Antinuclear

Australia’s radioactive colonialism in Malaysia, (and a test case for Southeast Asia nuclear power)

Readers of this website might wonder why I give so much attention to Lynas’ project for a rare earths processing plant in Malaysia.   After all, rare earths are supposed to be good, aren’t they?  They’re needed for wind turbines, mobile phones, electric cars etc.  And they don’t make that much radioactive waste.

But the thing is –  Lynas’ plant will be the biggest rare earths refining plant in the world.  And make a lot of radioactive wastes, and heaps of money for Australian investors.   And we like BIG.  We applaud BHP  – the Big Non -Australian because it’s going to dig the biggest man made hole in the world.

If the Lynas plant is so OK, why not put it in Australia?

The answer – radioactive colonialism.  Just as Australia has been a victim of Britain’s radioactive colonialism, in atomic bomb tests in the 1950s, and today, with our largely foreign owned uranium mines –   well, we Australians like to do our bit of radioactive colonialism, and put the nasty stuff in Malaysia.

Not In Our Backyard for radioactive wastes, as long as we can park them in Malaysia.

The nuclear industry watches this with interest. If Lynas can overcome public opinion in Malaysia, well, perhaps the nuclear lobby can do the same in Southeast Asia.

February 3, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews