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Lynas ordered to relocate its proposed radioactive waste site

Malaysia Upholds Decision on Lynas; but Wants Relocation of Residue Disposal Facility, International Business Times,  By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 5, 2012  The Malaysian government continues to uphold Australian miner Lynas Corp., and its beleaguered Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) after it directed the Australian company to relocate its earlier proposed residue disposal facility to a site that is far from the LAMP location in Gebeng, Kuantan province.

Malaysian news agencies reported over the weekend it was Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who specifically ordered the rare earths miner to locate an alternative location for its residue disposal facility that is away from Gebeng and its residential communities.

Suffice to say, this could mean Lynas Corp.’s assurance of a winning edge over its detractors who have turned the business investment into a political mill. The Lynas plant would remain at its present location, Mr Najib was quoted as saying by www.asiaone.com. The new location of the residue disposal facility would be announced later……
On Feb. 17, Gebeng residents filed a case against Lynas Corp., as well as an application for leave for judicial review, over the temporary operating licence it received from the AELB and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) issued end January.

The High Court Apellate and Special Powers Judge Justice Rohana Yusuf had scheduled Mar. 20 as initial hearing.

March 6, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Malaysia, politics, Uranium | Leave a comment

Danger of uranium and plutonium use by terrorists

Resolution on the use of uranium, plutonium to be tackled at summit, Business World, Philippines, 5 Mar 12, THE GOVERNMENT will be pushing for an international resolution that would tighten security measures and prevent nuclear resources such as uranium and plutonium from being used for terrorist activities, a high-ranking Executive official said late last week.

  “In the case of the Philippines, we have decided to push for a resolution at the [2012 Nuclear Security] Summit calling for a much stricter monitoring and supervision in the transport, safekeeping and using of these resources,” Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay told BusinessWorld in an e-mail last Friday.
“That resolution should call for [International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)] Member States to give as much attention to these small high-grade uranium and plutonium resources as those being kept and safeguarded by Member States which are in large quantities,” added Mr. Binay who was appointed by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III to lead the Philippine delegation to the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul, South Korea on March 26-27.
Mr. Binay remarked that with the pressing threat of nuclear terrorism, member states of the IAEA — a specialized United Nations body comprising 153 countries and aims to promote safe and peaceful nuclear technologies — “should not only focus on the possibility of terrorists being able to use nuclear bombs in the future, but should urgently improve their respective security and safety measures in the storing and keeping of their uranium and plutonium resources.”…. http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Resolution-on-the-use-of-uranium,-plutonium-to-be-tackled-at-summit&id=47788

March 6, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, 2 WORLD, Philippines, safety, Uranium | Leave a comment

Hackers break into Lynas’ website, while Malaysian court case continues

Australian miner hacked, WA Today, Rania Spooner February 27, 2012 In a show of opposition to a near-complete rare earths processing plant in Malaysia, the website of Australian miner Lynas Corporation has been hacked. WAtoday.com.au understands the miner’s website was brought down on Sunday as reports emerged of more than 5000 protestors converging on the seaside city of Kuantan, near the site of the controversial facility.
The Lynas website was still down at 7.30pm (EST) Monday, with a message from the company advising: “We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

A hacker, using the name “4z1″ and claiming to be a Malaysian citizen, has taken credit for bringing the site down in a statement on a personal blog.
In a rough translation of 4z1′s statement from Chinese into English, internal Malaysian race issues and fear of radiation from the plant was the explanation for the hacking….
A group of Kuantan residents have launched court proceedings against Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board, the Malaysian Department of Environment and Lynas Malaysia over the plant, the company reported on Thursday. The group has sought a review of the plant’s temporary operating license granted by the AELB early this month and a halt to the commencement of operations, due in the coming weeks, while such a review is undertaken….

