Given all the uncertainties, can we take the risk and make the several thousands of residents of Kuantan the guinea pigs, wonders Jeyakumar Devaraj.
On the evening of 25 November 2012, a group of anti-Lynas walkers, headed by Himpunan Hijau 2.0 Chairman Wong Tack, who had walked from Kuantan to KL over the previous 14 days, reached Dataran Merdeka. A huge crowd of 10,000 was there to meet them. It was a huge show of support by the Malaysian public.
But there are also, I think, a significant number of thinking Malaysians who are not entirely convinced that the RM 1.3bn Lynas factory or Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp) is such a serious health hazard. Numerous government spokepersons including the Minister of Health have argued:
- Lynas’ proposed plant has been vetted by a number of Malaysian agencies including the Pahang State Government, the Department of Environment and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and all of these agencies and bodies have approved the plans;
- As the public still had reservations, the government then invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to come and do a study. A nine-member team selected by the IAEA arrived on 29 May 2011 and, after a study tour of six days, said that the Lynas plant is safe.
- As people were still not satisfied, in March 2012, the government set up a Special Parliamentary Committee to study the issue. Three Pakatan Rakyat MPs were invited to sit on this nine-person committee but the PR decided to boycott this committee (as they felt that it was only a cover-up exercise with no mandate to actually veto the project). This committee too made some recommendations but overall gave their endorsement for the project.
Based on all these, BN leaders have argued that the anti-Lynas protest has been fanned by opposition PR leaders who are looking for issues to make the BN government look bad. The people have been misled by scare-mongers, they claim.
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara, CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a pledge or schedule an auto donation to Aliran every month or every quarter
- Become an Aliran member
Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted in The Star (27 February 2012) as saying Lynas Corp’s rare earth plant in Gebeng had been reviewed by the government and found to be safe; He also said that they were looking for an uninhabited location to place the waste material from the Lynas plant….
But if there are people who object for political reasons, there is nothing we can do about it. Opposition parties will look for issues like this as capital to garner support.
I am one of the Opposition MPs who, according to our PM, is a scare-monger. I have argued on several occasions in Parliament that the Lynas project should be shelved. But it has always been my belief that I should speak up for or against policies based on facts and principles, and not because of political expediency. To espouse something which is not true or which you do not believe in just to make you or your party popular amounts to misleading the public and reflects a lack of respect for the public! I would now like to share with you the reasons why I have argued that Lynas should be shelved.
Vastly differing standards
First, a brief overview of the industrial process of separating the rare earths from the rest of the ore.
Lynas actually has the licence to operate a refining plant in Australia itself. Lynas acquired this licence upon buying over Aston, the company that owned the mine in Mount Weld. In the mid- 1990s, Ashton applied for a licence to refine the ore, and in the process of consultations with the public in the region, agreed to a set of specific performances. If Lynas wants to use the refining licence that came with the purchase of Ashton, it is committed to observing all the procedures agreed to by Ashton earlier. The table below compares requirements that Lynas would have to observe in Australia with the requirements for it in Malaysia.
The government has said in Parliament that Lynas is keen on operating a plant here because the total cost in Malaysia is only 30 per cent of the cost of refining the ore in Australia! (Despite the fact that it has to be transported from Mount Weld to Freemantle Port, loaded on ships and then brought some 4000km to Kuantan for refining!) That means safety precautions in Malaysia are so much more lax than those required in Australia.
This point alone makes me uncomfortable. Why should we allow anything less in terms of safety standards than Australia? Does the BN government feel that the Australian government is being too fussy? Or that Malaysians can take more radiation than the Australians?
Lynas’ cavalier attitude with regard to solid waste
Let me quote verbatim from The Star (10 February 2012):
Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd says that its residue from its rare earth plant in Kuantan will be safe and can be used to build roads. Its managing director Datuk Mashal Ahmad said that the firm had succeeded in lowering the radiation level to below 1 Becquerel per gram, which is similar to the radiation level in fertiliser. He added that such usage of the residue was not new and common in developed countries. Mashal said if the residue could be used commercially, there would be no need to have a permanent disposal facility.
