air transport of RAM

[Lester Slaback <Lester.Slaback@NIST.GOV>]

Peter V said...
".... was another Catch-22.  Supposedly only material for medical and
research purposed could be shipped on passenger airlines.  Another stupid
rule.  So theoretically the Service Engineers should have shipped their 10
uCi check sources by Fed Ex to all their destinations.  Yeah, right."

After several leaking shipments on passenger aircraft in the mid 80's, in
one case resulting in widespread contamination among the passengers, the
airlines were very adamant about banning all RAM.  It was only the needs of
the medical community that prevented this ban.  There is no law that says
they have to carry this stuff.  If the negative impact exceeds the
financial benefit it will stop really quick.  Use of the "... and research"
allowance should be limited to only when it is essential, and meets that
requirement.
Moral:   follow the rules religiously and conservatively or your will
transporting by highway and ship and FedEx.

Being in an organization that needs to ship short-lived nuclides to a lot
of non-FedEx locations we would hate to lose access to this mode of transport.

And YES, those sources should be shipped, not carried in personal baggage.

Disclaimer:  the above are the personal musings of the author, and do not
represent any past, present, or future position of NIST, the U.S. government,
or anyone else who might think that they are in a position of authority. 
Lester Slaback, Jr.  [Lester.Slaback@NIST.GOV] 
NBSR Health Physics 
Center for Neutron Research 
NIST
100 Bureau Dr.  STOP 3543 
Gaithersburg, MD  20899-3543 
301 975-5810 voice
301 921-9847 fax
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