| (a) Purpose.
(1) This section establishes requirements for packaging,
preparation for shipment, and transportation of radioactive material
including radioactive waste.
(2) The packaging and transport of radioactive material
are also subject to the requirements of §289.201 of this title
(relating to General Provisions for Radioactive Material), §289.202
of this title (relating to Standards for Protection Against Radiation
from Radioactive Materials), §289.203 of this title (relating
to Notices, Instructions, and Reports to Workers; Inspections), §289.204
of this title (relating to Fees for Certificates of Registration,
Radioactive Material Licenses, Emergency Planning and Implementation,
and Other Regulatory Services), §289.205 of this title (relating
to Hearing and Enforcement Procedures), §289.251 of this title
(relating to Exemptions, General Licenses, and General License Acknowledgements), §289.252
of this title (relating to Licensing of Radioactive Material), and §289.256
of this title (relating to Medical and Veterinary Use of Radioactive
Material) and to the regulations of other agencies (e.g., the United
States Department of Transportation (DOT) and the United States Postal
Service) having jurisdiction over means of transport. The requirements
of this section are in addition to, and not in substitution for, other
requirements.
(b) Scope.
(1) The requirements of this section apply to any licensee
authorized by a specific or general license issued by the department
to receive, possess, use, or transfer radioactive material, if the
licensee delivers that material to a carrier for transport, transports
the material outside the site of usage as specified in the department
license, or transports that material on public highways. No provision
of this section authorizes possession of radioactive material.
(2) Exemptions from the requirements for a license
in subsection (c) of this section are specified in subsection (f)
of this section. The general license in subsection (i)(2), (3), and
(4) of this section requires that a United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) certificate of compliance or other package approval
be issued for the package to be used in accordance with the general
license. A licensee transporting radioactive material, or delivering
radioactive material to a carrier for transport, shall comply with
the operating control requirements of subsections (l) - (q) of this
section; the quality assurance requirements of subsections (s) - (u)
and (w) - (bb) of this section; and the general provisions of subsections
(a) - (e) of this section, including DOT regulations referenced in
subsection (e) of this section.
(c) Requirement for license. Except as authorized in
a general or specific license issued by the department, or as exempted
in accordance with this section, no licensee may transport radioactive
material or deliver radioactive material to a carrier for transport.
(d) Definitions. The following words and terms when
used in this section shall have the following meaning, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. To ensure compatibility with
international transportation standards, all limits in this section
are given in terms of dual units: The International System of Units
(SI) followed or preceded by United States (U.S.) standard or customary
units. The U.S. customary units are not exact equivalents, but are
rounded to a convenient value, providing a functionally equivalent
unit. For the purpose of this section, SI units shall be used.
(1) A1 --The maximum activity
of special form radioactive material permitted in a Type A package.
This value is either listed in Table 257-3 of subsection (ee)(6) of
this section, or may be derived in accordance with the procedure prescribed
in subsection (ee) of this section.
(2) A2--The maximum activity
of radioactive material, other than special form, low specific activity
(LSA) and surface contaminated object (SCO) material, permitted in
a Type A package. This value is either listed in Table 257-3 of subsection
(ee)(6) of this section, or may be derived in accordance with the
procedure prescribed in subsection (ee) of this section.
(3) Carrier--A person engaged in the transportation
of passengers or property by land or water as a common, contract,
or private carrier, or by civil aircraft.
(4) Certificate holder--A person who has been issued
a certificate of compliance or other package approval by the department.
(5) Certificate of compliance--The certificate issued
by the NRC that approves the design of a package for the transportation
of radioactive materials.
(6) Chelating agent--Amine polycarboxylic acids (e.g.,
EDTA, DTPA), hydroxy-carboxylic acids, and polycarboxylic acids (e.g.,
citric acid, carbolic acid, and glucinic acid).
(7) Chemical description--A description of the principal
chemical characteristics of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW).
(8) Consignee--The designated receiver of the shipment
of low-level radioactive waste.
(9) Consignment--Each shipment of a package or groups
of packages or load of radioactive material offered by a shipper for
transport.
(10) Containment system--The assembly of components
of the packaging intended to retain the radioactive material during
transport.
(11) Contamination--The presence of a radioactive substance
on a surface in quantities in excess of 0.4 becquerel per square centimeter
(Bq/cm2 ) (10-5 microcurie
per square centimeter (µCi/cm2 ))
for beta and gamma emitters and low toxicity alpha emitters, or 0.04
Bq/cm2 (10-6 µCi/cm2 ) for all other alpha emitters.
(A) Fixed contamination means contamination that cannot
be removed from a surface during normal conditions of transport.
(B) Non-fixed contamination means contamination that
can be removed from a surface during normal conditions of transport.
(12) Conveyance--For transport on:
(A) public highway or rail by transport vehicle or
large freight container;
(B) water by vessel, or any hold, compartment, or defined
deck area of a vessel including any transport vehicle on board the
vessel; and
(C) aircraft.
(13) Criticality Safety Index (CSI)--The dimensionless
number (rounded up to the next tenth) assigned to and placed on the
label of a fissile material package, to designate the degree of control
of accumulation of packages, overpacks or freight containers containing
fissile material during transportation. Determination of the criticality
safety index is described in subsection (i) of this section and Title
10, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), §71.22, §71.23, and §71.59.