Rendered non-radioactive? How is that even possible? Thorium has an unstable nucleus. Every year a small percentage of all thorium existing in the world will start a process of nuclear decay, emitting a series of alpha, beta and gamma rays. Out of every kilogram of thorium, about 10 billion thorium atoms will start the process of decay each hour! There is no known technology to stop this occurrence.
Lynas is trying to pull wool over our eyes! Let me explain – according to the IAEA, a substance is classified as radioactive if it emits alpha, beta or gamma rays at a frequency of equal to or more than 1 emission per second per gram of that substance. 1 radioactive ray per second per gram is termed 1 Becquerel. 1 Becquerel per gram is the threshold level for classifying a substance as radioactive.
According to documents filed by Lynas, the solid waste from the Lynas refinery would have an emission level of 6.4 Becqueral per gram. So it would have to be classified as radioactive.
But if one “dilutes” it by mixing this solid waste up with nine parts of road fill material, then its radiation level drops to 0.64 Becquerel – Hey Presto! No longer radioactive! It is like adding water to a glass containing a sweet drink to make it taste less sweet – but the total amount of sugar that is consumed is not reduced!
Don’t forget, the same waste if produced in Australia would have to be shipped back to the mine and stored beneath the ground in the shafts from where it was taken! We should also remember that the Lynas waste contains small but significant amounts of thorium that has been ground down to a very fine size in the course of extracting the rare earths. If roadworks are carried out on a road comprising Lynas-manufactured road fill or if a pothole develops, there is a real danger of release of this fine dust into the environment!
Underhand attempts to hoodwink us regarding the safety of the waste (and the amount of waste that will be produced is a huge amount – 64,000 tons per year) has increased my level of suspicion regarding the entire project.
The competency and/or integrity of our ministries and agencies is suspect.
Our government’s responses to the proposal to recycle the waste for commercial purposes isn’t too reassuring either! Consider the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister’s reply on 2 April 2012 to Lim Guan Eng’s question in Parliament:
Dakwaan YB Bagan bahawa syarikat Lynas tidak menjelaskan pelan pembuangan dan penyimpanan sisa projek Lamp adalah tidak benar.
Syarikat Lynas bercadang mengitar dan mengguna semula residu yang dihasilkan melalui penyelidikan dan pembangunan untuk tujuan komercial.
Translation: “The accusation by the Honourable Member from Bagan that Lynas hasn’t yet specified how it intends to dispose of the waste from Lamp isn’t true. Lynas has proposed that the waste could be recycled and deployed for other commercial purposes through research and development.”
This kind of answer does little to reassure thinking Malaysians who are genuinely worried about the possible health consequences of the Lynas plant. Are the government agencies competent enough? Do they understand the issues involved? Do they know that if Lynas had set up its plant in Australia, it would have had to transport the solid waste back to the mine for storage? Do they know about the issue of “internal emitters”? Or has Lynas influenced them by underhand methods? Have certain parties already taken big sums of money promising to push the project approval through no matter what? Once this element of doubt arises, and the credibility of the government agencies is eroded, it becomes increasingly difficult to take their reassurances seriously.
But how about the IAEA?
They are supposed to be the international experts, and they have okayed the project. Right! But let me take you through a few points.
- The IAEA is fully behind the drive to build nuclear reactors. They say that these are safe, that we have the technology to ensure that nothing goes wrong. But we have had accidents in Sellafield (UK), the Three Miles reactor (USA), Chernobyl (USSR), and this was the worst until Fukushima (Japan) occurred! How safe are they really? But the IAEA is still all for Malaysia embarking on building two nuclear reactors – at a cost of more than RM20bn! How objective is the IAEA?
- Epidemiological studies have shown that the incidence of leukaemia in children staying within a 5km radius of nuclear reactors in Germany and in Britain is twice as high as the national average, although the levels of radiation in the 5km radius are very much lower than the 1mSv/year “safe” threshold for the public as per IAEA recommendations (Written answer 306/June 2012 to questions asked by YB Fuziah Salleh. Also The Star, 23 February 2012).
