Changes in ADR-2023
The experts of the Center for Dangerous Goods took part in the meeting of the 112th session of the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP.15), held from November 8 to 11, 2022 in Geneva (Switzerland). In total, delegations of 25 States from 53 ADR countries participated in the session.
This was the last session during which the full list of amendments coming into force on January 1, 2023 was finally adopted. Recall that amendments to ADR are made not only by the WP.15 working group, but also at a joint meeting of the RID Committee of Experts, as well as by the WP.15/AC Working Group on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.1.
A feature of the agenda of this, as well as several recent sessions of the working groups, was the movement towards reducing carbon emissions. In particular, the use of electric vehicles as vehicles for the transportation of dangerous goods. The problems of production, transportation and disposal of lithium batteries were also discussed.
And this is not accidental. Europe sees the main threat in global warming. The level of the world's oceans is constantly rising, and the Netherlands, 25% of whose territory is below sea level, is the driver of the agenda here. The European Parliament even made a decision according to which, from 2035, the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines, both gasoline and diesel, will be banned in Europe. At the same time, it is expected that up to 500 thousand tons of lithium battery waste will be generated annually, the disposal of which has not yet been fully worked out.
The experts of the center "Dangerous" treat these projects with a sufficient degree of skepticism. It is not possible to make a forecast regarding the realism of Europe's plans for the transition to electric trucks at the moment. Despite the fact that the energy density of lithium batteries has doubled over the past 10 years, the growth process cannot continue indefinitely. The capacitive resource has its own physical limit, and it is unknown when it will come.
As for the safety of transportation of dangerous goods, it will not come to electric vehicles soon. WP.15 experts agreed that electric vehicles in the form in which they exist cannot be used as FL, as well as EX/III and EX/II. It does not take into account that lithium salts used in lithium-ion batteries react violently with strong acids, and they are transported in permitted AT. In the case of an acid spill incident, the consequences are unpredictable. It is quite possible that everything will be limited to classes 6.2 and 8, especially since the electrolyte of a lithium battery is already toxic and dangerous to the environment.
The webinar of the expert center "Perilous", which will be held on December 8, 2022, will be devoted to these and other changes to ADR, which will come into force from 2023. Registration is open by the link https://opasnik.ru/events/434034/