At the Heart of Spill Operations

In addition to the “home team" scientific efforts at Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories, a small pool of scientists and engineers from the three laboratories worked shifts at the BP crisis command center in Houston, Texas. Twelve technical staff members traveled to Houston from Livermore, ensuring that at least one Laboratory representative was available daily, including weekends and holidays, from May to September. During a few key operations, the national laboratories’s team maintained round-the-clock coverage at the crisis center.


Livermore engineer Scott Perfect became known as the Laboratory’s Iron Man for volunteering the most time at the center. He saw his role and that of other personnel from the national laboratories as an intermediary. "We were in Houston conducting an orchestra at Livermore,” says Perfect. “We were reaching back to our home organizations, supplying them with information so they could do their work and communicate the results back to us in Houston.” Daily conference calls involving staff from the BP crisis center, national laboratories, and government agencies as well as Secretary of Energy Steven Chu ensured that all participants were well informed. Perfect notes that especially in the early stages, an essential part of his role was knowing the capabilities available at Livermore and the other national laboratories and recognizing opportunities where he could offer their resources. Livermore engineer Bob Ferencz, who also spent time in Houston, says, “It was an ongoing triage effort. We determined which issues had the highest priority and what lab could offer help on each one.”


This role evolved significantly as BP came to appreciate the depth of knowledge and experience available from the national laboratories and as Secretary Chu extended their involvement. Laboratory personnel in Houston spent much of the summer assessing designs and ideas presented by BP scientists. They asked questions, drafted procedures, looked for reactions, previewed concepts, and facilitated reviews to evaluate designs and suggest the best next steps. Representatives from the three laboratories also provided updates on containment efforts to the Department of Energy and at times the White House. Diane Chinn, a division leader in Livermore’s Engineering Directorate, notes that although the laboratories were rarely in a design role, they were vital in helping BP determine whether proposals for capping the well or collecting the oil would work.


Shifts at the crisis center were long, occasionally lasting more than 24 hours, and the stress level was high because of the disaster’s scope and urgency. But Livermore team members were glad they had participated. According to Perfect, the atmosphere of cooperation held its own appeal. “I enjoyed working with the people from the other labs,” he says. “We all shared the same sense of mission and duty.”

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