Lynas whitewashing refinery safety concerns, says Fuziah

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — PKR’s Fuziah Salleh has accused Lynas Corp of whitewashing safety concerns of its planned refinery in Kuantan by claiming there is a “concerted political campaign” against the plant’s construction,

The Australian miner’s boss, Nicholas Curtis, attributed persistent opposition to the rare earths plant as a political campaign, saying last week it was based on “misinformation”, and “is sabotaging the science-based, regulatory process established in Malaysia and confidence in that process.”

Curtis further claimed the persistent scare tactic was hurting not only its project but Malaysia’s draw as an investment hub.

In response, Fuziah (picture) accused the Lynas Corp head of “deviating” from the real issue of safety, saying that a simple comparative study showed the Lynas refinery did not support any form of “sustainable development.”

“They are not addressing concerns of safety, whitewashing safety concerns, silent about safety issues.

“They have only addressed radiation aspects, external radiation… they are narrow-minded in terms of perspective of radiation,” the PKR vice-president told The Malaysian Insider.

Fuziah said comparing the planned Lynas plant in Gebeng, Pahang, the Molycorp rare earths plant in Mt Pass, California, the Arafura plant in Whyalla, Southern Australia and Ashton in Australia showed “alarming stark contrasts.”

Unlike the Lynas plant, the other three refineries’ radioactive wastes are sent back to the respective mines.

“Lynas has no concrete radioactive waste management plan. Lynas claims it can store its waste onsite forever.

“It also claims to have completed research to commercialise the radioactive waste from the various waste streams,” said Fuziah.

The Lynas plant, she added, would have 500 tonnes of liquid discharge per hour channelled into the Balok River.

Comparatively, Molycorp and Arafura had “zero liquid discharges”, explained Fuziah.

“For Ashton, an estimated 10 per cent will leach into the ground.”

“He (Curtis) is patronising by saying that opposition to the plant will hurt Malaysia’s investment.

“Just because you bring in revenue, it does not mean you can tell us what to do,” she said.

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Lynas whitewashing refinery safety concerns, says Fuziah
April 16, 2012 – TMI

Himpunan Hijau 3.0 a matter of ‘life and death’, says anti-Lynas lobby

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Himpunan Hijau today defended its decision to hold its third rally the same day as electoral reform group Bersih 2.0, saying that a “massive” gathering was needed to convince the government to reject Lynas Corp’s refinery in Gebeng, Pahang.

The group said today that it’s planned April 28 rally was necessitated by the fact that the rare earths plant would be ready its operations soon, despite “nationwide” opposition by environmentalists and political parties.

Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack (picture) said the group had no choice but to take their grouses to the streets of Kuala Lumpur on April 28 as their views have fallen on deaf ears.

“I think this is a matter of life and death. We have had enough of engagement, of talking. We are running out of time.

“It is not fair to subject people to this (Lynas plant), our decision is final, we want the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) to kick Lynas out of Malaysia,” he told reporters here.

Himpunan Hijau said earlier this week it will join Bersih 2.0’s rally for free and fair elections this April 28 in the hope that this would further pressure the government to stop Lynas Corporation’s rare earth project in Kuantan.

This will be Himpunan Hijau’s third public protest to date, and it is expected to draw an even larger crowd than the first two, which were held in Kuantan on October 9, 2011, and February 26, 2012.

“On April 28, 2012 there will be two separate events, Himpunan Hijau 3.0 and Bersih 3.0. Both movements champion two different critical issues in this nation but with one common goal, that is to leave a better legacy and future for our next generation,” added Wong.

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Himpunan Hijau 3.0 a matter of ‘life and death’, says anti-Lynas lobby
April 07, 2012 – TMI

Lynas Corporation for dummies (and Australians)

…
This story involves a three way trade battle between Australia, Malaysia and China.

Most importantly, this story may involve a change of government in Malaysia– for the first time in 50 years.

Dear Australians,

Let me tell you about a company called Lynas.

Lynas is a mining company based out of Sydney. Their main mining tenement is at Mt. Weld, Western Australia, just 30km north of Laverton.

Their business model consists of digging these rare earth ores from the ground at Mt. Weld, processing them up a bit at Laverton and then trucking them to Fremantle before shipping them off to Kuantan on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsular. In Kuantan, they will further process their rare earth ore into rare earth oxides. Then they will make billions selling these oxides to buyers in America, Japan, France and China.

Your view of Lynas largely swings on your view of why Lynas made the decision to process these minerals inMalaysia rather than Australia.

