Halons Technical Options Committee

E.9 Estimated Global Inventories of Halons 1211, 1301 and 2402

The HTOC 2010 Assessment indicates that at the end of 2010 the global bank of halon 1301 is estimated at approximately 42,500 MT, halon 1211 at approximately 65,000 MT and halon 2402 at approximately 2,300 MT. From this assessment, the HTOC remains of the opinion that adequate global stocks of halon 1211 and halon 1301 currently exist to meet the future needs of all existing halon fire equipment until the end of their useful life. However, there remains concern about the availability of halon 2402 outside of the Russian Federation and the Ukraine to support existing uses in aircraft, military vehicles, and ships. Much of the bank of halon 2402, which was intended to service fire protection needs for existing applications, was consumed within the Russian Federation as a process agent several years ago. In addition, a new product that encapsulates halon 2402 in a paint matrix is being commercialised in the Russian Federation that would further deplete supplies of halon 2402 to support existing uses. The HTOC is concerned that long-term, important users of halon 2402 will not have enough halon 2402 to support their needs if the bank continues to get depleted through use in non-fire protection uses and/or in new products.

Owners of existing halon fire equipment that would be considered as meeting the needs of one or more of the preceding categories would be prudent to ensure that their future needs will be met from their own secure stocks. Current and proposed regulatory programmes that require the recovery and destruction of halons will obviously eliminate future availability of halons as a source of supply for many needs. As adequate global supplies presently exist it would be unlikely that inadequate planning would serve as a reasonable basis for a future essential use nomination by a Party on behalf of an owner of a particularly important application for halons 1211, 1301 or halon 2402.

E.10 Practices to Ensure Recycled Halon Purity

The recent experience within Europe, where it was found that contaminated halons were making their way into the civil aviation industry, has highlighted the need for end users to be aware of the purity of any reclaimed or recycled halon that they purchase. With an impure halon the performance can range from poor or no fire extinguishing effectiveness to one where the impure agent may actually intensify the fire in the case where the impurity is a flammable material. Generally speaking, end users have to rely on the aftermarket supply chain to collect, process, test and certify that the halon agent is of acceptable purity, and it is this last step, relying on a supplier’s certification alone that can introduce risk with respect to agent purity. Thus it is important that a written purity certification is obtained from an internationally or nationally recognised testing laboratory that has tested the halon to internationally recognised standards, such as ISO, ASTM or GOST.

E.11 Halon Emission Reduction Strategies

Releasing halon into the atmosphere is fundamental to the process of flame extinction and enclosed space inertion. However, these necessary emissions only use a small proportion of the available supply of halon in any year. Most countries have discontinued system discharge testing and discharge of extinguishers for training purposes resulting in emission reductions in some cases of up to 90%. Additional and significant reductions of halon emissions can be realised by improving maintenance procedures, detection and control devices, etc., and through non-technical steps such as the development of Codes of Conduct, implementing Awareness Campaigns, workshops, and training, policies, and legislating regulations and ensuring enforcement. Halon emissions reduction strategies are a combination of “responsible use” and political regulatory action.

Good engineering practice dictates that, where possible, hazards should be designed out of facilities rather than simply providing protection against them. A combination of prevention, inherently safe design, minimisation of personnel exposure, passive protection, equipment duplication, detection, and manual intervention should be considered as well. Also, attention to maintenance programs and personnel training can add years to a halon bank by reduced emissions.

Emission reductions can be achieved by implementing a comprehensive Awareness Campaign. This should address a description of halons and their uses, environmental concerns related to the ozone layer, key goals and deadlines in the Montreal Protocol, country-specific policy and regulations on ODS, recycling requirements, alternatives and options, points of contact in government and fire protection community, and answers to Frequently Asked Questions such as “what do I do with my halon 1211 extinguisher?”

Avoidable halon releases account for greater halon emissions than those needed for fire protection and explosion prevention. Clearly such releases can be minimised.

E.12 Destruction

Since the 2006 Assessment, considerable interest has focused on the potential ozone and climate benefits from the avoided emissions of ODS still remaining in equipment, products, and stockpiles. The recent introduction of carbon credits for ODS destruction creates a limited window of opportunity to increase ODS recovery at equipment end of life and to avoid potential emissions altogether by destroying unwanted material. Halons, more than some of the other ODS, are readily accessible for collection, storage, and disposal, making them very attractive for potential ODS destruction projects under a carbon credit protocol. However, owing to the continued global demand for halons in applications such as aviation, the HTOC has recommended that destruction as a final disposition option should be considered only if the halons are cross-contaminated and cannot be reclaimed to an acceptable purity. The global phase-out of halons has been planned based upon halons being reclaimed and reused until the end of the useful life of the systems they are employed in and until there are no longer any important uses. Early destruction of halons undermines the long-range plan set by the Parties, imposes significant financial burdens on users who invested in their halon systems, and puts at risk uses that generally have the potential for preventing significant loss of life in a fire scenario.

There are also concerns that the availability of carbon credits for halon destruction may inadvertently lead to the wrong incentives – to actions that actually lead to more environmental harm and, worse, to potentially illegal activities, e.g., production simply for destruction credits since newly produced halon is technically indistinguishable from recycled halon. The Parties may wish to consider asking TEAP/HTOC to investigate the issues related to halon destruction further in order to better understand the full implications to the halon phase out under the Protocol, and the impacts to ozone layer recovery and climate protection.