Impending Change to Air Transportation Regulations for Neutron Detectors Containing Boron Trifluoride

At the twenty-third session of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel, which took place in October, 2011, in Montreal, a special provision allowing the international cargo aircraft shipment of BF₃ neutron detectors was adopted.  The special provision will go into effect on January 1, 2013, and appear in the ICAO Technical Instructions and the IATA dangerous goods regulations under the entry for Boron trifluoride in the dangerous goods table.  It applies to BF₃ neutron detectors containing 1 to 12.8 grams of BF₃ and filled to no more than 105 kPa absolute at 20 degrees C.  In addition, radiation detection systems containing up to 51.2 grams of BF₃ may be shipped under the special provision.

Furthermore, BF₃ neutron detectors containing 1 gram or less of BF₃ filled to less than atmospheric pressure, which are currently considered unregulated by the U.S. DOT, will also be classified as unregulated for international shipment - a change that will greatly facilitate the transportation of health physics instrumentation containing small BF₃ detectors.

Until the special provision takes effect on January 1, 2013, BF₃ detectors and radiation detection systems containing these detectors may continue to be shipped with the existing U.S. DOT-SP 12087 and the A2 approval for cargo aircraft.  For BF₃ detectors that exceed the quantity and pressure limitations of the new special provision, the DOT-SP and A2 approval will still be required.

Transportation regulations are constantly evolving to encompass and address the shipment of commodities that fall outside of the broad categories and definitions of the existing dangerous goods regulations in order to evaluate and develop more specific and relevant transport conditions.  Working with various international agencies, LND was able to find agreement in the dangerous goods transportation community about the safety of these devices and systems and the need for a special provision to clarify this air transportation issue.

In summary, the ICAO/IATA special provision will make the world-wide cargo aircraft shipment of BF₃ neutron detectors and detection systems a simple and straightforward matter, eliminating the need for special permits or approvals.

If you have any questions, please contact Spencer B. Neyland, VP for Operations.

 For LND's Special Permit 12087, click on this link:

http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/SPA_App/OfferDocuments/SP12087_2006010826.pdf

For LND's A2 Competent Authority Approval, click on this link:

http://www.lndinc.com/media/pdfs/A2.pdf