Lynas gets temporary licence to start Kuantan plantUPDATED @...

Lynas gets temporary licence to start Kuantan plant

UPDATED @ 07:58:01 PM 01-02-2012

By Shannon Teoh

February 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 – Australian miner Lynas Corp has been granted a temporary operating licence (TOL) for its controversial RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Kuantan despite nearly a year of sustained public protests.

The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) said it decided in its January 30 meeting to approve the Australian miner’s application despite receiving 1,123 comments on Lynas’ documents during the public feedback period which ended on January 26.

“Based on the decision of the board meeting, the application for a (TOL) has been approved with several conditions where if any of them are broken, the licence can be suspended or withdrawn and further applications will not be considered,” said AELB executive secretaryl Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan (picture) in a statement today.

The decision by the AELB will finally allow Lynas to fire up its refinery that has raised fears of radiation pollution among local residents and environmentalists.

AELB has said it will monitor the plant over the next two years within which time Lynas must show that it meets the safe levels of radiation the company has claimed before it is granted a full licence to ramp up operations.

The company listed on the Australian stock exchange expects an RM8 billion annual windfall once it is operating at full capacity, expected to be in 2013.

Raja Aziz, who is also AELB director general, said today “the residue that is produced is the responsibility of the company and if necessary, will be returned to its source” in Mount Weld, Australia.

The conditions that Lynas must meet include detailing all aspects of a permanent disposal facility (PDF) whether or not the mining firm is able to reprocess low level radioactive waste into safe commercial products.

The AELB also insisted that plans and a location for the PDF must be tabled within 10 months and Lynas must deposit a US$50 million (RM152 million) guarantee with the government.

The regulators also said it had the right to appoint consultants to evaluate Lynas’ compliance at the cost of the company.

The Australian miner said last week it expects the start of operations to be delayed to the second quarter from the first quarter of this year.

The plant was initially due to start operations in September last year but Putrajaya bowed to public pressure last April after loud public protests and put the project on ice pending the review by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In July 2011, the government agency adopted 11 recommendations set out by the review of the refinery and said it would not allow Lynas to begin operations or import rare earth ore until all conditions, which include a comprehensive, long-term and detailed plan for managing radioactive waste, are met.

However, AELB had said Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals.

The New York Times also reported today that a key contractor had pulled out of the project in the third quarter of last year citing safety issues.

Dutch multinational AkzoNobel refused to supply crucial resins needed for concrete-walled tanks where hundreds of tons of rare earths with low levels of radiation will be mixed with extremely corrosive acids at more than 93 degrees Celcius.

Lynas’s local subsidiary has insisted that it can begin operations within six weeks of being given the go-ahead for the plant, which will produce rare earth that is crucial to high technology products such as wind turbines, hybrid cars and smartphones.



http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/lynas-gets-temporary-licence-to-start-kuantan-plant/