The story of Lynas rare earths project in Malaysia, and its radioactive wastes problem
The IAEA also recommended that Lynas proceed no further until it had filed comprehensive plans for the permanent disposal of waste, decommissioning of the plant and remediation of the site at the end of its life.
Lynas’ waste plans a toxic pipe dream Aliran, 19 December 2012 Scientists and community leaders are concerned about radioactive waste from Lynas’ Malaysian plant but the company representative who took Wendy Bacon’s questions brushed off the criticism. This is the second of two articles about Lynas by Wendy Bacon.Read the first here.http://aliran.com/11005.html
Australian rare earth company Lynas has always known it had a waste problem. Read more »
Lynas tries to shut up critics of its rare earths processing project in Malaysia
Lynas’ waste plans a toxic pipe dream Aliran, 19 December 2012 Scientists and community leaders are concerned about radioactive waste from Lynas’ Malaysian plant but the company representative who took Wendy Bacon’s questions brushed off the criticism. This is the second of two articles about Lynas by Wendy Bacon “………Shutting down the critics
New Matilda asked to interview Lynas Executive Chairperson Nick Curtis but he was not available. Instead we interviewed a Lynas spokesperson who insists that the waste products of the Lamp project are “not hazardous in any way”. He refers to the safety record of Lynas which in “all of its constructions … has been achieved with zero lost time injury”.
When New Matilda suggested that problems are more likely to arise in the long term, even 20 or 30 years away, he replied: “I would be lying if I categorically tell you there is no risk in 20 or 30 years time from anything. What I can tell you is that the unanimous conclusion of all of the scientific experts from all of the different organisations that have investigated this material and everything else is that there will be no discernible risk for the public or anyone else from this facility.”
But this is far from true. Read more »
Contradictions in Lynas rare earths company’s plans to deal with radioactive wastes
Lynas will be in court in Malaysia on 19 December. The Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) campaignerswill be appealing against the Kuantan High Court decision to lift its stay on the company being able to exercise its rights to proceed under the temporary licence.
The toxic waste that’s not in Australia’s backyard http://aliran.com/11005.html 18 Dec 12, Australian-owned company Lynas is quietly shipping rare earth to a processing plant in Malaysia – without a firm plan in place to dispose of dangerous radioactive waste. Wendy Bacon reports.
If a manufacturing plant involving radioactive materials moved into your community, one of the first things you would ask is, “what’s going to happen to the waste?”
This is exactly how residents of Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast reacted when the Australian company Lynas announced plans to build Lamp, the world’s biggest rare earth processing plant in their area.
Several years later, they have no clear answer. Indeed last week, while the plant that will use concentrate imported from Lynas’s rare earth mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia was finally ramping up for production, the Malaysian government and the company were in direct conflict about what would happen to the waste. Read more »
Radiation problems of wastes from Lynas rare earths reprocessing plant
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012 Swipenter: Spending another RM2 million to install two units of radioactive detecting machinery is “unnecessary” expenditure. That is one callous and contemptous attitude towards the safety of Malaysians.
An Old Malaysian: The raw materials imported are not a danger to us due to the very low concentration of the radioactive elements.
However, if the raw materials are processed and the waste radioactive elements are being concentrated, they will become a threat to the environment, humans, animals, etc.
The danger is from the gamma radiation emitted by these radioactive elements. If in low concentration and exposure time is short, gamma radiation will be low and will not be harmful to us (for example, X-ray) but if the radioactive elements concentration is high (for example, Lynas waste products) they will be hazardous to all of us and the environment.
Why are the two radioactive detection monitoring systems – installed at Lamp and at the Kuantan police station – valued at RM2 million?
A Geiger-Mueller radiation detector will tell you if there is radiation emitted from the raw material.http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/216281
Determined opposition in Malaysia to Lynas rare earths processing project
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said his alliance would seek an emergency motion in Parliament to urge the government to cancel the project. He also pledged the opposition would scrap the plant if it wins national polls expected by June.
Malaysia’s last rare earth refinery by Japan’s Mitsubishi group, in northern Perak state, was closed in 1992 following protests and claims that it caused birth defects and leukemia among residents. It is one of Asia’s largest radioactive waste cleanup sites.
3,000 Malaysians rally against Australian-built rare earth plant amid radiation fears Washington Post, By Associated Press, February 25 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Some 3,000 Malaysians staged a protest Sunday against a rare earth refinery being built by Australian miner Lynas over fears of radioactive contamination.
It marked the largest rally against the $230 million plant in eastern Malaysia, and could pose a headache to the government ahead of national elections widely expected this year. Authorities recently granted Lynas a license to operate the first rare earths plant outside China in years. The plant in Pahang state has been the subject of heated protests over health and environmental risks posed by potential leaks of radioactive waste…..
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said his alliance would seek an emergency motion in Parliament to urge the government to cancel the project. He also pledged the opposition would scrap the plant if it wins national polls expected by June. Read more »
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