The plant would be used to process concentrate from the Mount Weld deposit in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world. The company previously announced plans to transport the concentrate from Mount Weld to Malaysia via road and sea. http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/australian-miner-hacked-20120227-1tyn0.html#ixzz1o5i4ZS2d

March 3, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium | Leave a comment

One stop nuclear shop AREVA suffering, as nuclear industry declines

Areva, which has been designed as a one-stop nuclear shop, has been affected by massive impairments on its uranium assets and a slowdown of the nuclear industry following Japan’s Fukushima disaster

Areva Accelerates Disposals By GERALDINE AMIEL, WSJ, March 2, 2012, PARIS—French state-controlled nuclear energy company Areva SA announced two asset disposals as part of a plan to boost competitiveness and better position it to face a slowing civil atomic industry, one year after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Continue reading →

March 3, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France, Uranium | Leave a comment

Debts force First Uranium to sell off assets

First Uranium to sell two South African assets for $405 mln, Mar 2, 2012  (Reuters) – First Uranium Corp said it would sell two assets in South Africa for $405 million, as the gold and uranium miner scrambles to liquidate itself to pay off its debts.

The company will sell Mine Waste Solutions, a tailings recovery project, to South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd for $335 million in cash.

First Uranium also said it would sell its stake in First Uranium Ltd, which owns the Ezulwini Mining Co, to Australian miner Gold One International Ltd for $70 million. Gold One will also provide a $10 million loan facility to First Uranium.

The company said it is moving ahead with plans to liquidate the company and will use the proceeds to pay its securityholders and shareholders…. http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE8210CP20120302?feedType=RSS&feedName=investingNews

March 3, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Rare earths company Lynas wants the profits, but nobody wants the radioactive wastes

Malaysia – How to dispose of the waste?  MY Sin Chew Daily,,  2012-03-01  By LIM SUE GOAN, Translated by  SOONG PHUI JEE,   Four government departments have earlier recommended that Lynas should ship back waste material produced by the refinery plant to Australia. They have a certain representativeness as four departments account for 16% of the total 25 departments.

It was reported that the Malaysian Cabinet has accepted the recommendation and required Lynas to ship back all waste material back to Western Australia. It is indeed a positive development, but is it feasible or just a wishful thinking?

Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore told the Parliament in April last year that the Australian Government would not accept responsibility for any waste produced by Lynas. Even if the recommendation works, there is still a distance from the anti-Lynas group’s demand of revoking the temporary operating licence.

The Cabinet must have a clear decision on the issue, whether to revoke the licence or keep the refinery plant. If they decide to revoke the licence, they have to study how to deal with the aftermath problems, including explaining to the international community that Malaysia does not deliberately violate the agreement. The country might also have to compensate a huge sum of money, particularly when the rare-earth plant’s construction is almost complete.

If they decide to keep the plant, they should then ponder over how to ensure that the waste material will not threaten the people’s health. The chemical toxicity of thorium is estimated to be little and the risk is mostly from its radioactivity. The most stable isotope of thorium is 232Th, with a half-life of 14.05 billion years. Can Lynas’ permanent waste disposal facilities withstand the test of time and natural disasters?

In politics, the BN must also get prepared for attacks, particularly from political leaders of eastern Peninsula.

Since the anti-Lynas movement is in full swing in the civil society, BN leaders must think twice before making a speech. If they make a slip of the tongue, including calling it a local community issue and threatening to sell cendol at the rallies, it would only heighten the public’s ill-feeling. As Himpunan Hijau 2.0 chairman Wong Tuck said, the then process of approving the investment of Lynas lacked transparency and who actually allows the plant to be built in Kuantan? Why was the environment-threatening projects approved within a week?

……. we wonder how severe is the assessment procedure in Malaysia. It is understood that the Pahang Environment Department had given its approval only three weeks after Lynas submitted its environmental impact assessment report, while the radiation impact assessment procedure was completely opaque.

Should the rare-earth refinery plant be kept after the exposure of so many management weaknesses in the approval process? http://www.mysinchew.com/node/70809

March 2, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Kazakhstan says Japan will continue to buy its uranium

Japan to Purchase Contracted Kazakh Uranium, Kazatomprom Says Bloomberg,  By Nariman Gizitdinov and Yuriy Humber – Feb 23, 2012 Kazatomprom (KZAP), the state nuclear company in the world’s biggest uranium-producing nation, said its Japanese customers will take delivery of the fuel they agreed to buy even as the country idles its atomic stations.

