Class 7 — Radioactive material
Material with a specific activity above the exempt values in 49 CFR 173.436.
What actually falls under Radioactive material
Class 7 covers material whose specific activity exceeds the exempt values set out in the table at 49 CFR 173.436 — a threshold specifically designed to exclude the trace radioactive content found in some smoke detectors, certain ceramic glazes, and vintage luminous-dial instruments from regulation entirely. That design is why this class has essentially no footprint in consumer e-commerce: legitimately regulated radioactive material (medical isotopes, industrial gauges, certain research reagents) moves through specialist radioactive-materials logistics with dedicated licensing, not a marketplace listing, and every parcel carrier referenced on this site treats the class as review-required or outright prohibited. A product a seller suspects might be Class 7 — most often an antique instrument with a luminous dial — is almost always below the exempt activity threshold and not regulated at all, but that determination requires an actual activity measurement, not a guess from the product's age or appearance.
Carrier acceptance
The published default for this class. A UN-specific rule can override it — lithium batteries and dry ice are both Class 9 and are treated quite differently.
| Carrier | Ground | Air | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | review required | review required | Radioactive material only under a specific radioactive-materials agreement. |
| FedEx | review required | review required | Radioactive material only under a FedEx radioactive-materials approval. |
| USPS | prohibited | prohibited | Radioactive material is non-mailable other than a narrow set of excepted-quantity articles. |
| Amazon FBA | prohibited | prohibited | Radioactive material is not accepted. |
Carrier positions encode each carrier's published default as of the ruleset date. Tariffs change more often than regulations, and a contracted shipper may hold different terms — confirm against the carrier's current guide before the first shipment of a new item.
Encoded entries (0)
No entries in this class are encoded yet. The table covers the substances that appear in commercial parcel and e-commerce shipping; a classification request that lands here returns needs_review rather than a guess.
Classify a specific product in this class
The class alone does not give you a shipping paper. Send the actual product to POST /api/classify and you get the UN number, the proper shipping name, the packing group and every carrier position for that specific item.
Carrier rules for this class
Each carrier page sets out its ground and air position for all nine classes.
Other hazard classes
- Class 1 — Explosives
- Division 2.1 — Flammable gas
- Division 2.2 — Non-flammable, non-toxic gas
- Division 2.3 — Toxic gas
- Class 3 — Flammable liquids
- Division 4.1 — Flammable solids
- Division 4.2 — Spontaneously combustible
- Division 4.3 — Dangerous when wet
- Division 5.1 — Oxidizers
- Division 5.2 — Organic peroxides
- Division 6.1 — Toxic substances
- Division 6.2 — Infectious substances
- Class 8 — Corrosives
- Class 9 — Miscellaneous
Guides
Questions
- What is Class 7 — Radioactive material?
- Material with a specific activity above the exempt values in 49 CFR 173.436.
- Does Class 7 — Radioactive material have a packing group?
- No. Entries in this class carry no packing group; the class or division alone determines the packaging and labelling requirements. Assigning a packing group here is a common error on shipping papers.
- Can I ship Class 7 — Radioactive material by air?
- UPS: review required; FedEx: review required; USPS: prohibited; Amazon FBA: prohibited. These are published carrier defaults, not regulatory limits — a contracted shipper may hold different terms, and the regulation may permit what the carrier declines.