It’s about the money!

It is cheaper for Lynas to operate in Malaysia than in Australia. Lynas knows that they will make more money for their shareholders if they operate in Malaysia rather than in Australia. Furthermore, Malaysia has a particular comparative advantage.

The disagreement between Lynas and those that oppose them stems from the source of this comparative advantage.

Lynas states that they built their Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Kuantan because of the availability of cheap skilled and unskilled labour, chemicals and fresh water. This may all be true, but it seems fanciful to me that this would be the main motivating factor for putting this plant in Malaysia rather than in Australia.

To understand why Malaysia is such an attractive destination for Lynas, one has to understand some important differences between Australia and Malaysia – beyond the difference in the cost of inputs.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the ruling party in Malaysia has ruled for over fifty years. Nominally democratic, elections in Malaysia are ugly affairs, routinely tarnished by allegations of vote rigging, voter intimidation and strict control of the media by the Government among many other issues.

This is where Malaysia’s actual comparative advantage lies in heavy industries such as the processing of rare earth.

Without question, the processing of rare earth pollutes. Massive quantities of super heated sulphuric acid are required to separate the rare earth elements from the rubbish elements they are found with under the ground.

In California, rare earth miner Molycorp was shut down in the late 1990′s after it was found out by government regulators that tons of radioactive tailings spilled out into the California desert many times over a number of years.

In the northern region of China, rare earth processing has done untold damage to the livelihood of farmers and local residents. Much of the truth of what has happened in China will probably never be told.

In Malaysia itself, Japanese company Mitsubishi processed rare earth in the 1980′s and early 1990′s. Their shoddy operation is believed by public health experts to have done untold damage to a whole generation of Malaysian children in the area, some born with shocking birth defects and others contracting childhood leukaemia at five times the national average.

It is hard to think of an industry in more desperate need of democratic oversight. The rare earth industry needs to be monitored by bodies that source their authority from the very people that stand to lose the most if things go wrong.

The Malaysian Government does not represent the people of Malaysia. They represent the vested interests of big business. They represent the 1% of Malaysians that can afford to flee the country should it ever become necessary.

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Lynas Corporation for dummies (and Australians)
by Ryan Albrey
March 30th, 2012 – New Mandala

Anti-Lynas lobby tells Putrajaya to ‘learn lesson’ from Perak death

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The federal government must learn from the mistakes of the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in Bukit Merah, Ipoh, those leading protests against Lynas Corp’s rare earth refinery in Kuantan said today after an ARE worker’s son died last night.

They told The Malaysian Insider the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration must “stop gambling with people’s lives” after the death of Cheah Kok Leong, whose mother Lai Kwan blames congenital defects he was born with 30 years ago on radiation exposure from working at the plant while she was pregnant with him.

“How many more lives must we lose before Putrajaya learns its lesson?” said Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who has led protests against Australian miner Lynas’s RM2.3 billion project there.

“I will do my best, so that not even one family will have to go through the same kind of suffering as Lai Kwan in Kuantan, STOP LYNAS!!” the PKR vice president added on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Save Malaysia Stop Lynas chairman Tan Bun Teet also said it was “sad that politicians are making decisions that capitalise on the forgetfulness of others.”

“Lai Kwan’s 30 years of suffering and other deaths in Bukit Merah, although not proven to be a direct result of ARE, should convince the government to show more prudence and care,” said the leader of the group of Kuantan residents opposed to the plant that has raised fears of radiation pollution.

The 11,000-strong Bukit Merah community blames the ARE plant for birth defects and eight leukaemia cases in the last five years, seven of which were fatal.

But radiation regulator Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) has said it was unlikely that Lai’s child was born with mental defects because of her exposure to radiation, explaining that nerve tissue is the most resistant to radiation.

DAP MP Fong Po Kuan said that in her emergency motion on reports of unsafe radiation in the area that was debated in Parliament last week, she had called on the government “not to make the same mistake in Gebeng as it did in Bukit Merah in 1983.”

Fong’s Batu Gajah constituency includes Bukit Merah

“The issue is simple: stop Lynas and stop gambling with people’s lives,” she added.

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Anti-Lynas lobby tells Putrajaya to ‘learn lesson’ from Perak death
March 30, 2012 – TMI

My Lynas concerns

My questions and concerns about the Lynas project to both the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is: Why is the development of this particular rare earths plant of such a strategic interest to Malaysia, in the light of the failed Bukit Merah project?

