Dangerous Goods by Road
For individual radionuclides:
(a) Which are not listed in Table 2.2.7.2.2.1 the determination of the basic radionuclide values
referred to in 2.2.7.2.2.1 shall require multilateral approval. For these radionuclides, activity
concentration limits for exempt material and activity limits for exempt consignments shall be
calculated in accordance with the principles established in the International Basic Safety
Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources,
Safety Series No.115, IAEA, Vienna (1996). It is permissible to use an A2 value calculated
using a dose coefficient for the appropriate lung absorption type as recommended by the
International Commission on Radiological Protection, if the chemical forms of each
radionuclide under both normal and accident conditions of carriage are taken into
consideration. Alternatively, the radionuclide values in Table 2.2.7.2.2.2 may be used without
obtaining competent authority approval;
(b) In instruments or articles in which the radioactive material is enclosed or is included as a
component part of the instrument or other manufactured article and which meet 2.2.7.2.4.1.3
(c), alternative basic radionuclide values to those in Table 2.2.7.2.2.1 for the activity limit for
an exempt consignment are permitted and shall require multilateral approval. Such alternative
activity limits for an exempt consignment shall be calculated in accordance with the principles
set out in the International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and
for the Safety of Radiation Sources, Safety Series No.115, IAEA, Vienna (1996).
Table 2.2.7.2.2.2: Basic radionuclide values for unknown radionuclides or mixtures
| Radioactive contents |
A1 |
A2 |
Activity concentration limit for exempt material |
Activity limit for exempt consignments |
|
(TBq) |
(TBq) |
(Bq/g) |
(Bq) |
|
|
Only beta or gamma emitting nuclides are known to be present |
0.1 |
0.02 |
1 101 |
1 104 |
|
Alpha emitting nuclides but no neutron emitters are known to be present |
0.2 |
9 10-5 |
1 10-1 |
1 103 |
|
Neutron emitting nuclides are known to be present or no relevant data are available |
0.001 |
9 10-5 |
1 10-1 |
1 103 |
In the calculations of A1 and A2 for a radionuclide not in Table 2.2.7.2.2.1, a single radioactive decay
chain in which the radionuclides are present in their naturally occurring proportions, and in which no
daughter nuclide has a half-life either longer than 10 days or longer than that of the parent nuclide,
shall be considered as a single radionuclide; and the activity to be taken into account and the A1 or A2
value to be applied shall be those corresponding to the parent nuclide of that chain. In the case of
radioactive decay chains in which any daughter nuclide has a half-life either longer than 10 days or
greater than that of the parent nuclide, the parent and such daughter nuclides shall be considered as
mixtures of different nuclides.
For mixtures of radionuclides, the basic radionuclide values referred to in 2.2.7.2.2.1 may be
determined as follows:
where,
f(i) is the fraction of activity or activity concentration of radionuclide i in the mixture;
X(i) is the appropriate value of A1 or A2, or the activity concentration limit for exempt material or
the activity limit for an exempt consignment as appropriate for the radionuclide i; and
Xm is the derived value of A1 or A2, or the activity concentration limit for exempt material or the
activity limit for an exempt consignment in the case of a mixture.
When the identity of each radionuclide is known but the individual activities of some of the
radionuclides are not known, the radionuclides may be grouped and the lowest radionuclide value, as
appropriate, for the radionuclides in each group may be used in applying the formulas in 2.2.7.2.2.4
and 2.2.7.2.4.4. Groups may be based on the total alpha activity and the total beta/gamma activity
when these are known, using the lowest radionuclide values for the alpha emitters or beta/gamma
emitters, respectively.
For individual radionuclides or for mixtures of radionuclides for which relevant data are not available,
the values shown in Table 2.2.7.2.2.2 shall be used.
