KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- Lynas Corporation Ltd''s rare earth plant
in Gebeng, Pahang, will be safe and harmless if the company follows the
recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the project,
according to two Malaysian professional bodies.
The Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and the National Professors'' Council
(NPC), in a joint report on the project, said the plant must adhere to stringent
procedures for waste management to ensure worker safety, public safety and
environmental well-being.
The 63-page report, issued here today, said the processing of rare earth
produces some by-products which do carry some low-level radioactive risks, but
such risks are manageable and there are technologies available to effectively
render the wastes harmless and safe.
ASM, an independent science and technology ''think-tank", and NPC, a body of
more than 1,500 professors from the public and private universities, initiated a
comprehensive study on rare earth and its potential contribution to the
Malaysian economy.
In the report, titled "Rare Earth Industries: Moving Malaysia''s Green
Economy Forward", they also said that Lynas Corporation would have to ensure
that there is a health scanning of plant employees as well as people working
within the immediate vicinity of the plant.
-- MORE
LYNAS-REPORT 2 KUALA LUMPUR
The report said the health scanning is to establish a baseline data on the
health of the community living and working around the plant premise.
It also suggested that the "discharge limits for toxic chemicals and heavy
metals must meet standards stipulated in the Environmental Quality Act 1974
(and) properly designed permanent storage for low-level radioactive waste must
be built to isolate gypsum residues if its beneficiation is not viable".
The plant also needs to construct an interim low-level radioactive waste
storage within the premise to accommodate waste produced in the first three
years of operation, it added.
The two professional bodies said the rare earth industry is expanding,
especially with the growing demand for green products and the global push to
embrace the green economy.
"As a result, investments in rare earth mining and processing have also
grown. Apart from China, many countries have started to seriously allocate new
investments in rare earth refining. Some have begun reviving their old rare
earth mines which were abandoned during times of low pricing," it said.
-- MORE
LYNAS-REPORT 3 KUALA LUMPUR
The report said the Lynas plant in Gebeng will be generating three types of
residues, namely Water Leach Purification (WLP) residue, Flue Gas
Desulphurisation (FGD) residue and Neutralisation Underflow (NUF) residue.
It said the WLP and NUF residues can be considered as raw materials for
other industry, for example WLP can be used as raw material in making gypsum
plaster and NUF as fertiliser.
Storage and handling of the residues can be overcome because WLP residue
contains mainly calcium sulphate, which is also known as synthetic gypsum, while
NUF residue is rich in magnesium, the report said.
Meanwhile, ASM Chief Executive Officer Dr Ahmad Ibrahim told reporters after
issuing the report that claims that the Lynas plant would emit radiation
detrimental to public health were not true. He said the risks of the Lynas
operation were manageable.
However, the company had failed to engage actively with the community in
giving a detailed explanation of the project, he said.
-- MORE
LYNAS-REPORT 4 (LAST) KUALA LUMPUR
"The Lynas management should enhance the understanding, transparency and
visibility of its regulatory actions in the eyes of the public, particularly
those actions related to inspection and enforcement of the proposed rare earth
processing facility," he said.
Dr Ahmad said the actual rare earth business was good for the future as it
led to the making of materials for the use of science and technology, including
green technology, and was a good industry for Malaysia towards achieving its
Vision 2020 of becoming a developed country.
-- BERNAMA
KNAA HK MGN
There are no comments yet