(How can we determine when a Radioactive shipment is Not Restricted General Cargo?)
Q.
How can we determine when a Radioactive shipment is Not Restricted General Cargo? (31 May 10)
A.
A radioactive material is considered not dangerous if the radioactivity of a substance does not exceed the Becquerel values shown in the two last columns of Table 10.3.A. This is spelled out in DGR 10.3.1 Definition where it says: ?gRadioactive material means any material containing radionuclides where both the activity concentration and the total activity in the consignment exceed the values?h specified in these two columns respectively.

Please take note that these values differ which each radionuclide.

For instance, for Ac-225, if one gram of the substance has a radioactivity exceeding 10 Bq (taken from the second last column) and the package contains more than 10,000 Bq (taken from the last column), this Ac-225 substance is considered as ?gradioactive material?h.

Even if one gram of Ac-225 measures more than 10 Bq, but you are putting say 9,000 Bq total in your shipment, the cargo is not a radioactive material. You need to exceed the value for both columns to be considered as radioactive material. If any one of the two values are lower than the Bq values shown in the these two columns, the shipment is General Cargo and ?gNot Restricted?h.

With Ac-227, now the breakpoint is more than 0.1 Bq per one gram of A-227, and the breakpoint of the total consignment is more than 1,000 Bq.

[x close]


Copyright (C) 2003  Kinoshita Aviation Consultants All rights reserved.