The Engineering Behind Russia's Deadlocked Pipeline: Nord Stream 2

Nord Stream 2 is possibly the world's most controversial infrastructure project, and it was thrust further into the spotlight when Russia invaded Ukraine earlier in 2022. The future of this monumental feat of engineering and maritime construction is unclear. Right now, it seems doubtful that the Nord Stream 2 will ever be anything more than an empty tube of steel and concrete at the bottom of the Baltic Sea (and maybe that’s for the best).
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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.
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[@happylittlewarlus]

I've seen these pipes stored in the port of Mussalo in Kotka, Finland. You wouldn't believe how many there were. They were stacked about 6 high and the rows just went on forever.

[@cmdr1911]

Same thing with the Rover in Ohio. 700 miles of pipe in a single yard. The truck traffic during construction was insane b

[@MrHungrySimon]

according to Brady, I'd say about 100,000 Joke aside, I see what you're saying, seeing that much of anything in one place is mind boggling.

[@infernaldaedra]

Finland should keep those pipes lol

[@Eric-dr5bj]

@@MrHungrySimon I drove by the Coors facility and saw their outdoor keg storage. Never imagined what an acre 30 feet tall of kegs would look like but it was impressive

[@misryluvsco8169]

@@cmdr1911 What is Rover in Ohio? Why is there 700 miles of pipe? Where is that much pipe stored?

[@Tehom1]

You know so much about pipelines. I have a tiny contribution: "pig" didn't originally stand for "Pipeline Inspection Gauge", it was originally just a dumb plug they used to push thru long pipes with pressure to clean them from the inside, called "pigs" because of the squealing sound they made as they went thru.

[@charlesbosse9669]

Very cool fact. I worked with a mechanical company, and when they finished welding up the chiller pipe, and pressure checked it for leaks, they would sometimes flush this detergent of some kind, into the pipe to clean the inside. Thins like slag, and carbon deposits from heating the steel during the welding process, had to be scrubbed out of there.

[@nnelg8139]

Backronyms at their finest.

[@pyrodoll2422]

At my work we have to pump a lot of paint coating around and the rubber bungs we push through the pipework with compressed air then solvent at the start of a washdown are known as pigs so 👍👍

[@amarissimus29]

There are plenty of areas where live animals are still used. Piglets between 6 months and a year outperform even the fanciest synthetic electronic units, and when greased are much, much faster. The squealing is usually the result of backwards insertion.

[@preachers4135]

@@amarissimus29 😂🤣😂

[@briangarrow448]

One of my final projects before retirement was constructing pipelines at a coal powered thermal power plant complex. The plant was using the waste coal slurry stored in ponds over 50 years of operation as a fuel after cleaning out the dirt from the coal in a cleansing plant then mixing it with newly mined coal from another coal mine. The pipes were 18 inches or 45.72 cm in diameter and some of the lines were close to 10 miles in length. All of this was done to clean up the area around the plant and reclaim the land back to it’s original state before the plant closes in a couple of years. I have a few photos from my time on the pipe crew with the plant off in the background that I should enlarge and make into framed prints.

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

Wow! That's really awesome!

[@kostpoliakov]

Oh lol! Just a tiny correction is needed - 45.72 CM... Centimeters... Almost half a meter. Not 45.72 mm, which is 1.8" (inches).

[@briangarrow448]

@@kostpoliakov You are correct. Great catch. Damned IPhone.

[@Chrazzari]

Just to clarify are you saying the waste slurry had unburnt coal in it?

[@rogeronslow1498]

Brian, what did they do with the flyash? Where I live they make bricks out of it.

[@user-hs1np1os9p]

Hi! There are some interesting details that may be not fully covered in the video Barge movement The pipe barge is being held in place by several anchors (up to 8 for big ships, this is enough for 230m long barge) and use geopositioning systems to determine exact location where the pipe must be installed. The barge advances forward by slipping anchors at the back and drawing these at the front simultaneously. Pipe stays in place, since it's being held by anchors and buoys, while barge is moving. Thus a space for a new pipe section is freed. Then a small tugboat pick anchors one by one (this is the job for a diver) and put them in new locations according to planned vessel path. So the process repeats. Landfalls These are often most problematical parts for installation. Cranes and bulldozers cannot swim. And a big ship cannot float in low waters too. For these parts special ships that are capable of floating on the very low water levers are used. But they cannot carry the whole pipe or other heavy equipment. So the pipe section that connects terrestrial part of gas pipeline with a marine one is welded on the land. Then a small boat grabs the cable that is attached to the pipe section to the pipe barge, brings it to the barge and the prepared section is dragged onto the welding vessel. Seasons of year In northern seas navigation can stop (because of ice, obviously). The ships cannot wait here. Sometimes the ship has to go to maintenance or must be replaced. So they must leave the pipe. By technology sea water never goes into the pipe. So when the construction pauses for a long period of time the pipe has a cap welded and its ends is attached to anchors and buoys. The whole pipe rests in water. Later on a divers picks its ends, cap is removed and the process resumes. Pipeline deepener / trencher When a pipe lands onto the seafloor there is not enough stability provided by its own weight. To keep it in place and protect from environment they use a pipeline deepener. Which literally represents a remote controlled underwater bulldozer with boers installed on its mechanical arms. It moves several times along the tube (above the tube) digging the trench under it. The removed soil covers the tube. Thank you! I am looking forward to hearing about this or similar subject more

[@ijustwanttogosailing8248]

Thank you for this explanation! So unfortunate Russia had to defend it's people and now we will not see this project in action.. Here in UK electricity price went up (for me) from 18 to 26 pence for KW/h this spring and probably will climb higher in autumn.

[@ReflectedMiles]

@@ijustwanttogosailing8248 ...Russia had to kill others, you mean, in the name of defending itself (using this as an excuse). Нечестивец бежит, хотя никто его не преследует...

