WAC 246-231-040   Exemptions.  (1) Common and contract carriers, freight forwarders, and warehouse workers who are subject to the rules and regulations of the United States Department of Transportation (49 CFR 170 through 189) or the United States Postal Service (Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual, 39 CFR 111.1) are exempt from this chapter to the extent that they transport or store radioactive material in the regular course of their carriage for another or storage incident thereto. Common and contract carriers who are not subject to the rules and regulations of the United States Department of Transportation or United States Postal Service are subject to WAC 246-231-005 and other applicable sections of these regulations.

     (2) Any licensee who delivers radioactive material to a carrier for transport, where such transport is subject to the regulations of the United States Postal Service, is exempt from the provisions of WAC 246-231-005.

     (3) Exemption of physicians. Any physician as defined in WAC 246-220-010 who is licensed by the department, the USNRC or an agreement state, to dispense drugs in the practice of medicine, is exempt from WAC 246-220-030 with respect to transport by the physician of licensed material for use in the practice of medicine. However, any physician operating under this exemption must be licensed under chapter 246-240 WAC, 10 CFR 35, or the equivalent agreement state regulations.

     (4) Exemption for low-level materials. A licensee is exempt from all requirements of this chapter with respect to shipment or carriage of the following low-level materials:

     (a) Natural material and ores containing naturally occurring radionuclides that are not intended to be processed for use of these radionuclides, provided the activity concentration of the material does not exceed ten times the values specified in WAC 246-231-200, Table A-2.

     (b) Materials for which the activity concentration is not greater than the activity concentration values specified in WAC 246-231-200, Table A-2, or for which the consignment activity is not greater than the limit for an exempt consignment found in WAC 246-231-200, Table A-2.

     (5) Exemption from classification as fissile material. Fissile material meeting at least one of the requirements in (a) through (f) of this subsection is exempt from classification as fissile material and from the fissile material package standards of 10 CFR 71.55 and 71.59, but are subject to all other requirements of this chapter, except as noted.

     (a) Individual package containing 2 grams or less fissile material.

     (b) Individual or bulk packaging containing 15 grams or less of fissile material provided the package has at least 200 grams of solid nonfissile material for every gram of fissile material. Lead, beryllium, graphite, and hydrogenous material enriched in deuterium may be present in the package but must not be included in determining the required mass for solid nonfissile material.

     (c)(i) Low concentrations of solid fissile material commingled with solid nonfissile material, provided that:

     (A) There is at least 2000 grams of solid nonfissile material for every gram of fissile material; and

     (B) There is no more than 180 grams of fissile material distributed within 360 kg of contiguous nonfissile material.

     (ii) Lead, beryllium, graphite, and hydrogenous material enriched in deuterium may be present in the package but must not be included in determining the required mass of solid nonfissile material.

     (d) Uranium enriched in uranium-235 to a maximum of 1 percent by weight, and with total plutonium and uranium-233 content of up to 1 percent of the mass of uranium-235, provided that the mass of any beryllium, graphite, and hydrogenous material enriched in deuterium constitutes less than 5 percent of the uranium mass.

     (e) Liquid solutions of uranyl nitrate enriched in uranium-235 to a maximum of 2 percent by mass, with a total plutonium and uranium-233 content not exceeding 0.002 percent of the mass of uranium, and with a minimum nitrogen to uranium atomic ratio (N/U) of 2. The material must be contained in at least a USDOT Type A package.

     (f) Packages containing, individually, a total plutonium mass of not more than 1000 grams, of which not more than 20 percent by mass may consist of plutonium-239, plutonium-241, or any combination of these radionuclides.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 70.98.050. 08-09-093, § 246-231-040, filed 4/18/08, effective 5/19/08; 99-15-105, § 246-231-040, filed 7/21/99, effective 8/21/99.]