FX Hg Fogging Fixative Deployment for Mercury Vapor Suppression

Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) FX Hg fixative solution was deployed at the Y-12 National Security
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 UCOR (URS CH2M Oak Ridge), the cleanup
contractor for Y-12. A dumpster filled with debris was fogged with FX Hg. The debris 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 up the process and process improvements for future deployments are discussed.