[@ijustwanttogosailing8248]

@@ReflectedMiles Exactly. You-Crane started firing at residential areas of Donetsk city, Russian government had a duty to intervene. Cant write that word in full - it triggers censorship.

[@HydrogenAlpha]

@@ijustwanttogosailing8248 Okay comrade. Sure thing.

[@yohanesyohanes1871]

hope Grady will put this explanation in the next video

[@plapbandit]

Imagine switching FROM nuclear TO gas. Germany, you're insane.

[@worldoftancraft]

They even exported the not fully processed uranium ore(0.20% of U-235) to Russia with a pay above.

[@trucid2]

From nuclear to gas to unreliable solar and wind. It's all by design. Your suffering is their gain.

[@Maxikxng]

idk why we would shut down nuclear reactors they are realiable and a very efficiant source of power and the coal powerplants we have here alone release more radiation then all nuclear power plants combined did (there is a small ammount of Radiation in coal) and also standing in the reactor room dosnt kill you fast standing near a coal powerplant and your lungs are going to hate you pretty fast .. .

[@FriedrichHerschel]

The decision to end nuclear power was a concession the social democrats had to give the green party in order to form a government back in 1998 and end 16 years of the chancellorship of Kohl. Germany was considered back then the weak man of Europe, and to get something done, it couldn't stand with the conservatives longer. The idea was to end nuclear and switch so renewables, with around 20 years time to transition to those. But in 2005, Angela Merkel and her conservative party won the chancellorship back, cancelled the end of nuclear power in Germany and therefore also didn't invest enough into alternative energy sources. After Fukushima, Merkel changed her mind and went back to end nuclear power, but the conservatives still didn't do much to properly replace it, hoping to overturn that decision in the future.

[@LifeWithMatthew]

A lot of people making decisions today were flower children in the 60s who honestly believe in the Nuclear Boogeyman without knowing that it is hands down one of the most green friendly power options. Solar and Wind produce tons of greenhouse gasses in their production, solar and battery relies on strip mining limited resources, wind produces tons and tons of waste as the blades crack requiring dedicated landfills that fill up with material that will never biodegrade, and kill off lots of migratory birds. I agree, it's nuts 🤷‍♂

[@DavidNancyTom]

9:25 "Germany is planning to shutter the last 3 of its nuclear plants" I don't get why people are closing nuclear plants when the entire point is to transition away from fossil fuels. Using nuclear energy as a bridge from fossil fuels to renewable energy makes way more sense than going back to natural gas for that transition.

[@Ruhrpottpatriot]

Because most of the nuclear power plants are already in the process of shutting them down and just keeping them running is very dangerous. Also most of the fuel for the plants comes from... you guessed it: Russia. There's a great video from Simon Clark about nuclear power and climate change. The tl;dr is: Can be helpful, in about ten to fifteen years.

[@andreaspeters8602]

That is, because decisions are made emotionally, not rationally. Or maybe rationally in regards to the voters, who are afraid of nuclear power, because germans all remember he Chernobyl desaster, which did have effects in large parts of germany. Playgrounds were closed, mushrooms from the woods and game meat were suddenly dangerous, stuff like that. Any ever so minor incident in a nuclear plant gets huge media attetion in germany immediately.

[@chiboreache]

​@@andreaspeters8602 when colds will came, they became smarter ;)

[@andrewevanjohn1482]

Because as long as there’s fossil fuels in the ground, someone will profit handsomely from their extraction and sale. There will be no widespread renewable power generation as long as the coal, gas, and oil holds out. Think that will cause catastrophic climate change and the deaths of huge numbers of humans? Of course it will! But the fossil fuel tycoons believe they’ll be safe in their bunkers in New Zealand, and that’s all that matters. To them.

[@nrdesign1991]

Because politics was overreacting to an overreaction by the people here. Noone seems to care that actually producing energy with nuclear reactors is almost free of emissions of any kind while fossil fuels are continuing to be burned, evacuating and destroying whole villages. the NIMBYs are opposing solar and wind everywhere they can. This country is just as unorganized and misguided in modern technology as you can imagine.

[@Life_of_Matthew]

It is such a shame that such a monumental feat in infrastructure isn't even going to be used. But as a civil engineering student, it is projects like these that inspire me so much

[@mikamajlund3622]

And now its leaking gas..

[@barclaymatheson8240]

Yeah, good foresight

[@MikeB3542]

@@mikamajlund3622 it's not "leaking"...it was blown up

[@garyr7027]

@@mikamajlund3622 was leaking gas, they've turned the gas valves off now the pipes are just full of sea water.

[@mikamajlund3622]

@@garyr7027 Its holes in them, watch news 👍 some one has blown a bomb.

[@bigrob966]

Grady, we need a short on how the sabotaged sections could be repaired!!

[@sietuuba]

Including a segment explaining why both NS1 or NS2 should not be repaired. Don't throw good money after the bad and all that... literally a sunk cost fallacy to even dream of it.

[@SuperSpecies]

@@sietuuba only should not be if you want Germany to freeze

[@markus1351]

It can't be repaired realistically... It's füll of corrosive seawater

[@BeCurieUs]

Shutting down reactors while also using more Russian gas has to be one of the largest geo-economic/political mistakes I have seen in the energy sector in awhile.

[@paulhaynes8045]

The only true 20-20 vision is hindsight.

[@BeCurieUs]

@@paulhaynes8045 I mean, many of us have been screeming this from the rooftops during the entire Energiewende, so it is more like a vindication none of us actually wanted to see come to fruition.

[@headcrash69]

That's not what's happening or was planned. An absolute miniscule amount of gas is used for electricity production. Your shilling for nuclear power is embarrassing.

[@floxy20]

German eco-virtue posturing plus German amnesia about the fundamentals of rotten to the core dictatorships. Not 20/20 hindsight.

[@Markus-zb5zd]

turning off the reactors was and is correct, they are at EOL anyway,... but with conservatives in charge do you really expect the neccesary money to be put into renewables?

