects the deceived? I know it’s in there but haven’t figured it out yet. Could be The 9th.

    Lastly, sometimes I wish we had a world without watches and clocks and that the position of the sun was enough to plan our time, or I should say our experience. But more than that, I wish for a world without deception. Damn, this article got me going.

    .

  2. So much is wrong in this pile of bullsh!t. Let’s start with this “So, unless they have a tool for removing and killing the rust, they have two options:” They have such a tool, it’s called a “pipeline scrubber pig” and it cleans the inside of the pipe, look it up ! I’ve liad literally millions of feet of pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico and every one of them has had salt water inside it.

    Welding this pipeline underwater is a fairy tale, it simply can’t be done, that’s not how pipelines are built. They are welded on the surface, x-rayed, weld joint is covered with a heat activated sealing tape and lowered until the next section can be welded on.

    I will walk them and you through the process…
    First a remote underwater vehicle locates the damage and determines how much pipe has been damaged and where the pipe can be safely cut. Obviously there should be no gas flowing. Next a diver goes down and secures a sling or 2 to the pipe, if it is buried then they will need to use a water jet to make space for the slings (attached to a crane). Crane then lifts the pipe slightly. Divers then go down with an ultrathermic cutting torch (Broco torch, burns magnesium at 18,000°) and cuts off the pipe. The crane then lifts the pipe end to the surface where it can be recut with precision. Then a flange is welded on the end of the pipeline. A test flange can then be installed (a flange plate with a threaded hole allowing the pipeline to be pressurized/tested). If they have pressure they can then run a standard pig (like a nerf football that fits the inside diameter of the pipe) through the line to remove the water. Followed by the scrubber pig to clean the inside of the pipe. A blind flange is then installed and the pipe is sealed enabling it to be safely lowered back to the ocean floor. This process would be done on both sides of the damage. A new section of pipe can be laid next to the existing pipe and assembled underwater by divers with flanges and the help of the crane. After the connections are made more pigs used to remove the water and/or scrubber pigs to clean the pipe.
    Done ! This is all in a day’s work for a pipeline diver.

    Hangman

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