documents inside, bearing the identity, amount, and chemical form of the
radioactive material and the TI.
Placards are necessary on the transport vehicles carrying yellow-
III–labeled packages and must be put on four sides of the vehicle.
According to 49CFR173.421, radionuclides are exempted from the pack-
aging and labeling requirements if only a limited quantity of these radionu-
clides is shipped. The surface exposure readings should not exceed
0.5 mR/hr at all points of the package surface, and the wipe test indicates
no removable contamination in excess of 6600 dpm/300 cm^2. The outside of
the inner packaging or, if there is no inner packaging, the outside of the
packaging itself bears the marking, “Radioactive”. The outside of the
package must be marked with UN2910. If the inner packaging materials
read less than 0.5 mR/hr for exposure and 6600 dpm/300 cm^2 for contami-
nation, then the shipment is considered “Empty” and should be labeled
“UN2908” on the outside. No shipping paper is required for both limited
quantity or empty packages, if the material is not hazardous. The limited
quantities for some important radionuclides are given in Table 16.6 based
on 10−^4 A 2 for liquids and 10−^3 A 2 for solids and gases, as stated in
49CFR173.425. The values of A 2 are obtained from 49CFR173.435.
294 16. Radiation Regulations and Protection
Table16.5. Labeling categories for packages contain-
ing radioactive materials.
Exposure (mR/hr)
Type of label At surface At 1 m
White-I <0.5 —
Yellow-II >0.5 ≤ 50 < 1
Yellow-III > 50 ≤ 200 > 1 ≤ 10Note: No package shall exceed 200 mR/hr at the surface of the
package or 10 mR/hr at 1 m. Transport index is the reading in
mR/hr at 1 m from the package surface (10CFR71).Table16.6. Limited quantities of several radionuclides that are exempt from ship-
ping and labeling requirements, according to 49CFR I73.425.
Quantity Quantity
Radionuclides (mCi) (MBq) Radionuclides (mCi) (MBq)
(^57) Co (s) 270 800 111 In (l) 8.1 300
(^67) Ga (l) 8.1 600 32 P (l) 1.4 50
(^123) I (l) 81 3000 99mTc (l) 11 400
(^125) I (l) 8.1 300 20lTl (l) 11 400
(^131) I (l) 1.9 70 133 Xe (g) 270 10,000
(^89) Sr (l) 1.6 60 18 F (l) 1.6 60
*s =solid; l =liquid; g =gas.