Starting Jan. 1, airline passengers will no
longer be allowed to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage,
the U.S. Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration warned late last week.
Instead, passengers will be required to take loose batteries with them
in carry-on baggage, packed in plastic bags. The new regulation, which
will go into effect in order to lessen the risk of lithium battery
fires, won't apply to lithium batteries that are already installed in
electronic devices, such as laptops, cell phones, and cameras. Those
can be checked in.
Additionally, only two spare rechargeable lithium batteries will be allowed on airplanes per passenger in carry-on bags.
The international rule will become U.S. law on Tuesday.
"Doing something as simple as keeping a spare battery in its original
retail packaging or a plastic zip-lock bag will prevent unintentional
short-circuiting and fires," said Krista Edwards, deputy administrator
of the PHMSA, in a statement.
The administration is treating lithium batteries as hazardous
materials since they're known for overheating and catching fire in some
conditions. Tests conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration show
that aircraft cargo fire suppression systems on airplanes are incapable
of containing fires caused by nonrechargeable lithium batteries
packaged in bulk quantities.
A small fire source is enough to ignite a lithium battery. The outer
plastic coating can melt easily and fuse neighboring batteries together
to increase the intensity of the fire, according to a June 2004 report
published by the Office of Aviation Research.
In a situation where a lithium battery ignites in carry-on baggage,
flight crews can better monitor the fire since they have access to fire
extinguishers.
There have been several instances in the past year that have raised red flags about lithium batteries.
In October, a resident of Douglasville, Ga., claimed that his Apple iPod nano caught fire in his pocket. The iPod nano uses a lithium ion battery, which packs higher power density than a nickel-based battery.
Toshiba in June reported that a Sony lithium battery was responsible for a notebook computer bursting into flames. Since August 2006, Apple, Dell (Dell), Lenovo, and Toshiba have recalled lithium batteries used in notebook computers manufactured by Sony.