[@jmarcosravel]

I am a 50 years old electronic engineer. Thanks to your amazing videos, I'm starting a civil engineering undergraduate course and i am delighted!

[@IceyJunior]

Wow may I ask why?

[@NoahSpurrier]

Wow. How are you going about that? I’ve been thinking of switching careers.

[@IceyJunior]

@@NoahSpurrier Same. I been thinking of switching away from engineering. My salary cause me to lose passion in engineering.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@Ex troll Now living clean life “ex” troll? I think you may need to examine how many biases you’ve still retained…

[@dmdeemer]

@Ex troll Now living clean life Username incorrect.

[@drzeworyj]

I'm a beginning technical translator and your videos help me visualize everything I read about. thanks, Grady!

[@athenahouse2882]

The part of the video that dealt with the mechanical, technical, and engineering, was fantastic.

[@Yossus]

As a German, I am fairly familiar with the political issues surrounding this project. I applaud you for facing the issue head-on, not purely focusing on the engineering but taking a more holistic view by bookending the science with the political and historical background. I think you did an excellent job covering the fascinating engineering while contextualising it to the appropriate degree. I'm a physicist, but I seem to recall that it's very important for engineers to have a working knowledge and skills in ethics as well as the physical sciences. After this video, I would be very excited if you decided to make a series of videos about the ethical challenges engineers face, and best practises for resolving them - even if that's probably pretty far off from what your general audience expects from this channel!

[@jackpowell9276]

Nice insight, i belive part of being a chartered engineer is adhering to those ethical rules set out by the various bodies you're chartered with. I'd certainly be interested in hearing how those things are dealt with and what options an engineer has to escalate against pushy business requirements that intentionally compromise safety etc.

[@hedgehog3180]

I mean a lot of engineering is about ethics down the line. Health and safety, proper maintenance and inspection and so on are really about ethics but they're ethics issues that were resolved long ago. Engineering has a lot of ethics which has just been absorbed into the profession not as an ethical question but as a concrete set of methods to mitigate risks and keep everyone safe.

[@rickt151]

@@sncy5303 well, no! I don't have numbers, but I'm certain a lot of people that worked on this project couldn't have kept Russia out of the Ukraine. Of course, there are rotten apples everywhere, but to put every worker of said project in jail doesn't seem right to me.

[@inigo4688]

Agreed. Count me in to the Grady teaches engineering ethics series. 👍

[@Watchyn_Yarwood]

Excellent suggestion.

[@thatrealba]

I've done plenty of "regular", below ground oil and natural gas pipelining here in the USA, but under sea pipelining super interesting to me.

[@thatrealba]

@@GarrishChristopherRobin777 See now that's something I'd find highly interesting too.

[@iwinrar5207]

@@thatrealba that and cross alentic fiber lines and just how fragile it all xan be. Just takes a ship dropping it's Anker and that line is dead.

[@thatrealba]

@@iwinrar5207 I've been around a couple of fiber strikes. Luckily it wasn't me operating at the time. 😅

[@Thoraxe0987]

This is the first video I've seen from your channel and it is fantastic. Definitely going back through your other content now

[@DZegers13]

I’m honestly surprised that it only cost $10 Billion There’s a 26 mile highway construction project underway near my house that is going to cost over a Billion dollars and the most complicated part about it is some elevated flyover ramps at the interchanges. I would have expected 1000+ km of under water pipe to cost a lot more

[@archeryhunter86-]

The biggest difference is this is a private company, vs a project funded by the government (assuming you live in the US) which overpays for everything.

[@ronblack7870]

it's cause they have to pay " prevailing wage" for everything which is the maximum union wage in the area. and they have to use all union workers.and if they have to keep traffic lanes open while constructing that causes many problems and delays.

[@lanog40]

@@ronblack7870 do you have data that backs this up, or is this hearsay?

[@Peglegkickboxer]

A government run pipeline through the mountains in Canada is now over $32 billion.

[@albatross5466]

A lot of that cost likely went into environmental studies.

[@verdatum]

Wow. I've got some experience with undersea fiber-optic cable, and, this sounds massively more complicated than all of the frustrations involved in fiber. Edit: To clarify, I was extremely far disconnected with the actual physical engineering of laying fiber-optic cable. I only learned enough about the issue to complete my task. But if you are curious about his concept, I cannot recommend enough the 1996 Wired Magazine article, by cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson, titled "Mother Earth Mother Board". He actually went along for the ride, and he really learned his stuff.

[@qpSubZeroqp]

That's amazing, cool and really important work that you do. I can only think of some of the complications related to underwater fiber.

[@thomasrogers8239]

The pipe is probably a bit more robust than fiber but yeah the headaches are probably the same.

[@anteeko]

Fiber most be a challenge too.. I cannot even imagine how to repair? how to find where it is broken? nuts

[@belisarian6429]

@@anteeko Finding where it is broken is not that hard, especially if you have multiple of them and only one of them is damaged (which is most likely scenario). You can then compare echoes from lines and calculate where it is damaged(this all holds for electric ones, not sure about optic, maybe something similar can be used too). Repairing on the other hand is much harder, that is why I imagine those cables are heavily insulated to minimize damage probability.

[@anteeko]

@@belisarian6429 Very interesting thanks!

[@xdave83]

I'm glad you made this video Grady. It is a fascinating project, and you have a real skill for explaining things clearly. As others have pointed out - engineering is not just about calculations and blueprints, it is a human endeavour subject to human influences, and you covered all aspects of the project well. It is sad to see such an impressive testament to human ingenuity likely mothballed forever, but maybe this could be the catalyst for refactoring our energy supplies. If you see this, would you consider a video on fracking? Because it is an emotive topic most videos tend to bias pro or against it, and it would be good to see the processes explained from an engineering perspective. Plus think of the cool acrylic models you could make!

[@DeadlyNerotoxins]

I second this! Would like to learn just what all the fuss is about with fracking.

