Like other areas of technological development, the history of commercial diving shows us again that problems, as they arise are overcome by new technology. The plague of decompression sickness from all but the shallowest of air dives was reduced if not eliminated by the introduction of stage decompression by Haldane in the early 1900's. This extended diving to the limit imposed by nitrogen narcosis, until the use of helium eliminated this restriction after the 1920's. A vast increase in efficiency of some types of underwater work was brought about by the adoption of saturation diving techniques, so aptly demonstrated by Edwin A. Link in 1962 and again in 1964 and by the Conshelf experiments of Cousteau and the Sea lab projects of the U.S. Navy.
As requirements for deeper and deeper dives come up, the current techniques using helium are fast becoming inadequate. This paper presents a new approach toward solution of some of the problems involved in the type of deep commercial diving on which the offshore oil industry relies. Our proposition is that mixtures containing neon as the main inert ingredient offer a cost effective way to improve underwater operations at continental shelf depths.
As the title indicates, this paper is concerned with an assessment of the merits and drawbacks of using neon in commercial diving. The constraints imposed by this approach are the following:
Continental shelf diving covers depths up to perhaps 700 fsw. Dives to 150-200 fsw are normally made with air, so the range under serious consideration here is that between 200 and 700 fsw.
Commercial dives, certainly those in service of the offshore oil industry, are virtually all scheduled to perform jobs that can be done in less than three quarters of an hour, more generally in less than one-half hour. This means that rapid compression and straightforward, immediate decompression are usually the methods of choice.
The entire diving "system" must be economically competitive from a cost/ effectiveness point of view. (The Navy is cost conscious, but has a mission responsibility that often overrides this consideration; in commercial diving, on the other hand, if the cost is too great, the job just simply will not be done employing diving systems.)
A major part of total cost/effectiveness is the capital investment necessary. Further, sophisticated equipment and instrumentation which may improve capability but at the same time greatly increases the cost and complexity of the operation, may not be desirable.
In a well-managed diving company, diving safety is a concern of primary importance. Passage of the 1970 Occupational Health and Safety Act will extend adherence to sound safety principles to all commercial diving firms.
Many jobs are in remote locations, often thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland, which complicates logistics. On the other hand, there is usually a reasonable lead time for planning and preparation.
