Fuziah applauds MESTECC’s decision to slap tougher licensing conditions on Lynas

By NG MIN SHEN / Pic By BERNAMA

Lynas Corp should send the 450,000 metric tonnes of radioactive waste stored at the company’s temporary storage facility in Gebeng, Pahang, to Australia, said MP Fuziah Salleh (Pakatan Harapan-Kuantan).

Fuziah, who applauded the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change’s (MESTECC) decision to slap tougher licensing conditions on Lynas, said the company should proceed with its previous application to the Australian authorities to send the radioactive waste back to Australia.

“Malaysia will no longer accept any hazardous materials or foreign rubbish onto its shore. Australia is a vast country with less people than Malaysia.

“Land use needs in Malaysia are pressing. Lynas’ Mt Weld mine pit is an ideal location for its wastes as it will need filling up to fulfil Australia’s mine decommissioning regulations,” she said in a statement yesterday.

She was “especially relieved that Lynas will have to remove its hazardous waste from Malaysia”.

The MP, who is one of the fiercest critics of the project, claimed that Lynas has generated nearly 1.8 million tonnes of waste since late 2012, stored at its Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) premises in Gebeng.

“No decent country in the world would allow its citizens and its environment to endure the risk of contamination from radionuclides and toxic substances (contained in waste produced by rare-earth processing). This is a serious public health, ecological and economic problem for Malaysia.”

But it would be a difficult task for Lynas to ship tonnes of radioactive waste like the water leached purification (WLP) residue.

International treaty like the Basel Convention aims to reduce the shipment of hazardous waste between nations, especially to poor countries.

MESTECC has instructed Lynas to remove over 450,000 metric tonnes of radioactive waste from Malaysia before future operational approvals are granted to the Australian company.

The rare-earth miner is also required to submit its disposal plans for non-radioactive scheduled waste as the government places a tongher caveat on the company to continue to operate in Malaysia.

The orders came after a review of a report presented by the Executive Review Committee on the Operations of LAMP.

The independent committee, comprising experts, was created to investigate Lynas operation in Gebeng.

The ministry said many issues were raised in the committee’s report, but the management of the waste residue from LAMP should be given priority.

The main concerns are the 451,564 metric tonnes radioactive WLP residue and the 1.113 million metric tonnes of neutralisation underflow (NUF) residue’s scheduled waste, which had been accumulated over the last six years and stored at LAMP’s temporary residue storage facility.

MESTECC is concerned about the increasing amount of accumulated residue at its open landfill temporary site as it is exposed to the threat of natural disasters such as major floods.

“The risks to the surrounding communities and environment will increase as the amount of accumulated residue grows,” the ministry said.

“For this reason, the Ministry will not allow the unlimited accumulation of residue at LAMP,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The existing temporary storage licence for the residue expires on Sept 2, 2019.

The government also noted that Lynas and Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd had each presented letters of undertaking in 2012, indicating their commitment to remove LAMP residue from Malaysia if necessary.

The current approval for the storage of scheduled wastes is valid until Feb 15, 2019. WLP is a solid waste containing naturally-occurring radioactive material with a radioactivity of 6.2 Becquerel per gram (Bq/g).

With radioactivity exceeding 1Bq/g, the management of this residue is regulated by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board, in accordance with the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 (Act 304), as well as other associated regulations.

NUF is categorised as a scheduled waste, with its management regulated by the Department of Environment in accordance to the Environmental Quality Act 1974 under Rule 9 of the Environmental Quality Regulations (Scheduled Waste) 2005.