Unimportant Quanties of Source
...source material (thorium and uranium or any combination of both) that is, by weight,
less than one-twentieth of 1 percent (0.05%).
...any quantities of thorium contained in
- incandescent gas mantles
- vacuum tubes
- welding rods
- electric lamps for illuminating purposes (provided each lamp contains less than 50
milligrams of thorium)
- germicidal lamps, sunlamps and lamps for outdoor or industrial lighting (provided each
lamp does not contain more than 2 grams of thorium)
- rare earth metals and compounds, mixtures and products containing less than 0.25%
- personnel neutron dosimeters (provided each dosimeter contains less than 50 milligrams
...source material contained in
- glazed ceramic tablesware (provided the glaze contains less than 20% by weight source
- piezoelectric ceramic (containing less than 2% by weight source material)
- glassware (containing less than 10% by weight source material but not including
commercially manufactured glass brick, pane glass, ceramic tile or other glass or ceramic
used in construction)
- glass enamel or glass enamel frit (containing less than 10% by weight source material
imported or ordered for importation into the U.S., or initially distributed by
manufacturers in the U.S. before 25 July 1983.
...photographic film, negatives and prints containing thorium.
...thorium contained in finished optical lenses, provided that each lens contains less
than 30% by weight of thorium.
General License for
the Export of Source Material 10 CFR 110.22
...issued to any person to export the following, except as a radioactive waste, to any
country not listed in 10
- thorium, other than Th-227 and Th-228, in any substance in concentrations of less than
0.05% by weight.
- thorium, other than Th-227 and Th-228, in incandescent gas mantels or in alloys in
concentrations less than 5%.
- Th-227 and Th-228 when contained in a device, or a source for use in a device, in
quantities of less than 100 millicuries of alpha activity (3.12 micrograms Th-227 or 122
micrograms Th-228) per device.
...issued to any person to export thorium, except as a radioactive waste and other than
Th-227 and Th-228, in individual shipments of less than 10 kilograms to any country not
listed in 10 CFR 110.28
or 10 CFR 110.29 (not
to exceed 1,000 kilograms per year to any one country or 500 kilograms per year to any one
country when the thorium is of Canadian origin).
...issued to any person to export Th-227 and/or Th-228, except as a radioactive waste,
in individual shipments of less than 10 kilograms to any country listed in 10 CFR 110.30 (not to
esceed 1,000 kilograms per year to any one country or 500 kilograms per year to any one
country when the thorium is of Canadian origin).
Commission of Source Material Reports 10 CFR 150.17
...each person who transfers/receives/adjusts the inventory in any manner by 1 kilogram
or more of uranium/thorium source material of any origin.
...each person authorized to possess more than 1,000 kilograms of uranium/thorium in
any combination shall submit within 30 days after September 30 of each year, the foreign
origin source material inventory.
...any incident involving the "unlawful diversion," of more than 15
pounds in a single incident or 150 pounds in a year, of uranium/throium.
Reports are NOT required for:
- processed ores containing less than 5% uranium/thorium or any combination
- thorium contained in magnesium-thorium and tungsten-thorium allows (if thorium content
is less than 4% by weight)
- any source material contained in on-nuclear end use devices
10 CFR 40.14 is Not to be Used for Issuing
HPPOS-135 was a
position paper issued in response to a question to the NRC of how the limit used as the
basis for the exemption "0.25 percent by weight thorium, uranium, or any
combination of these,..." was obtained.
In essence, "a source material license is required whenever a rare earth
metal, compound, mixture, or product contains 0.25% or more by weight thorium, uranium or
any combination of these."
Status of Titanium Bearing Ores and Waste Products From Titanium Dioxide Manufacturing
HPPOS-202 was issued in
response to a question of exemption and licensing status for titanium beraring ores and
waste products resulting from titanium dioxide manufacturing. Some ores and waste
products contain throium and uranium in excess of 0.05% but less than 0.25% by weight.
It was suggested that htese material were coevered by 10 CFR 40.13(c)(1)(vi) and
should be exempt from licensing.
NRC emphasizes that only products are involved in the several exemptions in paragraph
Thorium-Containing Scrap Under 10 CFR 40.13(c)(4)
HPPOS-133 stated that
"any finished product or part fabricated of or containing magnesium-thorium alloy
with a thorium content not exceeding 4% by weight is exempt from the regulations in Part
40, except that the exemption does not extend to the chemical, physical or metallurgical
treatment or processing of any such product or part."
Airborne Thorium From Welding Rods
HPPOS-255 was a response
to whether there are any NRC regulatory requirements that apply to airborne thorium caused
by grinding the tips and using welding rods containing thorium.
10 CFR 40.13(c)(1)(iii),
"Domestic Licensing of Source Material," provides that any person is
exempt from the regulations in Part 40 and from requirements for an NRC license to the
extent that they receive, possess, use or transfer any quantities or thorium contained in
...any radioactive material (except special nuclear material) yielded in, or made
radioactive by, expsoure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or using
special nuclear material.
...the tailings or waste produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or
thorium from ore (see 10 CFR
and Site Reclamation of Uranium and Thorium Mills
Federal Register Notice 44 FR 68307, November 28, 1979.