30 years ago, a huge radioactive incident happened in Perak. And they’re still cleaning it up…
Earlier this year, Lynas Corporation had been popping up in the news again. For those of who have no idea who or what Lynas is, a few years back there had been a hullabaloo when Lynas set up a rare-earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, called the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP). But what’s the big deal with that?
Pretty much the general idea. Img from Dread Central.
Basically, rare earth metals are a group of chemical elements that are quite useful in manufacturing electronics and stuff. They’re not ‘rare’, but in nature they come clumped together with a buttload of other elements and minerals that make extraction difficult. Think of them like the kerang in your char koay teow, only your char koay teow is a solid mass of blended noodles, prawns, gravy, taugehs and kerang.
What Lynas is doing is processing this solid mass to get only the kerang bits, and all the other parts are considered as waste. However, some of those parts usually contain small amounts of radioactive elements, like thorium and uranium, so you can see how people can be antsy about radioactive sludge being released to the environment, even with all the precautions taken by Lynas.
It was a long-standing issue that had been around for more than 5 years already, and it had become a key election issue in Pahang. The paranoia might have something to do with a previous case of rare earth processing in Malaysia before… yes, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. The previous case had been somewhat disastrous, as…
A factory processing radioactive materials in Perak gave the people living nearby leukemia
Asian Rare Earth factory in 1985. Note the barrels of radioactive waste being out in the open. Img from Utusan Penggunae.
Back in 1982, a rare earth metal extracting company called Asia Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE) was opened in Bukit Merah, Perak. The biggest shareholders for this company was the Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Ltd and Beh Minerals (both owning a 35% share), with Tabung Haji and other Bumiputra businessmen owning lesser shares.
ARE’s business was extracting yttrium, a rare earth metal from a mineral called monazite. Now, monazite can contain several different earth metals, including small amounts of radioactive elements such as thorium and uranium. So the waste products of yttrium production may contain radioactive material, and the Perak government at that time seemed to know this, as… “It was decided that the waste will be owned by the Perak State Government. It will be stored as it has potential as a nuclear power source.” – Translated excerpt from Utusan Pengguna.
The residents of the nearby town of Papan (about 16 kms from Ipoh) have complained about the smell and smoke from the factory that stinks so much, they had difficulty breathing and cried because of it. As if the factory alone wasn’t bad enough, two years after the factory opened, in 1984, the residents found that ARE had built a waste channel to a disposal site near their town. The site was chosen by the state government.
Following that discovery, the Papan residents took action in several ways:
About 6,700 residents from Papan and a nearby town signed a petition that was sent to the Prime Minister, the Perak MB, the Health Ministry and the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry.
200 residents of Papan blocked the road to the waste disposal site.
Around 3,000 residents, including women and children, participated in a peaceful assembly on the 1st and 4th of July.
There were a few responses to these actions:
Dr. Mahathir (then the Prime Minister) had stated that the government had taken every precaution to ensure safety, and the construction of the radioactive disposal site will be continued.
Datuk Amar Stephen Yong (the Science, Technology and Environment Minister) had stated that the disposal site in Papan was safe as it was built under strict regulations. He also challenged the people to prove that the disposal site is hazardous.
Datuk Amar Stephen Yong’s challenge did not go unaccepted.
Article continues at link provided...the people did prevail, but suffered greatly and learned a valuable lesson.
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Read the rest of the long sordid history of how the AELB heard the people, knew the science, minimized the dangers and even ignored court orders and STILL issued a license to Asian Rare Earths and ask yourself: WHO WOULD YOU TRUST? AELB? C'mon, people.
And you'll note that Dr. M featured prominently. He was not a champion back then; he was part of the problem.
BOTTOM LINE: Lynas has accomplished what no one else has and they seem to have done it responsibly. I anticipate a great future, but only if they can resolve their radioactive storage issues; really only if they can get Condisoil approval. On this forum there has been too much minimizing of KNOWN risks; too much hype by dodgy players; far too much undeserved trust in government entities. Doesn't help at all that Lynas management is nowhere to be found for months.
The last IAEA review provided a toe-hold for challenges that Lynas must be ready to meet and investors must be ready to react to. I am. I see a great future, not a guaranteed one.
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