[@TheOnlypancho]

@@DeadlyNerotoxins Well, here in Oklahoma, the wastewater injection has been linked to a massive increase in earthquakes leading to property damage across the state.

[@brotherandy]

Yes Please! Please do a fracking video Grady!

[@Billsbob]

@@TheOnlypancho and so it begins… Fracking does not use waste water, because they have to use special dense mixtures; that said it’s certainly not suitable for drinking. Which is why they drill far under aquifers and create cement barriers; protects aquifers but also ensures they aren’t losing product. If there were leaks they’d know and stop it because that’s lost income. Nor could Ground water exist at the depths they’re drilling to and find it’s way through the rock to an aquifer, otherwise you’d already have the much lighter petroleum products in the aquifer and not water. Not to mention the drilling would have to be massive to have the kind of impact hundreds of feet down that could possibly begin to cause surface disruption and earthquakes. At the depths they go you could set off a nuke and barely notice it on the surface, look up below video of ground nuke testing in Nevada

[@veramae4098]

@@Billsbob Ummm, so the videos I've seen of tapwater catching fire are just a scam?

[@seanps999]

Great job! I think that you handled all of the issues well.

[@RandyK1ng]

Absolutely fascinating. I love the insight into how this stuff works Grady, thank you. Who'd a thunk you could have 'flexible' steel tubes wrapped in concrete?

[@joeyager8479]

Laying a pipeline along the sea floor is pretty amazing, but what about the ship/work deck where it is all welded together. As a 50 year machine designer, that's the most amazing thing to me.

[@Michael-0000]

The firing line on the pipelay vessels is an extraordinary process of wash, rinse, and repeat. Every weld, bar none has to be perfect. Constant tension needs to be maintained on the pipe as it is lowered onto the seabed. The anchor lay barges have a support fleet and work in concert as an orchestra would. Pioneering Spirit was used as one of the pipelay vessels - the most advanced of its type in the world and the largest ever built (it has a beam of 124m alone!).

[@markchisholm2657]

@@Michael-0000 Pioneering Spirit isn't an anchor lay barge, is a DP ship. Most large pipelayers are ships with DP systems now as barges are slow and are no good in deep water.

[@Michael-0000]

@@markchisholm2657 Correct - Pioneering Spirit is DP. Anchor lay barges were also used to lay sections of the pipeline but the majority was DP.

[@Saturn2888]

Politics aside, this is a massive undertaking! It's cool to see exactly how they did it, all the steps involved, logicistics, etc. It's incredible this is even possible to build! Pipe segments weight over 24 tons! Wow. And making sure there are zero leaks, that the highly-corosive salt water doesn't do anything; it's incredible this is possible at all!

[@ironcito1101]

24 tons! 4:57

[@Saturn2888]

@@ironcito1101 Edited thanks!

[@matthewshultz2495]

I'm certain Russia didn't fudge the specs or use below par materials or cut corners at all.

[@PlumSack79]

Ok, calm down there, it's not that exciting you simpleton

[@Gitah92]

Minor gripe. I'm not sure why the baltic sea is considered "harsh" or somehow seen as more salty than oceans and such (or even close). The Baltic sea is brackish and contains a mixture of fresh and and salt water. The average salinity is only seven grams per kilogram of water. By contrast, in the oceans, it is 35 grams per kilogram. Engineers would absolutely have this amount of salinity in mind though, but compared to other saline bodies of water, the baltic sea should be easy to manage.

[@philrabe910]

Great show! difficult subject. So I focused on the mechanical aspects. As soon as you said there were multiple pipe laying ships I wondered how they connected the separate segments...

[@crumpet_]

Your knowledge, research and delivery is phenomenal! Thank You Grady

[@amedeocestini]

The curious thing it's that You could post a single video for each production's phase! The complexity of this project it's very huge. Very nice work!

[@davidrangelv]

I used to work for 3 years as a quality supervisor, just to think that 78,000 concrete coated pipes that i approved are right now laying at the bottom of the sea is just wonderful.

[@mborsik]

77,997

[@marthafakker]

Now it got blown up 💀

[@aparker9622]

@@marthafakker 💀💀💀💀😂 I was literally just scrolling comments after I found this video following the news of it blowing up

[@yaroslavishutko816]

Building up infrastructure for terrorists - must feel amazing

[@GOLDVIOLINbowofdeath]

@@marthafakker Biden blew it up

[@glenosimpsonjr54]

I enjoy your stuff. Wish you could do longer videos with more detail. None the less they are great.

[@ishaqapalando]

Thanks so much for this! It's more enlightening learning about the engineering of the project apart from the finance and geopolitics of it.

[@ditodevice1950]

I love this channel so much, I have no Engineering background at all, but the way everything is explained is fantastic and easy to understand.

[@Watchyn_Yarwood]

Ditto, dito!

[@varunnikam]

ikr same

[@siliconalleys]

Excellent presentation in an easy to understand manner. No "talking above" your audience. That's respectful!

[@hugjuffs]

You missed the perfect opportunity to call Nordstream 2 a pipe dream.

[@searwr7835]

Grady, you are the best. TY for your content and the flawless way you wean needed info in understandable ways.

[@jackprier7727]

Fascinating, informative, exciting, thorough. I was sorta hoping you had a mock-up in the garage to show joint-sealing process!-

[@CSpottsGaming]

I'm a petroleum engineer by education and when you said PIG stood for "pipeline inspection gauge" I thought you had to be incorrect. Turns out there are two kinds of pigs (and I suspect PIG in that usage is actually a backronym, but I can't find proof of that). The pigs we used were always large rubbery plugs (not sure what the actual material is) and the primary purpose was to clean pipes out because stuff builds up over time. Often that's heavier hydrocarbons forming wax on the inside of pipes but sometimes it's other things as well, or the pipes are being taken apart and need to be as empty as possible (so the pig is sent down the line to push out any remaining liquids). They're a pretty neat and super simple tool. The ones we used were "gas-powered". In other words, you'd put them into a pipe and pressure up the gas behind them to shoot them down the line.