The supply contracts with Japan haven’t changed, Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Shkolnik told reporters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, today without identifying the buyers…..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/japan-to-purchase-contracted-kazakh-uranium-kazatomprom-says.html

February 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Kazakhstan, Uranium | Leave a comment

Questions on Australian company Lynas’ radioactive wastes plan in Malaysia

The Lynas Advanced Material project will produce 20,000 tones of radioactive waste, which is 10 times more than the Asian Rare Earth factory in Bukit Merah.

1. Why didn’t Lynas set-up the rare earth plant near its source of extraction in Western Australia as it would have saved a huge amount of money in shipping costs?
2. Why didn’t Lynas obtain an approval from the authorities in Western Australia to set-up the plant?
3. Could the authorities in Western Australia be concerned about the possible radiation leaks, health hazards, birth defects, lead poisoning and other complications?
4. Shouldn’t this in itself raise a red flag with the Malaysian authorities?

Gov’t fails to learn from Bkt Merah tragedy http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/02/22/govt-fails-to-learn-from-bkt-merah-tragedy/ Free Malaysia Today February 22, 2012 Is the RM700 million in Lynas investment more important to the government than the lives of its citizens?  By Charles Santiago Severe birth defects, eight leukemia cases over five years in a community of 11,000, tears and anguish of the poor people from a largely shoe-making community – these are not news headlines. Neither is it the plot of a movie.

These are the consequences of carelessly allowing the Asian Rare Earth factory to be built in Bukit Merah, Perak in 1982. When Mitsubishi Chemical started operating its rare earth factory, the villagers complained of choking sensation, pungent smell, coughs and colds. The community also saw a sharp rise in the cases of infant deaths, congenital disease, leukemia and lead poisoning. While US$100 million is estimated to be the clean-up cost of the factory and dump site, the largest in the rare earth industry, it has not wiped out the memories and heartache of the villagers who lost their children and loved ones.
But 30 years later, the government has again allowed a rare earth factory to be set-up by Lynas Corporation Ltd in Gebeng, Kuantan. This means the government has waved the green flag with full knowledge of the possible consequences and deadly effects. Continue reading →

February 23, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

First Uranium company teeters on the brink of collapse

What will happen to First Uranium? First Uranium is looking at a distress sale of assets to settle upcoming debts, a move that would have a number of implications for shareholders Christy Filen , 22 Feb 2012   JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – 

It is no secret that First Uranium is in a pickle. Releasing a forecast that shows its cash will run out by the end of March will be cold comfort to shareholders and creditors alike…. First Uranium has turned to what is conceivably its only option and that is a distress sale of its assets in an effort to settle upcoming debts….. As if this wasn’t enough First Uranium’s Ezulwini operation is not making the gradeand its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) is fighting licensing issues with environmentalists and the Department of Mineral Resources. In terms of the results of an impairment exercise of the Ezulwini Mine’s assets, an impairment adjustment of $180m was recognised in the company’s financial statements…. “The Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to bring these proposed transactions to fruition” said First Uranium….. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=145826&sn=Detail&pid=102055

February 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, South Africa, Uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium mining’s radiation dangers continue near Grand Canyon

Risks remain from uranium mining near the Grand Canyon  Feb 22, 2012   High Country News By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House.  “…..    There are over 5,000 active uranium claims within those one million acres. The withdrawal goes a long way toward protecting the watersheds, seeps and springs, sacred sites and critical wildlife habitat in the area because the only claims that can now be mined would have had to establish “valid existing rights,” before the 2009 moratorium. Yet even with these protections, the mines with existing rights — the ones allowed to operate despite the moratorium —  may still have a significant negative impact on the Grand Canyon environment Continue reading →

February 23, 2012 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

How some uranium mining corporations deceive developing countries

Mining deals worry industry grouping The Daily Times,  21 February 2012  Isaac Masingati An international mining industry grouping, Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), says it is concerned with contracts between investors and governments especially in developing countries, saying they tend to be skewed in favour the investor.

