nuclear-news

Malaysia needs an independent panel to scrutinise Lynas’ radioactive wastes

’Let independent panel monitor Lynas’, New Straits Times,  05 March 2012, KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to hire independent monitoring bodies to publish the radiation readings of residue to be disposed by Lynas Corporation. Environmental Protection Society Malaysia adviser Gurmit Singh said this was important as proof that the radiation level was safe as the government had claimed…

…. “As long as the research and findings by the government are not published, there is always going to be concern,” he told the New Straits Times when contacted yesterday. Citing the now-closed Asian Rare Earth (ARE) project in Bukit Merah, Perak, as an example, he urged the government to reconsider its decision to continue with the project.

“Shifting the disposal site is not going to address bigger problems that will occur later in the future, the site might be shifted far from where people live but there is still the eco-system and animals could also be affected. ”Radiation is not something that can be immediately seen or felt, hence the phobia by the public.”

On Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government had decided to ask Lynas Corporation to dispose of residue from its rare earth processing plant to a dedicated site far from residential areas.

March 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Malaysia, politics, Uranium