# How to destroy an underground tunnel ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096 "2014-07-26T14:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/61 "2014-07-31T13:03:34Z")
Pump the exhaust from power plants into them should get you the continuous supply of CO2, plus monitoring the flow would alert them to blocking off segments for reuse. Flooding them with water also could work if they were not in a desert. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/62 "2014-07-31T15:45:05Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > No love for Chlorine Triflouride? Isn’t that the stuff that the MSDS for actually says something like “in the event of a spill, RUN?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/63 "2014-07-31T18:30:06Z")
Is there any reason this relatively simple plan couldn’t work? Why not just “reverse” the digging and get some cheap labor to go into the tunnels with bags and bags full of rocks and dirt from a quarry and fill it back up with earth? Occasionally, like every 10 feet or so, mix in some concrete to make things difficult? It wouldn’t cost that much relative to bombing it or continuously filling it with water, and whoever dug it would have to expend almost equal amounts of effort to redig it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/64 "2014-07-31T18:52:37Z")
You don’t want to spend equal amounts of effort. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/65 "2014-07-31T19:02:04Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Isn’t that the stuff that the MSDS for actually says something like “in the event of a spill, RUN?” 😃 Actually it reacts violently with damn near everything. I read an article about it entitled “Sand won’t save you now!” because it can allegedly ignite sand making attempts to extinguish fires involving it an absolute nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/66 "2014-07-31T19:05:47Z")
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/02/26/sand\_wont\_save\_you\_this\_time.php](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/02/26/sand_wont_save_you_this_time.php) Found the article a few choice exerpts > [@](#): > > The compound also a stronger oxidizing agent than oxygen itself, which also puts it into rare territory. That means that it can potentially go on to “burn” things that you would normally consider already burnt to hell and gone, and a practical consequence of that is that it’ll start roaring reactions with things like bricks and asbestos tile. > [@](#): > > There’s a report from the early 1950s of a one-ton spill of the stuff. It burned its way through a foot of concrete floor and chewed up another meter of sand and gravel beneath, completing a day that I’m sure no one involved ever forgot. That process, I should add, would necessarily have been accompanied by copious amounts of horribly toxic and corrosive by-products: it’s bad enough when your reagent ignites wet sand, but the clouds of hot hydrofluoric acid are your special door prize if you’re foolhardy enough to hang around and watch the fireworks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/67 "2014-07-31T23:30:49Z")
Y’know, when I saw the name “chlorine trifluoride”, my first thought was “I have no idea what that is. But damn, it sounds nasty”. And I should have known that link would go to the “things I won’t work with” blog. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/68 "2014-08-01T01:55:28Z")
Steal a number of bodies from ancient Native American burial grounds. Then, chop them into pieces, dip them in toxic waste, piss on them, and rebury the pieces upside-down in a [strategically-aligned](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Sign) [array of locations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Sign) to cover the tunnel territory. That oughta do the trick. The screams might get a little loud, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/69 "2014-08-01T10:35:21Z")
…what, you’d [prefer Cobalt,](http://books.google.com/books?id=BJ5ky1xkD68C&pg=PA411&lpg=PA411&dq=macarthur+korea+cobalt&source=bl&ots=H7actyWHcd&sig=iEU124rvwJ73O79cYttlcPNzYfM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F23bU__1CcjjoATF4YDIDw&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=macarthur%20korea%20cobalt&f=false) maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096/70 "2014-08-03T19:50:49Z")
What kinds of explosives are used here? Demolishing buildings is an art. I presume so is getting the best use of mines (?–is that what they’re called?) for a tunnel…or do they just line “enough” of them and it works? What’s enough, say, from this footage, if it can be determined? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-destroy-an-underground-tunnel/694096.md?page=3)