WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
A semi truck carrying six, 75,000 lb industrial-scale lithium metal batteries, inside a freight container tipped over, stranding passengers and shutting down I-15 for two days. This, all the while, spewing toxic chlorine, hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide plumes onto the interstate, as the State of California’s resources were brought to bear on how to extinguish and remove the smoldering wreck.
Monumentally large electric power storage units are increasingly being manufactured by the thousands in new gigafactories. They are increasingly used to provide power in emergencies, ‘‘off-grid’’ and to fortify private and public utility power.
So to aid in these thermal runaway emergencies, DOT proposed in a February 10, 2026 federal register, among other refinements, to update the emergency response information for lithium batteries transported as ‘‘UN3536, Lithium batteries installed in cargo transport unit lithium ion batteries or lithium metal batteries’’. A new Special Provision 389, would require additional emergency response information for handling incidents, as lithium ion batteries may reignite hours or even days after the initial incident.
In the meantime, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking additional comments on the use and types of lithium batteries transported using the UN3536 entry.
If the proposed rule is finalized, get ready for new shipping description entries and transport provisions. Among other things, it addresses the increased use of sodium as an alternative to harder sourced lithium. Sodium ion batteries can be discharged down to 0% charge without degradation.
DOT is proposing to add a definition of Sodium ion cell or battery in Section 172.8 which will mean “a rechargeable electrochemical system, where the positive and negative electrodes are both intercalation or insertion compounds with no metallic sodium (or sodium alloy) in either electrode, and with an organic nonaqueous compound as electrolyte.”
Prepare for three new Class 9 Miscellaneous Hazardous Materials shipping descriptions for sodium ion batteries in Section 172.101 the Hazardous Materials Table, including classification, packaging provisions and exceptions for them in Section 173.185.
The comment period for this proposed rule ends on April 15, 2026.
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BE SAFE!
Robert J. Keegan
Publisher/President
Hazardous Materials Publishing Company
Transportation Skills Programs
www.hazmat-tsp.com
Hazmat.tsp@gmail.com