IGF President Leonard Kalindekafe told the Business Times in Zomba on Friday that there was a concern among members of the grouping that some investors were taking advantage of governments’ lack of expertise to strike deals that bring little profits. ”This is a big concern to the Forum because some bona fide countries are not able to realise full benefits from their minerals,” he said. Continue reading →

February 22, 2012 Posted by | Malawi, secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium | Leave a comment

Thorium reactors won’t save the nuclear industry

Nuclear power entrepreneurs push thorium as a fuel, Washington Post, 20 Feb 12,   “…..  a small group of scientists, entrepreneurs and advocates see the post-Fukushima era as the perfect opportunity to get the United States to consider a proposal they have made with no success for years. What about trying a new fuel, they say, and maybe a new kind of reactor?…..  They’re pushing the idea of adapting plants to use thorium as a fuel or replacing them with a completely new kind of reactor called a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor, or LFTR (pronounced “lifter”). The LFTR would use a mixture of molten chemical salts to cool the reactor and to transfer energy from the fission reaction to a turbine..

….‘Small boatloads of fanatics’ Although the idea of thorium power has been around for decades — and some countries are planning to build thorium-powered plants — it has not caught on with the companies that design and build nuclear plants in the United States or with the national research labs charged with investigating future energy sources.

“There are small boatloads of fanatics on thorium that don’t see the downsides,” said Dan Ingersoll, senior project manager for nuclear technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. For one thing, he said, it would be too expensive to replace or convert the nuclear power plants already running in this country: “A thorium-based fuel cycle has some advantages, but it’s not compelling for infrastructure and investments.”

He also pointed out that thorium would still have some radioactive byproducts — just not as much as uranium and not as long-lived — and that there is no ready stockpile of thorium in the United States. It would have to be mined.

Overall, he says the benefits don’t outweigh the huge costs of switching technologies. “I’m looking for something compelling enough to trash billions of dollars of infrastructure that we have already and I don’t see that.”……    most U.S. nuclear energy industry executives are wary of both approaches to thorium, saying that neither utilities nor investors are eager to gamble on an unfamiliar technology….

February 21, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Court action over radioactive waste faces Australian company Lynas

Lynas itself had admitted it had no prepared any such permanent waste storage facility 

 I cannot understand why Malaysia is prepared to tolerate the potential hazards to occur here from a plant which will give no substantial benefit of Malaysia because of the pioneer status granted to Lynas for 10 years

Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals, according to the regulator.

Anti-Lynas groups are planning a mammoth rally in Kuantan on February 26 to pressure Putrajaya to terminate the project.

A year on, anti-Lynas campaign goes to court http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/a-year-on-anti-lynas-campaign-goes-to-court The Malaysian Insider By Debra Chong , February 17, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR,   — A nationwide campaign to stop Lynas heads into the courtroom with damaging allegations against the Australian rare earths producer and Malaysia’s regulators.

The court filing also accuses Lynas of economic imperialism and points out that until today it does not have a plan to permanently dispose of its waste, some which contain potentially harmful levels of radiation. Continue reading →

February 18, 2012 Posted by | ASIA, Legal, Uranium | Leave a comment

For the 4th time, a failed attempt to overturn the ban on uranum mining near Grand Canyon

Fourth Legislative Attack On Grand Canyon Uranium Ban Fails ENews Park Forest,  16 FEBRUARY 2012  WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)  The fourth legislative attempt to block the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium development across 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park died Tuesday night when the House rules committee ruled it out of order. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

The human consequences of uranium mining

“The most difficult part for the victims of uranium exposure is to prove that their symptoms are directly related to the work they were doing in those mines,” Hecht said. Due to this difficulty, workers do not receive any compensation.

Lecture tackles global uranium trade, The Brown Daily Herald. Alissa Haddaji, February 17, 2012 To understand the consequences of global uranium trade in Africa, the intricate interaction between political lobbying, government and human interests must be explored, said Gabrielle Hecht, professor of history at the University of Michigan, in a lecture hosted by the science and technology studies program Thursday.

The presentation — held in Smith-Buonanno 106 — was part of the program’s lecture series “Nothing Can Go Wrong: Rethinking Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century” and  introduced themes from Hecht’s forthcoming book, “Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium
Trade.” …. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | health, Namibia, Uranium | Leave a comment

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