The Truth About Lynas – Part 2

Published On February 26, 2012 | latest

By:  Melinda Mazhar

FACTS AND FALLACIES OF LYNAS – PART 2

Allegations by Oppositions:

 

 Facts:

 
Lynas brings no benefits to Malaysia and Kuantan FDI value of RM2.3 billion with annual OPEX of RM600 million.  Total contracts for Malaysian contractors is RM1,168 million of which RM513 million is for Kuantan contractors.

Employment opportunities with Lynas stands at 350 direct employees, 300 contract staff and 1000 indirect employees through supporting industries.

Potential downstream industry, Siemen – Lynas JV employment for 1200.
The residue will be stored permanently at the site. No residue will be stored permanently on-site.  Even though the RSF is a temporary storage facility it was designed and built to international standards of permanent storage facility.
Lunas produce 32000 ton of WLP per year with 0.165% Thorium ie. 50 ton of Thorium per year. Lynas operation is neither extracting nor concentrating the thorium content.  Although the volume is large the concentration remains the same.
Lynas declares the residue as non-radioactive based on China standard of 74 bq/g Lynas has declared to the AELB that its raw material and WLP contain low level naturally occurring radionuclides, from the very beginning.  Lynas has and will comply to Malaysia and international safety standards.
Australia requires waste to be returned to mine. No such law in Australia.  Waste will be stored in accordance with Malaysia’s regulatory requirements.
Lynas Malaysia is managed by Australians. Lynas Malaysia is fully manned and managed by Malaysians with five rare Earth experts from China and India.
Additional Information:

Beneficiating WLP Residue

 

Lynas started R&D to commercialize the application of WLP residue since 2009, with international and national organizations.  Eg. ENTECH (Australia) – ANSTO, SGS, Lakefield Ore Test (Australia), Australia Radiological Services (ARS), HAZMAT Service Pte Ltd. (Australia), IKRM, Physialia (UK), SIRIM.

 

Lynas has successfully:

-          established a method to reduce the radioactivity concentration from 6Bq/g to below the 1Bq/g (limit set by AELB)

-          Made WLP non leachable and non toxic

a.       has successfully treated WLP residue with chemical immobilizer and stabilizer.

b.      toxicocity testing involved EC50 Dafnia sp acute immobilization test.

Commercial application:

-          To be used as hard-core based for road construction and car park (this is also recommended by the UK’s Health Protection Agency)

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  • zombie

    I totally agree with your opinions but I am not convinced by the contractors who have been building this refinery. 

  • Wafi360

    love your details information keep it up, it sad too see my fellow students n countryman being used as a tools by the oppositions, again, and again, and again, fuhhh

    • Ak030114

      Ya..why not u move in there..since ur such a supporter ..

  • Shut

    Move there work there eat there ahit there….. since u so supportive

  • Lee123

    yeah. jom bikin more LYnas plant kat cyberjaya n putrajaya…

    semoga semoa warga cyberjaya & putrajaya mutate jadi ultramani sokong BN x-men 
    wakaka

  • Lee123

    why insist LYnas kat m’sia ?

    siapa dapat habuan ?

    • mahathir2hell

      Ini anak mahathir punye projek.

  • we love our health

    writer is moron,just ignored dis article…let writer taste d effect of lynas den he/she wil only noe…kena sekali baru tau padah…

  • Seanwsj

    Melinda Mazhar, despite all the points you raised, the best and only way to clear the public’s doubts and opposition against Lyna is to pack your stuff, bring them together with your family members and stay at the area adjacent to your ‘simple, honest chemical’ plant for at least 10 years. The nearer would be the better as to prove your statement in your Part 1 article which is “The distance is not a requirement” is correct. You are just like other BN politicians who keep categorizing the opposition parties as irresponsible and claiming Lynas is safe by providing SELECTIVE scientific facts. In fact, besides you, I guarantee Najib, Chua Soi Lek and other BN members do not have the guts to shift to the area! If my point is true, I urge you to keep yourself in silence!

