stockpiling by lynas outside of freemantle, page-14

KUALA LUMPUR (March 9, 2012) : The Department of Environment (DoE) today clarified that waste produced at the Lynas Corporation rare-earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, is not internationally categorised as radioactive waste as they are naturally occurring from ore.

"However, residues from Lynas are controlled under Malaysian law," said the department in a statement issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, together with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

"In this regard, the government views health and safety of the people as a matter of the highest priority and will do whatever it takes to safeguard public interest," the statement said.

The statement also clarified that the United Nations Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal does not include regulations on radioactive wastes.

"According to Article 1(3) of the Basel Convention, wastes which, as a result of being radioactive, are subject to other international control systems.

"Should the wastes be declassified from radioactive list by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), based on their radioactivity concentrations and levels, the wastes will then be regulated as scheduled wastes under the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005," the statement said.

It added, under such circumstances, the Basel Convention can be used to control the transboundary movement of these hazardous wastes, if the need arises.

The joint statement came in response to theSun's report yesterday, "Basel Convention prohibits Lynas from transporting waste abroad".

In the report, critics of the project had claimed that Lynas Corporation's proposal to send its waste abroad as a last resort will fail, due to restrictions under the Basel Convention.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed had on Tuesday said that the Australian-owned company has agreed to send its waste overseas as a last resort, if it failed to identify a suitable site to build a permanent disposal facility in Malaysia.

In a related development, Himpunan Hijau 2.0 public relations chief Clement Chin this morning led a delegation to submit a memorandum to the Singapore High Commission here, urging its government to disallow the shipment of rare earth materials to dock in its waters, en-route to Kuantan port.

Chin claimed that a mother vessel will be shipping containers of ore from Freemantle Port to Singapore, before unloading into smaller vessels and shipping to Kuantan.

However, the department in its statement said that the International Atomic Energy Agency has since 1961 published advisory regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material, last updated in 2009.

"Requirements based on the IAEA regulations have been adopted in about 60 countries, as well as by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and regional transport organisations," the statement said.

These requirements are also stated in the Atomic Energy Licensing (Radioactive Wastes Management) 2011 under the Atomic Energy Licensing Act, 1984.