What kind of real or new high-skilled employment is actually generated by the project that it qualifies for a pioneer status of 12 years?

What really is the value add for Malaysian strategic interests, other than the obvious rent-seeking behaviour of local partners; cronies, or otherwise? Does a deputy minister’s brother really have a stake in this project? Why are the Australian owners dumping their rejected project and residuals into Malaysia?

No one really questions the demand or marketability of the final outputs; but, the most serious questions remains the waste generated; and my question is, why in Malaysia, and why in Kuantan?

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My Lynas concerns
KJ John
Apr 3, 2012 – Malaysiakini

Excessive radiation in Bukit Merah even after 18 years

Radiation around the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in Bukit Merah and its permanent waste dumping site at Bukit Kledang, both in Perak, is still at a hazardous level after the factory closed 18 years ago.

This disturbing finding was recorded by anti-Lynas group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) during a fact-finding visit to Perak over the weekend.

According to SMSL chairperson Tan Bun Teet (right), his members armed with radiation reading devices were not allowed to enter the plant and dumping sites, but the radiation readings around both locations showed worrying results.

The reading near the plant site was around 0.19 microsievert per hour while the reading near the dumping site stood at about 0.2 microsievert per hour.

Both readings, if extrapolated to annual basis, are beyond the safe level of 1 milisievert per year as advised by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), claimed Tan.

The average background reading of Malaysia is 0.05 microsievert per hour.

“It is regrettable that within the 1.7km buffer zone of the dumping site, we still found fish breeding, animal and vegetable farming activities (left),” said Tan.

However, AELB earlier claimed that the plant site has been decontaminated with radiation levels dropping from 0.65 microsievert per hour to 0.17 microsievert per hour, which is safe for human activities.

The board also claimed that it had requested the authorities to move illegal farms and squatters living within the buffer zone around the waste dump site.

The ARE plant run by Japanese company Mitsubishi Chemicals from the 1980s to the early 1990s, is blamed for spreading radiation poisoning in Bukit Merah due to alleged poor management of radioactive waste generated from processing tin tailings to extract rare earth.

The aftermath of the factory’s operations has been one of the largest radioactive waste clean-ups in Asia, with a permanent dumping site set up at the foot of nearby Bukit Kledang.

…more
Excessive radiation in Bukit Merah even after 18 years
Mar 20, 2012 – Malaysiakini

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

Who is responsible for the death of Cheah Kok Leong, the son of a worker at the rare earth plant in Bukit Merah who died last night?

Who is responsible for the pain and suffering his mother has to endure for 29 years taking care of a child born with congenital defects?

Who is responsible for the deaths of seven leukaemia victims in Bukit Merah?

Who is responsible for the severe birth defects, lead poisoning, congenital diseases and infant deaths in Bukit Merah?

Who is responsible for the radioactive contamination which requires a RM300 million cleanup that continues until today – 30 years later?

It is the BN govt!

It is the BN govt that allowed the rare earth plant to operate in Bukit Merah despite the people’s objections.

It is the BN govt that continues to give priority to business profits over the health of its citizens in allowing Lynas to go ahead despite the people’s objections!

It is the BN govt that is deaf to the people’s voices against these deadly rare earth plants.

STOP LYNAS NOW! STOP BN NOW!

Stop Lynas! Stop BN!

Perak rare earth worker’s son dies, piles pressure on Lynas

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Cheah Kok Leong, the son of a worker at the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in Bukit Merah, Ipoh, died last night, 30 years after being born with congenital defects his mother blamed on radioactive exposure.

His mother, Lai Kwan, had claimed she was pregnant with Cheah when working at the plant which was shuttered in 1992 due to public pressure over claims of radiation poisoning.

File photo of people in Kuantan signing a banner protesting against the building of the Lynas rare earths plant in Gebeng.
Dr Jayabalan A. Thambyappa, a toxicologist who worked with Bukit Merah residents after they blamed the refinery for birth defects and eight leukaemia cases within five years, confirmed the death when contacted by The Malaysian Insider this morning.

Seven of the leukaemia victims in the community of 11,000 have also died.

But radiation regulator Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) has said it is unlikely that Lai’s child was born mentally retarded because of her exposure to radiation as nerve tissue is the most resistant to radiation.

Although there is no concrete proof that the plant, which is still undergoing a RM300 million cleanup exercise, contributed to Cheah’s condition, his death will likely add fuel to protests against another rare earths plant being built in Kuantan.

