FX Hg Fogging Fixative Deployment for Mercury Vapor Suppression
Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) FX Hg fixative solution was deployed at the Y-12 Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to support disposal of mercury-contaminated metal debris. The fixative was dispensed via fogging. Fogging infiltrates non-line-of-sight areas improving fixative coating on complex geometries such as debris piles. FX Hg is the mercury vapor controlling derivative of INL’s FX2 fixative. FX2 was jointly developed with the National Nuclear Laboratory of the United Kingdom, and INL developed the FX Hg derivative to suppress mercury vapor generation. The Y-12 deployment was performed in concert with cleanup contractor UCOR. A dumpster filled with debris was fogged with FX Hg. The material was acceptable as municipal landfill waste, save for the mercury vapor levels measured. If the mercury vapor generation rate could be sufficiently reduced, disposal costs for this waste would be dramatically reduced. FX Hg had previously proven effective at significantly reducing mercury vapor generation rates in bench scale testing at INL. This deployment was the first field scale deployment of the method. Efficacy results were underwhelming, but interpretation of the outcome is complicated by a paucity of hard data. Methods for improving data capture and analysis are analyzed. Operational difficulties associated with scaling the process up and process improvements for future deployments are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE EM
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1598349
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-19-55497-Rev001
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2020, Phoenix, AZ, 03/08/2020 - 03/12/2020
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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