[@WheissRS]

ohh i saw about this in concrete pipes at construction sites, they use compressed air with it in one end to pull out all the remaining concrete at the end of the day

[@noemierollindedebeaumont1130]

Wow that's super interesting ! How long goes it take for the wax to build up 🤔 What's a backcronym ?

[@WanJae42]

@@noemierollindedebeaumont1130 When you create an acronym for a word that's already being used. (In other words, the suggestion is that they were already calling it a "pig", and created the acronym later.)

[@CSpottsGaming]

@@noemierollindedebeaumont1130 If you know what an acronym is, a backronym is basically formed in reverse. So normally an acronym is a multi-word phrase and they take the letters to make it easier to say. Basically, they abbreviate it. A backronym, as WanJae said, takes an existing word and assigns meaning to each letter. The internet seems to think that early pigs were named that because they make a squealing sound when you send them down the pipe, which means the term "pig" existed first and the "pipeline inspection gauge" meaning came later. . As far as your question about how long wax takes to build up, it depends on a lot on the circumstances. Every oil is different so some will have very little waxy material and some will have a lot. The temperature you transport it at also makes a big difference. Just like with a wax melter at home, the hotter it is the more it wants to stay melted. For natural gas pipelines like the Nordstream 2, wax buildup isn't really a problem. But natural gas does contain some suspended liquid (things like propane, which boil easily) so they might still have to pig the lines if this thing eventually goes online. My guess is that for a line this big, the pig wouldn't be pressure driven but instead would power itself somehow (probably an electric motor?)

[@CSpottsGaming]

@@WheissRS They actually do a similar thing with concrete for drilled oil wells too. You can look up an animation online I'm sure but basically they drill a big hole, then put a steel sleeve down into it. Once the sleeve is in place they pump cement down into it which basically goes down through the steel and then back up around the outside of it (between the rock and the steel sleeve). Once they've pumped enough cement, they push something down to clear the inside of the sleeve and then they drill the next part of the hole. A typical oil well will have several layers of this sleeve (they're called casings) and the primary purpose is to protect against leaks into groundwater.

[@johnfahey7215]

I worked on a 42" line for Otis-Eastern, (Spectra) so I have a good idea of the work involved. This under water installation is just unbelievable! Thanks for a great video

[@dangthatscool1]

Outstanding work, Grady! Can't wait to read your book.

[@collinmascarenhas7428]

Excellent explanation, you made it sound very simple, it is an astonishing engineering achievement indeed. Thank you.

[@cjespers]

Love your Practical Engineering videos, Grady! Keep up the good work!

[@thomaspatnode7053]

it's crazy to me that Germany is shutting down nuclear plants.

[@davidwebb2318]

Nuclear power isn't the answer. There aren't enough fuel reserves to convert much of electricity generation to nuclear. The waste storage issues are a nightmare. The chances of accidents are massive and they make great targets for terrorists and lunatic leaders of massive military countries (I guess you can work out who might target European nuclear installations!?!?!).

[@bullseye911]

To be fair, those are older types of reactors whose life has been extended previously. Problem is that it takes long time to establish new projects (takes decades to plan) which is not compatible with political climate.

[@Joe-Dead]

@@davidwebb2318 there are enough fuel reserves...where tf did you get there isn't enough? waste storage is onsite, and would be better if there was some place that would ALLOW offsite storage but thanks to people who don't understand nuclear power much less waste or the risks...who instead go with their feels rather than knowledge you have idiots lobbying for and running on policies of "nukes r dangerous". quite simply, fossil fuels which includes natural gas, has killed more people, caused more environmental damage and CONTINUES to cause deaths and damage than every nuclear plant accident, every general nuclear accident, AND NUCLEAR BOMB ever dropped.

[@sorsorsor11]

@@davidwebb2318 it was directly because Fukushima. They shut them down due to pressure and protest. So...we went from paying 50-100 Euro a month for heating and electricity to paying 200-300 for the same. Great when you earn minimal wage, but nobody cares about poor people real every day life just ideologies... ...and they restarted the coal plants and still not enough energy. Than Ukraine happened. Crazy how some people (not you in perticular but in general) judge others every day live from thousands of kilometers away. When YOU can buy less because things cost double now, you suddenly stop caring about "small" things and put back the salami to the shelf as you can't afford it any more.

[@davidwebb2318]

@@Joe-Dead The World Nuclear Association estimate is that the known nuclear fuel reserves will last for 90 years at current consumption. If we doubled nuclear electricity generation from 14% to 28% that would double the rate of consumption and halve the time it would last to 45 years. Nuclear power plants are only economic if they can run for at least 50 years. The maths is pretty simple, they won't be economic to build. The waste storage is a massive problem. we would have to have it under armed guad for 1,000 years. We simply cannot make comittments that far into the future because we have no idea what that will cost. Offshore wind power is cheaper than nuclear power now anyway so the argument is pointless. Nuclear energy had it's time but it is now clear that there are more economic ways of providing electricity that are a lot safer.

[@GMRyan13]

Well done again Grady. An excellent presentation of the precarious balance between the engineering and political worlds.

[@roiq5263]

It's sad to see how this marvel of engineering and this monstruous amount of work and materials have ended up destroyed.

[@MrAk474life]

I am glad. USA USA USA

[@americanoracle]

@@MrAk474life USA gas pipelines too, hope you enjoy living in a world with no respect for international law.

[@rastislavstanik]

it is very good that it was destroyed

[@SpaceEngineerErich]

"Germany is shuttering its last 3 nuclear power plants using natural gas as a bridge to wind and solar." I don't know how you got through saying that line without exploding in rage. Germany stepping away from the BEST green energy source and shooting itself in the foot is mindboggling to me.

[@AJ-ln4sm]

Nuclear energy is scary to environment alarmists, because they saw a movie one time.