- The British Parliament found this so disturbing that they set up a special committee – the Cherie Committee – to study this increased incidence. The minority report of this committee posits that the health effect of exposure to low levels of radiation has been grossly under-estimated by perhaps a factor of 100, because the effect of “internal emitters” has not been factored in (Submission by Dr Chan Chee Khoon at the Ministerial Hearing on 17 April 2012 to revoke the TOL approved for Lamp).A radioactive substance emitting alpha or beta rays will have negligible effect on any person in the vicinity as a few metres of air or clothes would stop these rays. But if a small part of that substance is inhaled or ingested and it then happens to release one of those rays – that would be at point blank range and the odds that it causes significant damage to the DNA of that person is much, much higher.
We must remember that in the process of extracting the rare earths from the ore, the ore has to be crushed to a very fine dust so that the economic product, the rare earths can be separated out. But crushing reduces the ore, including the thorium content, to a very fine size, making ingestion and or inhalation much more possible!
So, can we trust the IAEA as an objective authority – its brief is to promote the use of nuclear technology the world over, especially to promote nuclear reactors! Lynas isn’t a nuclear reactor to be sure, but if the IAEA can be off the mark in the case of the adverse health effects of low level radiation in the vicinity of nuclear reactors, how much can we trust them when they say Lynas is safe. There are people who argue that there has been “regulatory capture” of the IAEA by the multi-billion dollar nuclear reactor and defence industries!
In any case, the IAEA team made 11 recommendations to ensure the safety of the Lynas refinery, and one among these is that the manner in which solid waste will be managed should be submitted by Lynas and approved by AELB before Lynas is given approval to commence operation (Written answer 306/ June 2012 and 306/June 2012 to questions asked by MP Fuziah Salleh. Also The Star, 23 February 2012).
However the Temporary Operating Licence approved on 7 February 2012 allows Lynas to start operations even before they present their proposed plan for comprehensive management of the solid waste – the TOL only requires them to submit the waste management plan within 10 months of starting operations (The Star, 3 February 2012. Pg 30 and 23 February 2012)! Ten months have passed, and a safe permanent depository has not yet been identified and agreed upon by all parties. Instead Lynas is still talking of rendering the waste “safe”.
In a statement on Monday, Lynas said it would convert LAMP’s water leach purification (WLP) residue which contains a low-level of naturally occurring radioactive material , into a commercially safe product called “synthetic aggregate”. Lynas also said that the plant to convert the WLP had been built in LAMP and was now ready for operation. (The Star, 12 December 2012, Page 22)
From information such as this I have come to the following conclusions:
- We still do not know the full health effects of low level radiation. The assumptions of the IAEA are obviously off the mark – they underestimate the adverse effects.
- The Lynas management has not been honest with us from the start. They have tried to bluff about health issues – they kept the safety features that were required of them in Australia from us; they tried to make us believe that they could render the solid waste non-radioactive and therefore safe.
- The Lynas management were able to avoid a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment before the project was approved because they managed to mislead our authorities that the material being refined was not radioactive – they intended to ensure that the concentration of the ore sent to Malaysia didn’t proceed to the extent that rendered the ore more radioactive than the 1 Becquerel per gram threshold.
- The Malaysian authorities are either very gullible or not terribly competent. Or else, they are on the take!
Given all the uncertainties, is it fair to expose the people of Kuantan to this rare earth refinery? I still am not 100 per cent sure that it will definitely cause harm. But can we take the risk and make the several thousands of Malaysians there the guinea pigs?
We should practice the ‘Precautionary Principle’. If there is a risk that a particular course of action might bring adverse effects, then one should consider not embarking on that action unless there are very compelling reasons for doing so. This is why I have argued several times in Parliament that the Lynas project should be shelved. And as there was an element of attempting to withhold information and mislead our government authorities by Lynas, the quantum of compensation should be modest if at all!
What do you think? Do you think that is being unreasonable?
About thorium and radioactivity
Thorium, with 90 protons, is one of the largest atoms occurring naturally. However, its nucleus is not stable, and spontaneously undergoes degeneration by shooting out an alpha particle, thus transforming itself Radium (88 protons). Radium also is not stable, and it gives off a Beta particle transforming itself to Actinium (89 protons). This process goes on over 10 steps until Lead (82 protons), an atom with a stable nucleus, is generated. In the process, 6 alpha particles and 4 Beta particles are shot out of the degenerating nuclei of a single thorium atom.You might be interested to know that there are 2.281 x 1024 atoms of thorium in a kilogram of thorium oxide. As the half life of Thorium is 12bn years, out of 1 kg of Thorium, about 10bn thorium atoms will start the process of decay each hour!