Determination of other material characteristics
Low specific activity (LSA) material
(Reserved)
LSA material shall be in one of three groups:
(a) LSA-I
(i) uranium and thorium ores and concentrates of such ores, and other ores containing
naturally occurring radionuclides;
(ii) natural uranium, depleted uranium, natural thorium or their compounds or mixtures, that
are unirradiated and in solid or liquid form;
(iii) radioactive material for which the A2 value is unlimited. Fissile material may be
included only if excepted under 2.2.7.2.3.5;
(iv) other radioactive material in which the activity is distributed throughout and the
estimated average specific activity does not exceed 30 times the values for activity
concentration specified in 2.2.7.2.2.1 to 2.2.7.2.2.6. Fissile material may be included
only if excepted under 2.2.7.2.3.5;
(b) LSA-II
(i) water with tritium concentration up to 0.8 TBq/l;
(ii) other material in which the activity is distributed throughout and the estimated average
specific activity does not exceed 10-4 A2/g for solids and gases, and 10-5 A2/g for
liquids;
(c) LSA-III - Solids (e.g. consolidated wastes, activated materials), excluding powders, that meet
the requirements of 2.2.7.2.3.1.3, in which:
(i) the radioactive material is distributed throughout a solid or a collection of solid objects,
or is essentially uniformly distributed in a solid compact binding agent (such as
concrete, bitumen and ceramic);
(ii) the radioactive material is relatively insoluble, or it is intrinsically contained in a
relatively insoluble matrix, so that, even under loss of packaging, the loss of radioactive
material per package by leaching when placed in water for seven days would not exceed
0.1 A2; and
(iii) the estimated average specific activity of the solid, excluding any shielding material,
does not exceed 2 × 10-3 A2/g.
LSA-III material shall be a solid of such a nature that if the entire contents of a package were
subjected to the test specified in 2.2.7.2.3.1.4 the activity in the water would not exceed 0.1 A2.
LSA-III material shall be tested as follows:
A solid material sample representing the entire contents of the package shall be immersed for 7 days
in water at ambient temperature. The volume of water to be used in the test shall be sufficient to
ensure that at the end of the 7 day test period the free volume of the unabsorbed and unreacted water
remaining shall be at least 10% of the volume of the solid test sample itself. The water shall have an
initial pH of 6-8 and a maximum conductivity of 1 mS/m at 20 °C. The total activity of the free
volume of water shall be measured following the 7 day immersion of the test sample.
Demonstration of compliance with the performance standards in 2.2.7.2.3.1.4 shall be in accordance
with 6.4.12.1 and 6.4.12.2.
Surface contaminated object (SCO)
SCO is classified in one of two groups:
(a) SCO-I: A solid object on which:
(i) the non-fixed contamination on the accessible surface averaged over 300 cm2 (or the
area of the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed 4 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma
emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or 0.4 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emitters; and
(ii) the fixed contamination on the accessible surface averaged over 300 cm2 (or the area of
the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed 4 × 104 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma
emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or 4 × 103 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emitters;
and
(iii) the non-fixed contamination plus the fixed contamination on the inaccessible surface
averaged over 300 cm2 (or the area of the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed
4 × 104 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or
4 × 103 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emitters;
(b) SCO-II: A solid object on which either the fixed or non-fixed contamination on the surface
exceeds the applicable limits specified for SCO-I in (a) above and on which:
(i) the non-fixed contamination on the accessible surface averaged over 300 cm2 (or the
area of the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed 400 Bq/cm2 for beta and
gamma emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or 40 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha
emitters; and
(ii) the fixed contamination on the accessible surface, averaged over 300 cm2 (or the area of
the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed 8 × 105 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma
emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or 8 × 104 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emitters;
and
(iii) the non-fixed contamination plus the fixed contamination on the inaccessible surface
averaged over 300 cm2 (or the area of the surface if less than 300 cm2) does not exceed
8 × 105 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or
8 × 104 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emitters.
Special form radioactive material
Special form radioactive material shall have at least one dimension not less than 5 mm. When a sealed
capsule constitutes part of the special form radioactive material, the capsule shall be so manufactured that it
can be opened only by destroying it. The design for special form radioactive material requires unilateral
approval.