DENGKIL, Feb 3 — The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) today defended its move to issue a temporary operating licence (TOL) to Lynas Corp, pointing out that this was necessary to verify the miner’s safety claims.
AELB director-general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan said this was because the claims were made based on studies of other existing plants, pilot studies and laboratory experiments, adding that operations at Lynas’ rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Kuantan may have to be adjusted to meet actual conditions.
“It’s normal for regulating authorities to have a temporary operating licence to verify if the claims in the safety documents are what they claim to be,” he told reporters at AELB headquarters here.
Raja Abdul Aziz also said a full operating licence would not be issued automatically after the TOL expires, pointing out that Lynas will first have to make another submission containing data it compiled while operating under the temporary licence.
This data will be scrutinised by all the relevant regulators and experts and would be akin to a “triple review”, he said.
“It is a very complicated process. It is a redundant process, but we are here to guarantee the safety of the public, or the environment,” he said.
But Raja Abdul Aziz stressed that Lynas could not fire up its controversial plant until it fulfils the conditions of the TOL within the next 10 months, as stipulated.
These include paying the first of five instalments on its US$50 million (RM155 million) deposit to the government and the appointment of an independent third-party assessor by AELB, which Lynas will pay for, he said.
“We have to put in place a monitoring system before anything can start,” he said, adding that AELB hopes to appoint an assessor by the end of the month.
Raja Abdul Aziz added that even once all these conditions have to be fulfilled, Lynas will have to obtain a separate permit to import the raw material from Mount Weld, Australia.
Lynas will also have to specify a site for a permanent disposal facility (PDF) within the 10-month time frame or risk having its TOL revoked, he said.
On Wednesday, AELB granted a TOL to Lynas for its RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Gebeng after almost a year of sustained public protests.
The regulator said it decided on Monday to approve the Australian mining giant’s application despite receiving 1,123 comments on Lynas’ documents during the public feedback period, which ended last week.
AELB’s decision will finally allow Lynas to fire up its controversial refinery, which has raised fears of radiation pollution among residents of the east coast city and environmentalists.
The plant will be monitored for the next two years during which Lynas must meet safety requirements before AELB issues 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 last year, the 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 in the manufacture of high technology products such as wind turbines, hybrid cars and smartphones.