As lead is the final product in the decay chain for thorium, there will be a significant amount of lead in the solid waste. Lead can cause mental retardation in children if ingested by them. Lead dust in road mix would not add to the quality of our environment!
Let’s calculate the amount of radioactivity that is going to be introduced into the country because of Lynas. 64,000 tons of WLP waste = 64,000 x 1000 kg = 64,000 x 1000 x 1000 grams (64 x 109).
The radioactivity of the waste is said to be 6.4 Becquerels per gram. Ie each gram of that stuff will emit 6.4 radioactive rays every second. In other words 64,000 tons of waste will be emitting 6.4 x 64 x 109 radioactive rays each second. Multiply that by 60sec x 60min x 24hr x 365days and you will get a measure of the amount of radiation we will be introducing into our country for the year – 12.9bn radioactive emissions each year.
This amount of radiation from this year’s waste will remain constant over the next several hundred years as the half life of thorium is very long. But every year another 64,000 tons of waste will be generated by Lynas – which will contribute another 12.9bn radioactive emissions per year! (It was all safely locked within the earth in Mount Weld, Australia! We are going to take it out, crush it into a fine powder, transport it around and then keep it in our backyard!)
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
♥ 🙂 😉 😉 CANCER AND LOW DOSE RADIATION of 250 mSv can result in a small increase in birth defects, although it is more likely to result in abortions than term births of individuals with major birth defects. ♥ Cataracts: Acute exposure to 1,000 to 2,000 mSv to the eye can cause cataracts. In chronic exposure, the total dose may need to be up to about 8,000 mSv before there is a danger of cataract formation. The result of chronic exposure to lower levels of radiation is much less understood, because cataracts are common in older individuals to begin with. ♥ Infertility An acute dose of 150 mSv to the testes can cause temporary infertility in males but would not result in long term effects. A similar dose may cause a temporary reduction in egg viability in females. Acute single doses greater than 1,000 mSv can result in long term infertility. ♥ Hair Loss: This is seem mostly in patients who are put on high dose radiotherapy and is usually temporary in nature. ♥ Chronic effects on the glands: Very high dose radiation used on… Read more »
* ♥ 🙂 😉 ♥ 🙂 😉 ♥ 🙂 😉 ♥ 🙂 😉 ANYTHING THAT IS LESS THAN 1.25 Bq/g IN THE EU OR 1.20 Bq/g IN THE USA, IS CONSIDERED TO BE SAFE ENOUGH TO BE EATEN. If Lynas did not separate out their “waste” into 3 components i.e. WLP, FGD and NUF, the Lynas “waste” would have a specific activity of only 1.35 Bq/g. This is only marginally above the “safe to eat” level in the EU and the USA of 1.25 Bq/g and 1.2 Bq/g respectively. AND IF WE ADD AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MALAYSIAN SOIL TO THE ABOVE NON-SEPARATED “WASTE” THE ACTIVITY IS ONLY = 0.72 Bq/g. THIS IS WELL WITHIN THE SAFE LIMIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (IF EDIBLE) IN BOTH THE EU AND THE USA ! ! ! SO WHAT’S SO DANGEROUS ABOUT THE LYNAS WASTE ? IT CAN BE SAFELY EATEN (IF EDIBLE) FROM A RADIATION POINT OF VIEW WHEN BLENDED WITH AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MALAYSIAN SOIL ! ! ! Kindly note: Blending is an internationally accepted and legitimate way of decreasing the impact of a norm (naturally occuring… Read more »
*
ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS STILL INSIST THAT THE SO-CALLED LYNAS WASTE BE SENT BACK TO AUSTRALIA.
