Rally to Support Removal of Lynas’ Toxic Waste

Protect Malaysia and Put People and Planet Over Profit

KUALA LUMPUR – An estimated 150 people from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and concerned communities in Kuantan assembled in front of Parliament to urge for firm action on the Lynas issue.

A total of more than 60 NGOs assembled alongside several communities from Kuantan who drove to the city centre to hand a memorandum to a representative from the Prime Minister’s office.

The memorandum to halt environmental pollution by Lynas Malaysia, is directed to the Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Environment, Science, Technology and Climate Change (MESTECC) minister Yeo Bee Yin, and Cabinet members.

It is a call to action for the government to put the Malaysian people first by suspending Lynas’ operating licence and the complete removal of toxic radioactive waste produced by processing rare-earth element (REE) in the chemical factory.

Greenpeace Malaysia published a report on the facility titled ‘A Radioactive Ruse’ in 2014, which suggested that residue from processing the REE typically contains pollutants such as metals (e.g.: lead and arsenic), as well as radionuclides (e.g.: thorium and uranium).

Similarly a 2014 study by UKM found that the thorium radioactivity concentration in Lynas’ water-leached purification (WLP) stream of wastes to be close to eight times higher than the regulatory exemption limit.

Independent campaigning organisation, Greenpeace Malaysia’s Campaigner Heng Kiah Chun reaffirmed the organisation’s neutral and non-partisan stance.

“We appeal to the Malaysian government to listen to our demands to suspend Lynas’s operating license and remove toxic waste from Malaysia.

“We also hope that the Malaysian government will exercise greater caution and not allow itself to be deceived into believing that Lynas can find safe disposal options for its radioactive waste,” he added.

-ENDS-

Non-government organizations and other Civic groups protest in front of the Malaysian Houses of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur to call on the suspension of the Rare-Earth Elements (REE) refining plant and the complete removal of toxic radioactive waste, a byproduct of processing REE owned by Lynas Malaysia.

OBJECTIVES OF THE MEMORANDUM

Short-term Actions:

• Reject Lynas’ application to turn its current waste storage site into a prescribed premise to keep the massive amounts of scheduled waste
• Ensure Lynas and/or its new owner take active steps to remove the radioactive waste from Malaysia by the September deadline
• Thoroughly clean up the contaminated groundwater and soil
• Ensure the promised US$50 million deposit from Lynas is paid in full in cash and not in Lynas’ shares

Long-term Actions:

• Suspend Lynas’ operating licence to STOP Lynas polluting our environment
• Deny Lynas from allowing any toxic waste to remain in Malaysia and risk contaminating our environment
• Hold the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and Department of Environment (DoE) to task to ensure they perform their mandated roles and duties with a high degree of professionalism and integrity, in the interest of Malaysia and the Rakyat

REFERENCES

The ‘Radioactive Ruse’ report on Lynas can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/Press-Centre/publications/Report-Lynas/

Al-Areqi, W. M., Ab. Majid, A., & Sarmani, S. (2014). Thorium, uranium and rare earth elements content in lanthanide concentrate (LC) and water leach purification (WLP) residue of Lynas advanced materials plant (LAMP). In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1584, pp. 93-96). American Institute of Physics Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4866110

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