  • Ljk25

    Lets review the facts:

    1. Economic benefits, FDI and most contractors are one time investment mostly into plant facility and structure. Not recurring. The annual RM600mil OPEX is good, but lets offset it with destroying the local tourism industry, so knock off a few hundred more of job vacancy in that industry. And don’t forget the 12 years of tax free status, plus risk of health and long term contamination. Not so much a benefit as I see it.

    2. If there’s no permanent storage, why is PDF a must to get TOL? And in any industries, there is waste produce. Even our restaurant produce waste paper bag. If Lynas claims ALL residues will be commercialized, recycled and reused, well now.. Big cooperation has a long history of telling half truth, who is going to ensure this is the truth and no mishap will happen?
    3. And as for the rest of the technical claim.. lets face it, you and I are not the expert in that subject. But think rationally again, why would Lynas have to be forced to come here? Now before you start mentioning the cheaper cost argument again, lets see why it is cheaper here. High caliber workers are high paid everywhere, out of the 650 workers, how many are blue collar? Any cheaper in HR cost can be easily cancel out with the high transportation cost. I firmly believed the only reason its cheaper here is that we have lax regulation here in compare with Australia.I think the bottom line is that, with our history of of long string of mishap and our government tradition of no one taking up responsibility and be accountable, the people simply do not believe in whatever government so call expert and regulation agency. So here I am very firmly saying this, I do not want Lynas to be here, it is economically not viable, potential health hazards, and to all those who back this project, well put your money to where you mouth is, are you willing to be accountable and held responsible for any potential risk? If not, do keep your mouth shut.

  • Ljk25

    Oh and one more thing. WLP is radioactive. Even if its naturally occurs, don’t you think stock piling it into a single location will cause problem? If natural radiation exposure is like smoking 1 cigarette a day, this would be like smoking 100 cigarette.. that is why they need a PDF to store it. And did I mention PDF is only good for 300 years? In 300 years, where is Lynas? So right now, you are selling your next generation for a few quick bucks. Ponder on this will you?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/OXY3WBW5OGVLCN3VCVNNSVRKDU rahim

    To all the ignorance selfish hypocrite anti-Lynas supporters, do you aware that the soil you stand on, every square mile * 1 foot deep, there is average about 12000kg of Thorium-232, where the radioactivity is about 52 GigaBq? 

    So? Take your foot away from the ground, grow wings and fly in the sky? Do you know the sky has average of 14 Bq/m3 of Radon-222? Radon is the 2nd cause of lung cancer in certain countries? 

    Stay in your home all the time? Filter every entrance/small holes of your house? Do you know that cement that build your home contains 21 mBq/g of Thorium? Limestone concrete and sandstone concrete both contain 8 mBq/g of Thorium? 

    No cement, no concrete? Want to live in house made of wood? Do you know that wood contains 3 Bq/g of Potassium?

    Where you want to hide on this planet if you so worry of radiation? Build a thick plastic wall chamber to live inside? Do you know that most of the vegetables and fruits that you eat daily contains radioactive element, because they absorbed mineral from the soil? 

    Banana contains 37 mBq/kg of Radium-226 and 130 Bq/kg of Potassium-40. 
    Carrot contains 74 mBq/kg max of  Radium-226 and 125 Bq/kg of Potassium-40.
    Potatoes contains 92 mBq/kg max of Radium-226 and 125 Bq/kg of Potassium-40.
    Red Meat contains 18 mBq/kg of Radium-226 and 111 Bq/kg of Potassium-40.
    Even Beer contains 14 Bq/kg of Potassium-40.

    Do you know that Radium-226 is actually more dangerous than Thorium because the shorter half life of 1600 years?

    Plan to only drink water and fasting through the rest of your life? Do you know that inside every adult body contains average 30 micro-gram of Thorium and intake 3 micro-gram of Thorium daily?

    Do you know that every second inside your body 4000 Potassium-40, 1000 Uranium, 1000 Radium is decaying? Do you know that Thorium only decay at the speed of 9.1 second per 1 Thorium inside your body?

    And you so worry of the Lynas waste of 6 Bq/g will kill you? You would have been long dead even before Lynas starts production!

    Do not believe me? All the facts are either in a nuclear physic book or internet. Go check yourself.

    Please stop embarrassing yourself and your country!