Document No: RXM20172301
Publication Date: January 23, 2017
Revised Date: October 25, 2017
Hazard Awareness & Packaging Guidelines for Reactive Metals
General
Due to recent events resulting from reactive metals handling, CEI personnel and clients are being
updated regarding special packaging guidelines designed to protect the safety of our personnel, physical
assets, and customer environments. CEI’s Materials Management staff, in conjunction with guidelines
from third party disposal outlets, has approved these alternative packaging guidelines to provide for
safe storage and transportation of affected materials.
This protocol primarily impacts water reactive or potentially water reactive metals in elemental form,
although there are many compounds that are also affected.
The alkali metals are a group in the periodic table consisting of the chemical elements lithium,
sodium , potassium, rubidium, cesium and francium. This group lies in the s-block of the periodic
table as all alkali metals have their outermost electron in an s-orbital. The alkali metals provide the best
example of group trends in properties in the periodic table, with elements exhibiting well-
characterized homologous behavior.
The alkali metals have very similar properties: they are all shiny, soft, highly reactive metals at standard
temperature and pressure, and readily lose their outermost electron to form cations with charge +1.
They can all be cut easily with a knife due to their softness, exposing a shiny surface that tarnishes
rapidly in air due to oxidation. Because of their high reactivity, they must be stored under oil to prevent
reaction with air, and are found naturally only in salts and never as the free element. In the
modern IUPAC nomenclature, the alkali metals comprise the group 1 elements, excluding hydrogen (H),
which is nominally a group 1 element but not normally considered to be an alkali metal as it rarely
exhibits behavior comparable to that of the alkali metals. All the alkali metals react with water, with the
heavier alkali metals reacting more vigorously than the lighter ones.
The alkaline earth metals are beryllium, magnesium , calcium, strontium, barium, and radium. This
group lies in the s-block of the periodic table as all alkaline earth metals have their outermost electron in
an s-orbital.
The alkaline earth metals are a group of chemical elements in the periodic table with very similar
properties. They are all shiny, silvery-white, somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and
pressure and readily lose their two outermost electrons to form cations with charge 2+ and an oxidation
state, or oxidation number of +2. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, the alkaline earth metals
comprise the group 2 elements.
Hazard Awareness
Alkali Metals (CEI Group A)
All the alkali metals react vigorously or explosively with cold water, producing an aqueous solution of
the strongly basic alkali metal hydroxide and releasing hydrogen gas. This reaction becomes more