Kizzi Nkwocha | Thu, 1 Jul 2010

Staff found package of depleted uranium when crate burst

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has fined two companies US$422,500 for sending a radioactive shipment of depleted uranium as cargo on a British Airways passenger flight. 

The FAA alleges that IIS & Allied Services and its freight forwarder, Gallant Freight & Travels, failed to declare the hazardous nature of the shipment, which wasn’t properly packaged or labelled. 

It is reported that the deadly cargo was put on a flight from Mumbai, India, to Logan International Airport, Boston, in 2008. 

The depleted uranium was destined for QSA Global, in Burlington, Canada. which specialises in supplying radiation material used in test devices, industrial processes and medical research. 

Radioactive materials are not allowed to be shipped as cargo aboard passenger aircraft, with some exceptions. 

Employees at British Airways’ Boston cargo facility discovered the radioactive material when the bottom of the shipment’s crate failed, revealing inner packaging warning that it contained depleted uranium and shouldn’t be shipped on a passenger plane. 

British Airways has prohibited radioactive cargo since 2004. But airline spokesman John Lampl said the crate was an “undeclared shipment,” and the screening used in India didn’t detect radiation. 

The shipment cleared customs five days after it landed at Logan. The cargo facility was evacuated when the material was discovered. “Unharmful” traces of radioactivity were detected, Lampl said.