[@Masterrunescapeer]

Far from the best, it's the most expensive source of power.

[@dsdy1205]

@@Masterrunescapeer initially. Taking longer to break even doesn't make the total cost of power more

[@nnelg8139]

@@Masterrunescapeer not if you include the hidden cost of environmental damage. In which case, it can be cheaper than renewables (at least where such is less abundant).

[@BeKindToBirds]

@@AJ-ln4sm it is scary to Europeans who lived through chernobyl. A movie didn't do it okay, maybe for 15 year olds ...

[@burk3]

I'd love to see a video looking at the engineering challenges around oil/gas production. I could see a cool experiment being showing how drilling mud composition fights against bore hole pressures. Offshore systems are pretty interesting, with modern production happening in many steps, requiring many different kinds of ship/craft, and involving underwater networks of piping and machinery.

[@charmans133]

This was sooo fascinating!! Great content thx!! Love this channel!!

[@parthchauhan38]

I have worked in CWC ( concrete weight coating) plant in my country & i want to add in that it has anode on it to protect pipe and coating from any corrosion Besides that it's incredible that this kind of coating can be achieved without any high tech machinery.

[@WillDMcQ]

What was that I heard about not wanting to disrupt the cultural sites like shipwrecks? Thanks for always making sure to include things like this. I am a practicing archaeologist and life is so much easier when crews and engineers understand what we are there for. Likewise I find your videos, and upcoming book (pre-ordered 2, one for personal and one for the office) an invaluable resource for understanding the built environment around me!

[@zrobotics]

Plus, nearly all of those shipwrecks are graveyards. Especially for the more modern shipwrecks, many of those sites will still have relatively close living descendants who I'm sure wouldn't like the thought of someone laying a massive pipeline over grandpa's final resting place.

[@olbas]

It's common to avoid archaeological sites or cultural heritage for onshore pipelines too,stumbling upon an old WW2 or bronze age site in Europe will halt construction, so they survey ahead of time.

[@manuelsilva8640]

Shipwrecks are sanctuaries for marine wildlife.

[@Dougerro]

They wanted to avoid German chemical weapons buried under the sea.

[@coolhand411luke6]

@zrobotics You do realize the Earth is a graveyard for all it's inhabitants. It's just a matter of time

[@repatch43]

Yup, Bond used a PIG once to smuggle out a person from the iron block to Vienna!

[@carlosgaspar8447]

pretty sure elon could do it as well.

[@rossdownie1502]

Great vid very informative. Thank you!

[@danielstuber8972]

definetly one of the most fascinating videos you've put out in a while, thanks for this one! so cool to see the enormous feats we are capable of when motivated properly.

[@Drachs1]

Would really love a video that covers how the pipe can retain so much flexibility despite being welded together!

[@stevengoogin3729]

Yes, especially since it has two dissimilar materials, metal and concrete. What does the flexing do to the bonding at their points of contact?

[@tsamuel6224]

The welded area is where it flexes, so it has plastic instead of concrete at the welds. It is not "so much flexibility", there is only a little but it adds up.

[@stevengoogin3729]

@@tsamuel6224 Ahh, thanks for that explanation.

[@Tom-xn5zj]

thx for the nice video. i´m from the area but from the newspapers one never gets such a deep understanding of the costs and complexities involved. fun fact: the pipeline ends exactly next to what should have been the biggest nuclear powerplant of the GDR @8 times 440MW = 3520MW only 5 of the 8 units delivered power to the grid before reunification brought the project to a sudden end

[@joemc111]

Just like always you put on a great show. Wow that’s a big project.

[@westexascaser4324]

Here before this blows up Again...

[@dwarftoad]

What kind of maintenance would the empty pipeline need per year to keep it theoretically usable? How long can it remain unused? Is it suitable for other uses (fill with telecom cables?) -- all the gas infrastructure at each terminal notwithstanding?

[@nicolasdominguez1890]

I googled the probable repurposing, and it could be used for hydrogen potentially

[@Niskirin]

@@nicolasdominguez1890 That just switches one type of gas for another, the problem is not the type of gas, it's where the pipeline starts at that causes the issues.

[@pufthemajicdragon]

@@nicolasdominguez1890 🤪 hydrogen lol not likely. Hydrogen requires cryogenic storage and transport. EXTREME cold temperatures. Temperatures that make the Arctic feel balmy. Nevermind the question "where you gonna get your hydrogen?" - most of the world's hydrogen production comes from reformed Natural Gas - go figure. People talk about hydrogen like it's a fuel source when it's just a waste of time.

[@Llortnerof]

I kinda doubt they're going to bother. Nobody is going to want to deal with Russia for years, possibly decades.

[@lazyman7505]

@@pufthemajicdragon Also likes to leak through pretty much anything.

[@danielhumphrey6950]

That was a really well done video, approaching the logistics and explaining the complexities but also making sure context was understood for the project as a whole. Large projects, and particularly multinational projects always have geopolitical context as to why or how it went the way it did and you did an excellent job incorporating that information!

[@statuemorris3970]

Another brilliant video, very interesting stuff. Thank you!

[@baldweezy2362]

Could you do an episode about industrial boilers? There’s so much mechanical and electrical aspects involved to operate safely. Such a fascinating piece of machinery. So simple yet so effective and efficient

[@bc-guy852]

Your writing, presentation and production qualities continue to improve dramatically Grady; your programs are a pleasure to watch. Your engineering analysis is always spot-on and insightful but this episode also shows a great segue into the political realm. Well done.

[@kevgm]

I worked aboard the vessel shown in 6:54 some years ago, I was not expecting to see it here lol

[@Dochart268]

Very well done sir! Thank you, especially for the technical aspects of construction.

[@sheldonbrowne4661]

I appreciate your approach and your verbiage. Very “practical” and professional.

[@robertohernandez-bh9rv]

This is truly an amazing infrastructure project. I'm surprised the addition of valves in certain areas was not added in order to prevent uncontrolled leakes in the event a line ever breaking. I would understand it would increase the price tremendously but the benefits could possibly be worth it in order to minimize environmental impacts. Great video Mr. Grady!

