KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Putrajaya and Lynas Corp must clarify why AkzoNobel, a key contractor in the Australian miner’s rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Kuantan, pulled out of the project over alleged safety concerns, PAS demanded today.
In its first major statement on the plant, the Islamist party warned that the government should not bury the truth about the Dutch chemical firm’s withdrawal and urged Putrajaya to pay heed to the concerns of the public.
“What is the use of thousands of objections from the people if the government doesn’t care to listen to those objections?” PAS information chief Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (picture) asked today.
“Lynas is a ticking time bomb that has been set. If something untoward occurs, what will be the fate of more than 300,000 Kuantan residents (who will endure) polluted rivers and seas?”
The New York Times reported yesterday that AkzoNobel withdrew from the project in the third quarter of last year after it was told that fibreglass liners using its resin would be installed in concrete-walled tanks that did not meet safety standards.
The Dutch multinational is said to have refused to supply resins as the tanks — which will be used to mix hundreds of tonnes of rare earths with extremely corrosive acids — have problems with rising dampness in the floors and cracks in the walls.
Tuan Ibrahim said Malaysians should vote for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the next election as the opposition pact will terminate the project once it takes federal power.
“It appears this is the only path left for us to save the people of Kuantan, Gebeng and the surrounding areas from this Lynas time bomb which has been triggered,” he said.
Lynas was granted a temporary operating licence (TOL) yesterday for its RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Gebeng following almost a year of sustained public protests.
The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) said it decided on Monday to approve the Australian miner’s application despite receiving 1,123 comments on Lynas’ documents during the public feedback period, which ended last Thursday.
The regulator’s decision will finally allow Lynas to fire up its controversial refinery, which 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.
Lynas said last week it expects the start of operations to be delayed to the second quarter from the first quarter of this year.
Plans to start operations in September last year were scuppered when Putrajaya bowed to public pressure last April and put the project on ice pending the review by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In July 2011, AELB 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, were met.
Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals, according to the regulator.
Lynas’ local subsidiary has insisted 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 the manufacture of high-technology products such as wind turbines, hybrid cars and smartphones.
