CISPRI’s new oil test tank is off to a good start

Cook Inlet Spill Prevention & Response, Inc. has completed the proper section of its new oil spill test tank in Nikiski. Meanwhile the tank is in full for training local personnel plus other oil responders. Even Finnish and Louisiana skimmer manufacturers are taking notice.

The tank facilitates American Society for Testing and Materials F2709 standards, which address skimmer performance. CISPRI General Manager Todd Paxton said this measure is becoming the worldwide standard for validating what skimmer rates actually are.

The 25-foot by 25-foot steel tank is 4 feet deep. It’s housed on a heated concrete slab at CISPRI’s Nikiski facility located at mile 26.5 on Spur Highway.

Construction on the large tank is almost complete. All that remains is the top enclosure.

Besides this tank, several smaller ones capture and measure the product produced by the skimmers by allowing the water to be decanted to better calculate skimmer efficiency.

Paxton said the in-state facility is a strong preference to the alternative: the Ohmsett test tank located in Leonardo, N.J. Shipping oil there for testing would be too problematic, not to mention expensive. He said another advantage of the Nikiski facility is that the state has requested information on such testing in Alaskan weather conditions.