Lynas shouldn't operate until permanent waste facility complete - Bentong MP
The government should not allow rare-earth mining company Lynas to operate and generate more radioactive waste until its permanent waste disposal facility (PDF) is completed.
Bentong MP Wong Tack said this in a statement today, in response to the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's parliamentary reply on Thursday.
Khairy had told the august house that Lynas must...
Wong Tack says until today they were in the dark over the waste facility location.
The government should not allow rare-earth company Lynas to operate and generate more radioactive waste until its permanent waste disposal facility (PDF) is completed.
Bentong MP Wong Tack (above) said this in a statement today, in response to the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's parliamentary reply on Thursday.
Khairy had told the august house that Lynas must establish the PDF "within the first year" of its licence approval.
Wong lambasted Khairy's statement as meaningless and claimed that it appeared to be lenient to accommodate Lynas and allow it to continue its operations.
"It appears that this sort of lenient, unclear, and open-ended condition was set just to accommodate Lynas in order to facilitate their continued operations in our country. It is clearly not meant to protect the interest and safety of the people.
"What is more important is not when the construction of the PDF 'starts' but when the construction of the PDF will be completed and all toxic radioactive wastes can be removed from the site and safely disposed of," Wong said.
The DAP MP cited a statement by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) last year, where it said that the construction of the PDF has to be expedited.
According to the board, this was to minimize the risks posed by radioactive waste which has exceeded 580,000 tonnes piled up in Lynas's temporary residue storage facility, which is exposed to natural disasters such as floods.
Citing the Atomic Energy Licensing (Radioactive Waste Management) Regulations 2011, Wong stressed that the law says that radioactive wastes must not be stored in areas prone to natural disasters.
"The minister must exercise his ministerial duties to protect the people by ensuring that this law is enforced without further delay.
"Until today, the people are still in the dark as to where exactly is the location for the PDF," Wong said.
He raised concerns about whether any study on the suitability of a location for the PDF has been done and questioned what the government would do if the location was rejected by the public.
"As clearly stated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in their 2011 mission report on Lynas, which our government claimed Lynas has complied with, the location for the PDF must be determined in consultation with stakeholders before Lynas can be allowed to start operations," he said.
