Panel: Waste won’t be 100% radiation-free

Malaysiakini | Jun 1, 11

The international expert panel reviewing the controversial Lynas rare earth plant has conceded that the waste produced from the plant cannot be 100 percent radiation-free.

Based on Malaysian Medical Association’s (MMA) notes of the panel’s hearing yesterday, a panelist said that it was “very unlikely” to achieve zero thorium or uranium – both radioactive elements – in the waste produced.

This was the response to the MMA delegation’s question on the veracity of Lynas’ claims that the neutralised underflow residue (magnesium rich gypsum) and fuel gas desulphurisation residue (synthetic gypsum) have zero thorium or uranium.

To another question posed by MMA, a panelist replied that it was impossible to ensure that the radioactive content of the two elements would be 100 percent neutralised.

“There are processes to reduce the radioactive content – we hope for 99 percent efficiency but it will never be 100 percent,” said the panelist, according to the MMA report.

During the closed-door hearing, the MMA delegation also pointed out that numerous studies have shown that rare earth refineries in China, United States and Malaysia have had a negative impact on the environment.

Was there ever a ‘safe’ rare earth plant?

Asked if the panel could furnish any evidence of a “safe” rare earth refinery, the reply was that no such data was available.

“It is not easy to do a study on the impact of health from a rare earth plant as it requires a
large number of samples and a long duration of study to demonstrate statistically significant results.

“So, those available results online need to be interpreted with caution as they may be biased. We have examples of safe uranium plants, (we) will email (it) to Pahang MMA later,” a panelist said.

The MMA report does not specify the individuals behind the question and replies, but it did specify that its three-member delegation included its Pahang chapter chairperson Dr Ailin Razali, secretary Dr Chong Jen Lim and member Dr Carmen Chew.

The panelists, comprising of experts from United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are Tero Varjoranta, Horst Monken Fernandes, Jan van der Steen, Hanna Kajander and Leo M Lowe.

They are part of a nine-member team on a five-day fact finding mission on invitation of the Malaysian government, who is acting on public concern over the project.

Panel mum on waste management

After concluding its investigations and meeting stakeholders, the panel will submit its recommendations to the federal government.

Malaysiakini has obtained a copy of the MMA report, signed by Chong, on the closed-door hearing held yesterday morning.

Below are some of the questions from MMA and replies from the panel, edited for clarity, contained in the report:

Question: To ensure safety of this plant, the regular monitoring and enforcement of law and regulations are crucial, however, in developing countries, all these might be not as good as developed countries.

Answer: We agree with that. The regulatory board plays a very important role in terms of monitoring the safety of the plant. If needed, overseas experts should be sought to monitor the safety of the plant. Ultimately, Lynas is responsible for the total safety of the plant, its workers and the affected public.

Do you think the Environmental Impact (EIA), Risk Assessment Report (QAR), Radiological Impact Report (RIA) were all preliminary?

Yes. Detailed reports are required as per international standard.

In those reports (EIA, QAR and RIA), the internal radiation was not dealt with.

Detailed reports (are) needed, we will address the issue in the review. Actually there are formulas to calculate the internal radiation based on the exposure pathway analysis.

As per the RIA report and Lynas, there is no definite plan on the management of radioactive waste. RIA only did the assessment up to 10 years. Lynas is only doing R&D (research and development) on the recycling of the radioactive waste, which means (there is) no solution at this moment of time.

Currently, the radioactive waste is going to stored at the Residue Storage Facility (RSF) (and if it is) full, (another decision would be made) later. What is the definite plan for management of these radioactive wastes?

(We) will answer that in detail in the final report.