Hacker News Reader

Start pouring millions of tons of sand. Might have an affect after a month or two.

Setting off a massive explosion with the well at the center. Massive enough to move sufficient amount of material towards the well to essentially clamp it shut.

Of course, the oil would probably start leaking through the sand/rubble after a few days.

This could be trivially solved by applying nuclear explosives to weld everything shut, with the added benefit that local fishermen could stop to worry whether they'll have a job again soon. </sarcasm>

As far as I know nuclear devices tend to create massive holes rather than welding. Perhaps it would be better to use our nuclear capacity for energy generation and our petroleum for explosives, rather than vice versa.

At least if they use the nuke method no one will care about the oil spill anymore whether it works or not.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com