[@zrobotics]

This is just speculation, but I could easily see that the additional complexity of underwater valve stations that could be remotely operated would actually increase the likelihood of leaks.

[@robertohernandez-bh9rv]

@@zrobotics I agree to a certain degree. The whole point of emergency valves is to cut the long segment from start to end into smaller links that can be controlled the flow. Worst case scenario if there was a broken segment in the middle of the pipe system, two valves would prevent from the flow of the gas from two ends. The leakage it self would be bad but having limited to only a section would be a lot better. But what do I know, this is more in the realm of mechanical engineering than civil 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@tomasrandom6430]

just imagine what crazy projects world would get to see if everyone would live in peace..

[@gus473]

Ever watch the movie, "Contact?" 🤔

[@KalinoursEU]

just imagine what crazy projects world would get to see if muslims, Israel and America didnt exist

[@czechgop7631]

That was the Europe only a little while back

[@Maxikxng]

@@czechgop7631 but then Putin thought to himself: hmm we have a pandemic what could i add? oh right lets just invade another country

[@sswpp8908]

That's the fundamental premise of Star Trek. In a future humans could achieve when the set aside their difference, stop wasting resources on defense and consumption that we may one day explore the galaxy.

[@NoristheCat]

Awesome video! I learned a lot! Thanks!

[@jimsteen911]

Technically, it's not empty, it must be kept full of gas to maintain pressure. But considering someone blew it up yesterday, billions of cubic meters of methane are pouring into the Baltic as I type this.

[@nicademous6396]

Thanks for stepping into deep water to cover this huge project!

[@Skyspace187]

Still a marvel tech build regardless of the geo-policial and country origin impacts. The engineering and skills by the groups involved are incredible.

[@stephenarsenault8859]

A very fascinating video. I paused at a few points to check out pipeline pigs, bubble curtains, etc.. Many interesting topics are touched upon in this video.

[@Cracktune]

your conclusion was well worded. Thank you for this video

[@ArtisanTony]

Shuttering nuke plants is a bad idea unless they have reached the end of their life. These countries are in for a rude awakening if they think they can meet supply with wind and solar alone.

[@YounesLayachi]

Easy they are lighting up gas plants instead, choochoo CO2

[@MrSaemichlaus]

Yeah and also every country individually thinks they can just import energy from their neighbours while they change to renewables, not thinking ahead that everybody else will be trying to import at the same time and so everybody will be left empty-handed. In reality either living standards will take a serious dip or some totally savage country will provide loads of dirty energy, negating everbody else's efforts (such as China building more and more coal plants even today)

[@ArtisanTony]

@@MrSaemichlaus I think we will have to depend on fossil fuels for at least another 20 years until cold fusion or some other new tech is widely distributed. The ITER project is a good example of what can replace fossil fuels but will take time to implement.

[@fasddfadfgasdgs]

@@ArtisanTony Try another 100 years. Technology is gonna stagnate soon due to labor shortages and not able to get the production of products of newer tech.

[@ArtisanTony]

@@fasddfadfgasdgs no, technology will keep pushing ahead. There will always be those who push it forward.

[@bvoyelr]

Of all the things we take for granted, these long underwater pipelines have got to take the cake. I wonder if underwater oil pipelines like this are more difficult than, say, trans-atlantic cabling, despite being a fraction of the length. It's one thing to lay cables, but another to lay a pipe that has to contain expensive pollutants for decades or centuries to come. But then again, trans atlantic cables probably have to account for plate tectonics as well (and they certainly can't allow any water intrusion either), so I'm honestly not sure which is more difficult.

[@benargee]

With under water cabling you also know immediately if there is a break when in service

[@sswpp8908]

It's crazy to me that the pipeline can handle such bending between the ocean floor and the barge, considering it's constructed of rolled steel tubes welded together.

[@Nill757]

I’d give the unappreciated prize to US nuclear plants. No smoke, no coal trains, no gas pipelines, no vast tracks of land covered by giant wind turbines, so people drive by a couple miles away and never know they are there.

[@MarcABrown-tt1fp]

@@Nill757 But... Bu-t nuclear plants are extremely dangerous because nuclear waste says the simpletons.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@Nill757 How are they a thing that people take for granted? Where we get our power from has been a public debate for decades now so it's a bit absurd to say that they are taken for granted because no power source is.

[@SecretSquirrelFun]

Random question. Have you covered the Sampoong Department Store collapse? I’ve been searching, but thought I’d try asking too. I’d be interested to hear about it from your perspective and with your expertise (obviously). Thanks for the fascinating channel and this video. I’m sorry for my unrelated query. Thanks again 🙂🐿

[@StevenTravelVlog]

Your documenting is so interesting.

[@LZP123]

You did a great job covering this issue! Engineering isn't just about physics, material science etc (even though that's what we're here for!) It impacts our lives and societies. I would be interested in more of that! (For example highway and traffic engineering has in my opinion devastated many of our cities). But if you want to stay outside of messy political issues I get that! You'd certainly have a nastier comment section.

[@kleinerprinz99]

Indeed there were several politicians in the 1930s responsible for the ugliness and destruction of the US American Cities. And later in the 1960s in West Germany to further car sales many cities & towns abolitioned all their Trams and asphalted over the tracks. It's weird to say we cannot have it any other way when back then without need it was easy peasy for politicians to change all our daily lives so drastically. Many more people were transported using public transport more efficient and faster and cheaper than today in major industrial cities like Berlin. Privatisation and Car & Truck Friendly Policies are the downfall of mankind.

[@snigwithasword1284]

Presenting engineering neutrally with no context does everyone a disservice.

[@Halvga]

@@snigwithasword1284 Yeah, but Grady's an expert on engineering and hardly an expert on politics or history. He might prefer to stick to topics where he's more confident of his subject mastery.