#
ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF REE AND “WASTE”
(according to OEKO):
Annual import of Ore Concentrate = 65,000 tonnes
Annual production of REE = 22,500 tonnes
Therefore actual ‘Waste” of Australian origin
= 65,000 – 22,500 = 42,500 tonnes per year
TOTAL “WASTE” from Lynas Plant = 290,400 tonnes/yr
consisting of
1. WLP = 64,000 tonnes/yr
2. FGD = 55,800 tonnes/yr
3. NUF = 170,600 tonnes/yr
THEREFORE AUSTRALIA CONTRIBUTES TO ONLY 14.5 % (42,000 divided by 290,400×100 %) of the so-called “waste” tonnage ! ! !
SO 85.5 % OF ALL THE “WASTE” PRODUCED BY LYNAS IS ACTUALLY NATIVE TO MALAYSIA.
AND HAS BEEN BORN AND BRED IN MALAYSIA FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS AND AS SUCH HAVE MORE RIGHT TO STAY IN MALAYSIA THAN ALL THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS !
DON’T YOU THINK THAT IT IS A SICK JOKE TO ASK AUSTRALIA TO TAKE “BACK” A SO-CALLED “WASTE” WHICH IS OF 85.5% MALAYSIAN ORIGIN ?
Dato’ Dr Looi
* QUOTE Anti-Lynas (a professional architect) 16.05.13 : “Why ship the ore all the way to Malaysia instead of just refining it in Australia ?” Unquote. Comment: TRANSPORT COST LESS THAN 1% OF BASKET SELLING PRICE The cost of shipping the ore to Malaysia constitute only a fraction of the total cost of production (COP). For instance the “basket selling price” of REE in Lynas is about $30/kg or $30,000 per tonne or $660 million for the 22,000 tonnes REE annual output. Since each 2TEU or 40ft container can carry about 30 tonnes, the 64,000 tonnes of ore concentrate per year require about 2,000 containers and since each container costs about $2,000 as transport cost to Kuantan, the total cost of transporting the ore concentrate is only about $4 million annually. The $4 million transport cost is less than 1% of the selling price of the annual output of 22,000 tonnes of REE. Lynas built in Malaysia because of economic reasons, just like the TIN ore from Australia, imported and shipped all the way to MSC (Malaysian Smelting Corporation) in Penang for refining. REE ore was… Read more »
Quote Anti-Lynas: “The plant in La Rochelle is not like Lynas. They don’t store the waste in their vicinity, the waste is stored in a facility specialized in disposing radioactive waste.” Unquote. ANSWER: The La Rochelle plant uses Monazite-(Ce)…(Ce, La, Nd, Th, Y)PO4 and this is by far the most common and most radioactive of the 3 types of monazite ore. The other 2 types which are Monazite-(La) and Monazite-(Nd). The monazite from Malaysian Tin tailings has 6 to 7% Thorium-232 and has an activity of 284 Bq/g. WASTES Until the end of 1974, THE PLANT RELEASED ALL RADIOACTIVE LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS DIRECTLY INTO THE SEA (WHERE LOCALS AS WELL AS TOURISTS ARE SWIMMING)! Since, and until the end of 1990, it sent at least a part of the solid residues to the CSM. These wastes are composed, among other substances, of thorium 232, uranium 238, and their descendants (including radium 226 and 228). SOLID WASTES –A solid residue resulting from the processing prior to July 1994 and described by Andra as “Résidu solide banalisé” (RSB), solid residue made commonplace. As of June 1999, 8025 tons… Read more »
“La Rochelle, the ‘Lynas of France” Many would be surprised that La Rochelle has for decades been hosting a rare earths processing plant, similar to the one planned in Malaysia. The La Rochelle facility, which belongs to France’s Rhodia Group, has for years been operating like Lynas. Forty years to be exact. And there has been no adverse health and safety report in the tourist town. The Rhodia company is an active player in the rare earths business. It is a leading processor of rare earths. In fact, it’s the only fully integrated industrial player to have manufacturing operations and raw material supply both within and outside China. The plant in La Rochelle has been in operation for more than 40 years. In the early years, the plant processed rare earths ore concentrates from Australia and China just like Lynas would. For 40 years, the plant was operated in this manner, producing cerium for the world market. The radioactive thorium residues have been stored within the plant’s 40ha site for the past 50 years. During storage, the residues are regularly monitored by the country’s regulatory authority,… Read more »
