Australian govt silent on Lynas dumping radioactive waste in Malaysia
“Mitsubishi took advantage of the non-existence of authorities checking licencing facilities of this nature in Malaysia,” …… “Lynas has a similar modus operandi. It would not be cost-effective to produce in Australia, and more importantly there is lax enforcement in Malaysia and so Lynas is able to operate here…..”The Australian government is silent knowing full well that the rare earth ore will be brought from Mount Weld in Australia to be processed in Gebeng and the finished products will be exported overseas while the radioactive waste dumped in Gebeng,”
Down To Rare Earths Newmatilda.com, 20 May 11, “………Why are the residents so concerned? The process of rare earth refinery has radioactive by-products, including thorium — which is why Lynas can’t process the mineral closer to the mine in Australia. Residents are concerned about the cost to the environment and to the health of citizens of dumping huge amounts of radioactive waste. According to Friends of the Earth, a full environmental assessment for the site has not yet beenreleased…..
“It is all about trade,” toxicologist and public health expert Dr T. Jayabalan told New Matilda, adding that public health and community well-being has never been in the equation. He said the Lynas project resembled the Asian Rare Earth plant operated by Mitsubishi in the Malaysian town of Bukit Merah, near Ipoh — which is still undergoing a massive $100 million clean up project.
The storage of thorium was banned by the Japanese government in 1971. So when Mitsubishi was looking for a site to refine rare earths, it had to look overseas. It started operations in Bukit Merah in the early 1980s with with a few Malaysian partners.
“Mitsubishi took advantage of the non-existence of authorities checking licencing facilities of this nature in Malaysia,” said Jayabalan. “Lynas has a similar modus operandi. It would not be cost-effective to produce in Australia, and more importantly there is lax enforcement in Malaysia and so Lynas is able to operate here.
“The Australian government is silent knowing full well that the rare earth ore will be brought from Mount Weld in Australia to be processed in Gebeng and the finished products will be exported overseas while the radioactive waste dumped in Gebeng,” he added.
Bukit Merah is now the site of what may be one of Asia’s largest toxic waste clean-ups, thanks to a factory that produced an average of 2000 tonnes of radioactive waste annually in the course of its operations. The Lynas Advanced Material Plant will, it is projected, produce 20,000 tonnes of radioactive waste a year. This means the plant will be producing 10 times more than the factory that was closed down 20 years ago.
Lynas has invested over $200 million in the plant, which it intends to complete by September this year. A March update on the progress of the refinery works posted by Lynas didn’t mention local opposition. The company projects the plant will generate some $2.4 billion in annual revenue by 2013…http://newmatilda.com/2011/05/20/down-rare-earths
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
The thorium laced ore safe transport is safe, until there is an accident. Accidents happen. Chernobyl, Fukushima, 3 Mile Island, USA, Sellafield UK, Brazil, Germany, France etc.
Storage of waste ores is not discussed here. Malaysian Govt said only temporary on-site storage. Lynas said no, permanently on site. Does Lynas think it is running the M Govt. just because they may have paid-off a few Pahang State officials?
Then there are the gases and the waste water. China’s rare earth industry each year produces more than five times the amount of waste gas, (including deadly fluorine, radio-active radon, and sulfur dioxide), than the total flared annually by all miners and oil refiners in the U.S. Alongside that 13 billion cubic meters of gas comes 25 million tons of waste water laced with cancer-causing, DNA damaging heavy metals such as cadmium.
Then there is the uranium-laced REE ore to be imported from Lynas Malawi mines.
To all this the Medical Assn. of Mlaysia has said NO WAY. NO enviromental nor healths studies were done.
Our team have all dumped all their Lynas sharee and bought Stans Energy Corp. of Canada, who will later this year re-open in Kyrgystan the massive Soviert-era REE refinery. Google Byron King Kyrgystan REE.
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