Minor damage to offices and surrounding buildings, upcoming tests to be rescheduled
November 1, 2012
BSEE's oil spill response research and training facility, Ohmsett, is temporarily closed due to water damage to several offices and work areas resulting from Hurricane Sandy. Structural engineers continue to inspect the facility while all equipment is being tested and reviewed to monitor for any additional damage caused by the storm.
Ohmsett, located in Leonardo, N.J., has been without power since Hurricane Sandy hit the area last Monday. The following morning, a crew arrived on site to conduct initial assessments. All tests and training scheduled during the next several weeks will be rescheduled once the assessments are complete and repairs are made.
Ohmsett has one of the largest above ground concrete test tanks of its kind, measuring 203 meters long by 20 meters wide by 3.4 meters deep and is the only facility where full-scale oil spill response equipment testing, research and training can be conducted in a marine environment with oil under controlled environmental conditions.
Government agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy as well as private industry and oil spill response organizations train their emergency response personnel with real oil and their own full-scale equipment. Some of the testing activities for 2012 have included remote sensing tests, wave energy conversion device tests, skimmer and boom tests, dispersant tests, alternative fuel recovery tests, and industry oil spill response training classes. More than twenty-four countries have conducted tests or training at the Ohmsett facility.