[@RAD6150]

@snigwithaword at 2:54 Grady says to see more in depth sources before forming a strong opinion. Engineering has no religion or politics, so it isn't a disservice. But he did say it was so interconnected in this he couldn't ignore it, more than fair of him.

[@msromike123]

@@RAD6150 He could have ignored it. He chose not to. I don't come here for his political and climate change agenda. So far I tolerate it.

[@fjalls]

Would be intersting to see an update from you now that they were possibly sabotaged

[@leukota]

Not possibly sabotaged, absolutely sabotaged, Biden came out in media telling the world that ‘Nordstream will be no longer’ a long time ago

[@roastingminer6919]

America 🙃

[@GOLDVIOLINbowofdeath]

“Possibly sabotaged”? Biden said it would never be allowed to be used.

[@railgap]

If it were totally empty it wouldn't be blowing big bubbles in the ocean, Grady.

[@byronwatkins2565]

Pipelines can transport any fluid. PIGs can also be used to separate fluids of different types as they inspect the pipeline.

[@Nill757]

Can’t economically transport any fluid. H2 for instance would carry 1/3 the energy of methane, and would leak.

[@lizj5740]

Your video on the construction of this pipeline brought back memories of working on the environmental impact statement for a gas pipeline from Papua New Guinea to Australia across the Torres Strait. The same environmental impacts applied there. After three EISs, the gas was finally processed in Port Moresby and exported as LNG.

[@erfquake1]

Well done, Grady. Thank you.

[@Jszar]

I'd love to see a follow-up video on the Nordstream 2 sabotage, and its engineering implications for other pipeline projects. Any chance you could make one? Even a general video on designing infrastructure to be safe(r) in the face of human malice would be fascinating.

[@Alex-lg6nz]

The problem with that sort of "sabotage proofing" is that the attackers will research the target and find the weakest points in the design.

[@theafro]

I'm quite familiar with the tecniques and equipment (and the brilliant people) that is used in the welding of these mammoth pipelines, 1150mm is one thing on a tape measure, but quite another when you're standing next to an open length of pipe! they're THICK too! An incredible project whatever you think of the politics.

[@jimshipsky4831]

There is a project going on now near Portland, Maine. A bridge on I95 is being replaced with a prefab modular bridge to be placed with massive crawlers like used to move huge missiles at Cape Canaveral. I'd love to see a segment of this channel on this project.

[@PPPP-zy5ox]

Thanks for this great overview

[@tensevo]

It is ironic, that Germany will end up buying oil from elsewhere, that is probably marked up barrels originally from Russia, except with a more environmentally unfriendly delivery path, and at some great cost.

[@zakiducky]

Looks like KZbin is recommending this again after the recent pipeline explosions lol

[@robwilgenhof4386]

Thank you for enlightening me to this issue !

[@tenjiksan9073]

nice context analysis, ty

[@yoannmison8249]

Indeed as a french engineer i would advise your to not talk about politic neither about climat change and stay in your range of engineering. Thanks for the explanation of how they build it.

[@backwoodsbungalow9674]

I agree; a presenter should stick to what he knows about. It was painful waiting for an engineer to start talking about the engineering after parroting a false narrative.

[@jatojo]

With ocean water inside, these pipes will soon be useless.

[@bijayagiri5746]

hello sir from Nepal. Thank you...nicely done...

[@Genesis8934]

Love these infrastructure videos. :)

[@cmuller1441]

Totally empty? What does that mean? It's filled with Air? N2? Vacuum? Water? I would imagine compressed N2 to avoid corrosion and to prevent a crush by water pressure...

[@LillianCrawfishDE]

The fact that you can take an incredibly complicated project and present it, using both photographs and digital imagery, is a true accomplishment. Thank you, Grady, for making engineering subjects like this accessible, even to us lowly geologists 😉🙃

[@davidwebb2318]

"The fact that you can take an incredibly complicated project and present it, using both photographs and digital imagery, is a true accomplishment." You do realise he didn't take any of the photographs, video footage or CGI footage in this video!?!? He just pasted it together from on line sources.

[@billllllllllllllly]

Having layed pipe on land, I am deeply fascinated and impressed by the awesome engineering and craftsmanship behind this undertaking.

[@matthewstuart6109]

Very informative, thank you Grady. Foam is a sponge, any pinhole on the outside membrane, and seawater will eat those joints, silicone is a better insulator for this application.

[@Onomacritus]

A 'pig' (at 7:33) has a part in the 1987 James Bond movie The Living Daylights. One is fitted out for a passenger, who is carried past the iron curtain to be greeted by Secret Service members at the other end.

[@erielighthousetheater5395]

Exactly what I was thinking. :)

[@Barwasser]

Cool to learn about the engineering aspect of this project. I only ever heard about it's political implications. Shame all these engineers worked for nothing in the end, but nothing can be done about that...

[@mgntstr]

They advanced human engineering.

[@username4294967296]

Maybe it can be reused for something else? Is it sealed enough for hydrogen?

[@lorijudd2151]

Hydrogen would only be another source of income for Russia, which would be used to fuel its Megalomaniac leadership. Until Russia changes it's political stance, that pipeline will never be used.

[@TravisTerrell]

As a software engineer, I can say that I'm not that disappointed when my work doesn't get used. I got paid the same as if it were! (Maybe those engineers feel similarly, ha.)

[@nycbit7386]

@BeWater Yeah lets just keep going crazy huh ? No reason to turn back to practicalities and boot these garbage leaders out to the curb, is there.

[@brucehain]

Amazing. Fascinating video.

[@timdrahman6813]

Fantastic video! Thanks!

[@kaalvoetpiet3442]

0:45 to 1:12 You got a very important issue the wrong way round. Germany FIRST cancelled certification, and then 2 days LATER Russia invaded Ukraine.

[@energdnb]

This aged like milk, the pipeline was blown up today, in 3 places.

[@brucemangy]

4