Re: DU suitcase shipment (reply)

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/12/2003 5:41:24 PM Pacific Standard Time, 

jaro-10kbq@sympatico.ca writes:

As far as I know, according to US regulations, an unlicensed individual is

only allowed to own up to 8 lbs of DU -- making the 15 pound shipment

illegal & potentially subject to a fine.

Actually, the general license in the U.S. under NRC regulations, and (most, 

probably all) Agreement States (I'm not sure about New York regulations in this 

case) is for up to 15 pounds, although there may be registration requirements 

that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.



As for the DOT regulations, it is my reading that this was an "excepted" 

package, and could be shipped with only a modicum of controls (e.g., among other 

things, marking on the inner package, less than 0.5 mr/hr at the surface, a 

notice with some specific language containing the UN number and other 

information, which I think I saw in one of the close-ups).  



As far as I can tell, and I am not representing the opinion of anyone for 

whom I might presently work, ABC was legally in possession and legally 

transported the material.  The problem I haven't had a chance to work through is the 

claim that the "radiation signature" would have been the same for a more heavily 

shielded package of HEU.



OTOH, even if it would, it begs the question, what are we doing to remotely 

detect shipments of smallpox, anthrax, ebola, sarin, etc.?  We could bring 

international commerce to a halt and thoroughly inspect every single shipment 

through every single port, but I expect the cure would be worse than the disease 

in that case.



Barbara