The criticality safety index for an overpack, freight container, consignment
or conveyance containing fissile material packages is the arithmetic
sum of the criticality safety indices of all the fissile material
packages contained within the overpack, freight container, consignment
or conveyance.
(14) Decontamination facility--A facility operating
in accordance with an NRC, agreement state, or department license
whose principal purpose is decontamination of equipment or materials
to accomplish recycle, reuse, or other waste management objectives,
and, for purposes of this section, is not considered to be a consignee
for LLRW shipments.
(15) Deuterium--For the purposes of this section, this
means deuterium and any deuterium compound, including heavy water,
in which the ratio of deuterium atoms to hydrogen atoms exceeds 1:5000.
(16) Disposal container--A transport container principally
used to confine LLRW during disposal operations at a land disposal
facility (also see definition for high integrity container). Note
that for some shipments, the disposal container may be the transport
package.
(17) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identification
number--The number received by a transporter following application
to the administrator of EPA as required by Title 40, CFR, Part 263.
(18) Exclusive use--The sole use by a single consignor
of a conveyance for which all initial, intermediate, and final loading
and unloading are carried out in accordance with the direction of
the consignor or consignee. The consignor and the carrier shall ensure
that any loading or unloading is performed by personnel having radiological
training and resources appropriate for safe handling of the consignment.
The consignor shall issue specific instructions, in writing, for maintenance
of exclusive use shipment controls, and include them with the shipping
paper information provided to the carrier by the consignor.
(19) Fissile material--The radionuclides plutonium-239,
plutonium-241, uranium-233, uranium-235, or any combination of these
radionuclides. Fissile material means the fissile nuclides themselves,
not material containing fissile nuclides. Unirradiated natural uranium
and depleted uranium, and natural uranium or depleted uranium that
has been irradiated in thermal reactors only are not included in this
definition. Agency jurisdiction extends only to special nuclear material
in quantities not sufficient to form a "critical mass" as defined
in §289.201(b) of this title. Certain exclusions from fissile
material controls are provided in subsection (h) of this section.
(20) Freight forwarder--A person or entity which holds
itself out to the general public to provide transportation of property
for compensation and in the ordinary course of its business:
(A) assembles and consolidates, or provides for assembling
and consolidating, shipments and performs break-bulk and distribution
operations of the shipments;
(B) assumes responsibility for the transportation from
the place of receipt to the place of destination; and
(C) uses for any part of the transportation a rail,
motor or water carrier subject to the jurisdiction of either the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration or the Surface Transportation
Board.
(21) Generator--A licensee operating in accordance
with an agency, NRC, or agreement state license who:
(A) is a waste generator as defined in this section;
or
(B) is the licensee to whom waste can be attributed
within the context of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments
Act of 1985 (e.g., waste generated as a result of decontamination
or recycle activities).
(22) Graphite--For the purposes of this section, this
means graphite with a boron equivalent content of less than 5 parts
per million and density greater than 1.5 grams per cubic centimeter.
(23) High integrity container (HIC)--A container commonly
designed to meet the structural stability requirements of Title 10,
CFR, §61.56, and to meet DOT requirements for a Type A package.
(24) Indian Tribe --An Indian or Alaska Native Tribe,
band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of
the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian Tribe pursuant to
the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. §479a.
(25) Low-level radioactive waste (LLRW)--Radioactive
material that meets the following criteria:
(A) LLRW is radioactive material that is:
(i) discarded or unwanted and is not exempt by rule
adopted in accordance with the Texas Radiation Control Act (Act),
Health and Safety Code, §401.106;
(ii) waste, as that term is defined in Title 10, CFR, §61.2;
and
(iii) subject to:
(I) concentration limits established in Title 10, CFR, §61.55,
or compatible rules adopted by the department or the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), as applicable; and
(II) disposal criteria established in Title 10, CFR,
or established by the department or TCEQ, as applicable.
(B) LLRW does not include:
(i) high-level radioactive waste as defined in Title
10, CFR, §60.2;
(ii) spent nuclear fuel as defined in Title 10, CFR, §72.3;
(iii) byproduct material defined in the Act, Health
and Safety Code, §401.003(3)(B);
(iv) naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)
waste that is not oil and gas NORM waste;
(v) oil and gas NORM waste; or
(vi) transuranics greater than 100 nanocuries (3.7
kilobecquerels) per gram (g).
(26) Low specific activity (LSA) material--Radioactive
material with limited specific activity which is nonfissile or is
excepted in accordance with subsection (h) of this section, and which
satisfies the following descriptions and limits set forth in this
section. Shielding materials surrounding the LSA material may not
be considered in determining the estimated average specific activity
of the package contents. LSA material shall be in one of the following
three groups:
(A) LSA-I.
(i) Uranium and thorium ores, concentrates of uranium
and thorium ores, and other ores containing naturally occurring radionuclides
that are intended to be processed for the use of these radionuclides;
or
(ii) Natural uranium, depleted uranium, natural thorium
or their compounds or mixtures, provided they are unirradiated and
in solid or liquid form; or
(iii) Radioactive material other than fissile material
for which the A2 value is unlimited;
or
Cont'd... |
