DOUBTERS Anti-Lynas groups just won’t accept the facts about rare earth processing plant It's a worrying trend when groups that claim to represent the majority force others to accept their views, including the view that Lynas Corporation's rare earth processing plant in Gebang, Kuantan, is an environmental and health hazard.
Those with differing views will always be accused of not telling the truth or trying to hide something, even if they are experts.
When Pas Hulu Langat member of parliament Dr Che Rosli Che Mat, a nuclear scientist, said the accusations against Lynas were "unscientific and unacademic", the opponents, including those from his own party, accused him of being unprofessional and pro-government.
During a TV3 news interview in August, Dr Che Rosli had criticised Kuantan MP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Fuziah Salleh for equating the RM1.3 billion Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) with a nuclear plant, when its function was to process natural materials.
Fuziah, the champion of the anti-Lynas movement, hit back at Dr Rosli and dismissed his explanation of the plant's safety, describing it as "overly simplistic".
Even the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was not spared from criticism, especially after its team of experts said it did not find any non-compliance with international radiation safety standards in the project.
Anti-Lynas groups have questioned the composition of the team, despite IAEA appointing nine people who are experts in radiological health and safety.
They were in Malaysia from May 29 to June 3, and received submissions from residents associations, community groups, non-governmental organisations, professional bodies and political parties.
The government accepted the 11 recommendations by the team to improve the management of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and other agen-cies.
At the same time, Lynas was required to submit a comprehensive waste management plan and deal with the decommissioning and dismantling of the plant at the end of its life and remediate the environment.
Lynas was also asked to set up a fund to cover the cost for the long-term waste management.
The public was relieved when Lynas Corporation executive chairman Nicholas Curtis said Lynas would carry out the recommendations, including improving the plant's safety aspects, which involved the installation of two units of the environmental radiation monitoring system, worth RM1.4 million.
The aerosol-type device is widely used in European countries, especially those that operate nuclear plants, to check air quality and existence of radioactive materials.
But this was not enough to appease doubting Thomases.
Last month, Fuziah said Lynas had been awarded a pre-operating licence.
The government refuted the claim and Curtis said the allegation was done to distort facts.
Lynas is in the process of obtaining the pre-operating licence to enable it to bring in rare earth and prove that the processes at LAMP are up to local and international standards.
Professor Dr Ismail Bahari, a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer and researcher in radiation and industrial safety for more than 30 years, agreed there was too much misleading information on LAMP and the rare earth it would process.
He said it was wrong to draw parallels between LAMP and the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, as the radiation levels at the two facilities were different.
"The low dose of radiation has been reported in the radiological impact assessment submitted to the AELB."
He said the uranium in Lynas' lanthanides was low, at 28 ppm (parts per million), much lower than those found in fertiliser (up to 400 ppm) and coal (more than 100 ppm).
"Some places, such as Ramsar (Iran), Kerala (India) and Grand Junction, Colorado (the United States), have much higher natural radiation, but are the people in these areas retarded and handicapped?
"A study done on the population in Ramsar showed that they actually lived longer than those in other areas in the republic."
Read more: When the truth is hard to accept - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/local/general/when-the-truth-is-hard-to-accept-1.5501#ixzz1ddNPFtPO
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