aelb conference today about tol, page-16

From a post on Yahoo by Zircon:

"In the case of the Lynas operation in Gebeng, Pahang, three types of residues will be generated, namely Water Leach Purification Residue (WLP), Flue Gas Desulphurization Residue (FGD) and Neutralisation Underflow Residue (NUF). i.e. iron phosphor gypsum (32,000 ton y-1), Magnesium rich gypsum (88,997 ton y-1) and synthetic gypsum (26,764 ton y-1). Among these three co-products iron phosphor gypsum contains the highest activity concentration of thorium (1,650 ppm or 6.2 Bq g-1 Th as ThO2), uranium (225 ppm or 0.28 Bq g-1 U-238 as U3O8) compared to the remaining two co-products.

The Water Leach Purification Residue contains mainly calcium sulphate which is also known as synthetic gypsum, while the Neutralisation Underflow Residue (NUF) is rich in magnesium. Both residues can be considered as raw materials for other industry. Storage and handling of the residues can be overcome if WLP is used as raw material in making gypsum plaster and NUF as fertiliser. The Lynas operation’s residues are expected to contain thorium, uranium and their decay products at concentration of about 1600 ppm (Th) and 30 ppm (U) depending on the minerals used in the process. Beneficiation of the residues will be subjected to AELB Act 1984 and EQ Act 1974. If the thorium and uranium levels can be reduced to natural concentration as in naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) the WLP and NUF residues can be feeders to other industries. Failure to do so, permanent safe and secure repository site must be located to cater for WLP, NUF and FGD."

From one of my Yahoo message board posts:

According to the IAEA report, "International Review Mission on the Radiation Safety Aspects of a Proposed Rare Earths Processing Facility (the Lynas Project)":

Table 1, Characteristics of Solid Residues, shows the estimated solid residue levels as follows:

Flue gas desulphurization- 40 Bq/kg
Neutralization underflow - 30 Bq/kg (combined U-238 + Th-232)
Water leach purification - 6000 Bq/kg

Does that answer your question?