WASHINGTON-The Federal Aviation Administration has banned shipments of non-rechargeable lithium batteries on commercials flights because they pose a fire hazard when transported in the cargo holds of passenger aircraft, the first step of an action plan that includes further study of whether shipments of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in cell phones and other electronic gear also pose risks to air safety.
“This limited ban raises the level of safety for passenger flights,” said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. “Our recent research shows that non-rechargeable lithium batteries pose a special fire risk and are difficult to extinguish even when shipped in relatively small numbers.”
The Department of Transportation said airline passengers will continue to be permitted to carry on board and use personal computers and other consumer products that contain lithium batteries.
Meantime, the FAA and the Research and Special Programs Administration-the agency responsible for hazardous materials transportation regulation-will conduct more research on rechargeable lithium batteries to determine if further rulemaking is necessary.
The Department of Transportation’s action comes as the cell-phone industry and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers are scrambling to craft a mobile-phone battery standard. During the past 12 months, there have been reports of injuries to consumers from exploding cell phones. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission earlier this year recalled batteries in handsets manufactured for Kyocera Wireless Corp.
While counterfeit batteries have been the targets of scrutiny, original equipment has been implicated in exploding phone incidents and at least one vendor recall of phone batteries.
Christine El Eris, a Connecticut resident, said a 2-year-old Motorola Inc. phone that exploded Nov. 3 had its original battery. El Eris said she was not injured.
The FAA ban on cargo shipments of non-rechargeable lithium batteries goes into effect Dec. 29. The FAA said the restriction will apply to all U.S.-carrier flights and those of foreign carriers into and out of this country. The public and industry will be able to file comments on the rule, and RSPA plans to hold a public meeting on this issue. The Department of Transportation said adjustments to the rule could be made later if warranted.
The department said the hazardous nature of the batteries is due to the presence of lithium, which has electrochemical properties that make it highly reactive. RSPA and FAA, working with fire-safety experts at the FAA’s Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., found that if a shipment of non-rechargeable lithium batteries caught fire in flight, current aircraft cargo fire-suppression systems would not be able to extinguish the fire.
A single non-rechargeable lithium battery on fire within a cargo shipment would likely cause all surrounding batteries to catch fire and burn until the entire shipment is consumed, the department stated. Burning non-rechargeable lithium batteries, the agency continued, could result in molten lithium penetrating the cargo compartment liner or raising air-pressure levels high enough to break through the cargo-compartment panels, allowing the fire to spread beyond the cargo compartment to other parts of the aircraft.
The FAA said its researchers also found that any fire in an aircraft cargo compartment-regardless of location or cause, and even if suppressed-could raise the cargo compartment temperature enough to self-ignite a shipment of non-rechargeable lithium batteries.
A DoT spokeswoman said there has been at least one fire involving rechargeable lithium batteries.