Lynas Corp has insisted its RM2.3 billion plant is safe with only low-level radiation waste being produced that the Australian miner says it will recycle into commercial products.

The project was on course for approval until the New York Times highlighted it a year ago, using the ARE plant as a cautionary tale.

The newspaper’s March 9, 2011 edition zeroed in on Lai’s story of how she decided to take up a better-paying job in the refinery.

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Perak rare earth worker’s son dies, piles pressure on Lynas
March 30, 2012 – TMI

Let’s de-politicise the Lynas issue

MARCH 21 — The majority of us anti-Lynas people feel offended by the government’s unending insistence the issue is politicised. We feel belittled by a government that does not see us rakyat as capable of thinking for ourselves, and so easily hoodwinked by the opposition.

They insist on talking facts, which came to mean solely the IAEA review report, but completely ignored all other dissenting opinions, even if these dissenting opinions are voiced by esteemed professional bodies such as the Bar Council and the Malaysian Medical Association. Perhaps, their members are somehow misled too.

These opinions are raised over time in published articles and public feedback and they have either been poorly addressed, or completely ignored. I hope to raise 3 main ones in this article and request that the government gives them befitting consideration so that we can de-politicise this Lynas issue.

a) The radiation risk is greater than what Lynas and the Malaysian government are willing to admit

The radiation safety aspect of LAMP is legitimised by the IAEA’s review. However, increasing number of scientific literature points to a strong possibility that the IAEA model may have underestimated the risk of internal emitters, which are radioactive sources that are inhaled or ingested. This hypothesis is not merely based on correlation type studies, but is backed with sound scientific reasoning.

Thorium accumulates in the body. According to the “Radiological and Chemical Fact Sheets to Support Health Risk Analyses for Contamination”, about 0.02 per cent to 0.05 per cent of ingested thorium is dissolved in the bloodstream, and subsequently deposited mainly in the bones where the radioactive source becomes embedded within the bone tissue for a few decades . We are unsure exactly how much the body retains thorium from inhalation, but we know that “thorium is taken up in the body much more readily if inhaled rather than ingested”. True enough, the Radiological Risk Coefficient from inhalation is 450 times greater than that of ingestion [1].

Therefore if significant embedment of thorium is expected, the competing theory against IAEA’s ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) model, the ECRR (European Committee on Radiation Risk) model must be considered because it takes into account the effects of thorium retention in the body. ECRR proponents reasonably believe that the ICRP formulation is wrong to dilute the radiation exposure from internal sources to the whole body, instead of confining it to the surrounding tissue only. So, the ECRR contends that the ICRP model has underestimated the real risk of low-level radiation.

In an email exchange between Lynas’ Radiological Safety Officer Nick Tsurikov and the editor for ECRR Chris Busby, Chris Busby suggested that the risk from internal thorium exposure should be 100 times greater than what IAEA says it is [2]. The fact is, there is much uncertainty over the actual risk of low-level radiation within the scientific community. It is foolish for the Malaysian government to ignore the possibility that the ECRR might be right.

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Let’s de-politicise the Lynas issue — Stop Lynas Coalition
March 21, 2012 – TMI

The pointless Lynas PSC

MARCH 18 — Finally, the Prime Minister has come clean on something — last night he said that the parliamentary select committee on Lynas will not have the final say on the project.

Thank you, Najib Razak for this rare piece of honesty because now I will urge the Opposition and fair-minded Malaysians to boycott this committee and see it for what it really is: a public relations exercise by a government which is big on symbolism and gimmicks and nothing else.

According to Najib, the committee is supposed to engage the public and allay their fears about a project which has raised concerns about toxic waste and waste management.

Here is where the duplicity of the government shines through: they have given Lynas a temporary operating licence, have allowed the Australian company to build a plant, given them 12 years tax holiday, have rubbished fears from PKR’s Fuziah Salleh, have given the anti-Lynas movement almost no coverage in the media and have allowed the Atomic Energy Licensing Board to become a partisan outfit and now they want to have a process of consultation.

This is like a parent punishing a child for allegedly playing truant and then asking later if the child actually did play truant.

Najib is not serious about Lynas. He wasn’t serious about justice for Teoh Beng Hock. He wasn’t serious about tackling the National Feedlot Corporation. He certainly is not serious about finding where the money went in the Port Klang Free Trade Zone.

It is all about closure, about being able to tell the voters that his government did something. Not the right thing, mind you. Just something.

…source
The pointless Lynas PSC — Lucius Goon
March 18, 2012 – TMI