Re: Iternat.transport regs - WHAT's 'low toxicity'?

[William V Lipton <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>]

Since the subject of this thread is, "INTERNATIONAL transport regs," [emphasis mine] I made the assumption that everyone would know that the IATA limits apply only to international shipments.  Domestic shipments are subject only to the DOT definition of 70 Bq/g.

Also:

1.  The consignment limit for natural Th is 10,000 Bq, not 1000 Bq.

2.  As more key transportation facilities, such as bridges and tunnels, install sensitive radiation detection systems, many shipments of NORM will be identified and inspected.

The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.

Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com

"Tsurikov, Nick" wrote:

Thanks, Bill - that’s most interesting.  If EITHER limit is exceeded… 

I wonder – do trucks carrying fertiliser (or, things like water treatment sludge, phosphate, etc) in the USA have / will have ‘radioactive - low specific activity’ transport signs on them (as it is likely that the total activity would definitely be over 1000 Bq for U and/or Th)…?

Please let me know – I am very much intrigued by the possibilities…

Kind regards

Nick

Eneabba, Western Australia

http://eneabba.net/

P.S. THANKS EVERYBODY for the replies on the topic – I’ve worked it out now.

-----Original Message-----
From: William V Lipton [mailto:liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM]
Sent: Monday,23 June 2003 7:25 PM
To: Jose Julio Rozental
Cc: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM; taylork@epa.nsw.gov.au; Tsurikov, Nick; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: Iternat.transport regs - WHAT's 'low toxicity'?

For U.S. shipments, a package is considered radioactive if it exceeds EITHER limit.  See the "IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations - 2003 Edition," State Variation USG-10. 

The opinions expressed re strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever. 

Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com

Jose Julio Rozental wrote: 

The previous exemption limit of 70Bq/g exempted very little and with many carriers, including the Post Office, not accepting anything that was 'radioactive', and with others making high charges and additional paperwork for dealing with excepted packages. The new exemption limits taken from the BSS are based upon the toxicity of the isotope and are therefore much more realistic for the low toxicity isotopes used in university research. For example the exemption limits for C-14 are 10kBq/g (concentration limit) and 10MBq overall limit. It is only when both these limits are exceeded that a package will be considered radioactive and come within the scope of the regulations 

----- Original Message -----

From: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM

To: taylork@epa.nsw.gov.au ; Nick.Tsurikov@iluka.com ; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 6:27 AM

Subject: Re: Iternat.transport regs - WHAT's 'low toxicity'?

"Low toxicity" appears to mean very low specific activity.

Ruth

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.
ruthweiner@aol.com

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