Radioactive Material (Class 7) Air Cargo Rules in India

Class 7 radioactive material air cargo in India is handled by a very small number of entities who understand the overlapping requirements of IATA DGR, IAEA safety standards, AERB regulations, and DGCA's CAR Section 8. Most freight forwarders simply don't touch it. Here's an inside look at how it actually works.

Who Ships Class 7 in India

Three main segments dominate Class 7 air cargo movements in India:

Nuclear medicine hospitals and radiopharmacies — shipping short-lived isotopes like Tc-99m, I-131, and Ga-68. These move domestically by air between radiopharmacy production centres and hospitals, and internationally for export of radiopharmaceuticals.

Industrial radiography companies — using Ir-192 and Se-75 sources for NDT inspections of welds and pipelines. These companies operate across India, moving sources between job sites.

Research institutions — universities and research labs occasionally ship radioactive sources for calibration or research purposes, typically under AERB research reactor licences.

The Regulatory Stack in India

This is where it gets complicated. Shipping Class 7 by air in India requires compliance with all of the following simultaneously:

• IATA DGR — International transport standards
• IAEA Safety Standards (TS-R-1 / SSR-6) — UN-level requirements for radioactive material packaging
• AERB — Transport authorisation from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board under AERB Safety Code No. AERB/NRF-TS/SC-1
• DGCA CAR Section 8 — Aviation-specific DG requirements in India
• Aircraft Act 1934 — Overarching legal framework

Missing any one of these is enough to get the shipment stopped.

AERB Transport Consent — The Critical Document

Every radioactive material shipment in India requires AERB transport consent before it can legally move. For air transport, this means AERB reviews the package design, the source activity, the route, and the shipper's transport management plan.

For Type A packages (lower activity, like most medical isotopes), this process is relatively streamlined for registered consignors. For Type B packages (higher activity industrial sources), the process involves formal package design review and can take weeks to months for first-time applicants.

The consent is valid for a defined period and number of consignments. It must be renewed when it expires.

Labelling That's Unique to Class 7

Unlike other DG classes, Class 7 packages carry radiation category labels specific to surface radiation dose rates and transport indices:

• Category I White — Surface dose rate ≤ 0.005 mSv/h, Transport Index = 0
• Category II Yellow — Surface dose rate up to 0.5 mSv/h, TI ≤ 10
• Category III Yellow — Surface dose rate up to 2 mSv/h, TI ≤ 10

The transport index directly affects how many packages can be on a single aircraft. There are cumulative TI limits per compartment per flight. Airlines load Class 7 packages separately from other cargo for this reason.

The Time Pressure on Medical Isotopes

Tc-99m has a half-life of 6 hours. I-131 has a half-life of about 8 days. These are not the same planning problem. Tc-99m needs to be at the hospital scanner within hours of production. Getting a flight booking wrong — or having a shipment held at acceptance for paperwork — can waste the entire dose.

We have standing protocols with the acceptance teams at CSIA Mumbai and IGI Delhi for medical isotope shipments. Pre-notification, pre-cleared documentation, and priority handling are standard procedure for us, not exceptions.