* IS THORIUM-232 THE REAL CAUSE OF CANCER IN PATIENTS INJECTED WITH THOROTRAST? Dosage in “Thorotrast” Fluoroscopy = ~1,000 mSv (100 Roentgens) Risk in developing Cancer = 1 in 20,000 per mSv Therefore risk with 1 Thorotrast Fluoroscopy = 1 in 20 Therefore in about 4 million patients, number of patients developing Cancers = 200,000 from X-ray induced Cancers! SO IS IT FAIR TO CONCLUDE THAT THORIUM-232 IS A CARCINOGEN, based mainly on the results of studies on Thorotrast study alone? (In an attempt to prevent some injuries, A LIMIT OF 100 ROENTGENS (approximately 1,000 mSv) per fluoroscopic examination was set in New York City hospitals (Braestrup 1969). Prior to this, the dosage from the “Thorotrast” Fluoroscopy may be much higher ! The International Agency for Research on Cancer ( IARC ) categorized Thorium-232 and its decay products as a group 1 carcinogen when administered intravenously as a colloidal dispersion of thorium-232 dioxide. This conclusion was made mainly on the study of certain types of cancers which were found to be increased in patients given Thorotrast for radiological investigations. SO IS IT FAIR TO CONCLUDE THAT… Read more »
Hi Looi boy,
Still at it? My, my, hard at work with the cut and paste. But I have to say, your quack science is boring, you know. You have so much to say, but still afraid to start your own blog. Still worried about lack of readers?
Hey, what happened to all your pro-Lynas propaganda ‘friends’ from Australia? Have they given up and left you alone to fly the flag? Tsk, tsk, you are all alone in defending this plant.
Try harder, Looi boy. The Lynas share price still looks pretty depressing.
Ayoh, sudah-lah Looi boy, awak macam satu rekod, bosan-lah! Mau tunjuk saja, bagaimana pandai awak ni. Orang lain pun ada huruf belakang nama macam JPJ, PBA, TNB, MPPP, MPSJ, DBKL, semua pun ada. Buat apa angkuh dan pandai sangat. Cakap terlalu banyak, lain hari nanti syer tumbang, duit pun hilang. Kalau alam sekitar kami ni tercemar oleh bahan radioaktif Lynas, makanan pun tadak. Awak mau makan duit awak- kah? Tu-lah, nama awak ni ‘looi’ makna duit-kan. Jangan- lah jadi mata duitan, nanti kena makan ringgit dan sen juga, bolehkah? Awak seorang pelanggan Bank Neraka-kah? Memang jenaka!
Quote The Hon. Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj dated 21.02.13: “. Let’s calculate the amount of radioactivity that is going to be introduced into the country…….. 64,000 tons of waste will be emitting 6.4 x 64 x 109 radioactive rays each second. Multiply that by 60sec x 60min x 24hr x 365days and you will get a measure of the amount of radiation we will be introducing into our country for the year – 12.9bn RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS EACH YEAR ..”. Unquote. COMMENT: 12.9 BILLION RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS EACH YEAR sounds like a very dangerous amount, but counting the number of Bq per year is meaningless. For instance, the human body has 4,400 Bq from Potassium-40 and another 3,000 Bq from Carbon-14 giving a total of 7,400 Bq. which will be = 233.37 BILLION RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS EACH YEAR ! SO IF THE GOOD HON. DR JEYAKUMAR HIMSELF PRODUCES 233.37 BILLION RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS EACH YEAR, WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT LYNAS PRODUCING ONLY 12.9 BILLION RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS EACH YEAR ! What’s more important is what the biological effect of the radionuclide has on the human body. Since the average absorbed Beta… Read more »
Dear insecure Dato’ Dr Looi Hoong Wah FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)…
What’s the matter. You got plenty of free time? No other work except copy and paste? Medical business bad?
Please stop pretending that IAEA is an independent expert group. They are a pro-industry group. As for being experts, check out the cover-up of the Fukushima reactor meltdown and how the IAEA responded: http://www.globalresearch.ca/coverup-of-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-iaea-knew-reactors-had-melted-down/24971
And check out the IAEA’s ties with the WHO.
http://www.llrc.org/health/subtopic/iaeawhoagreement.htm
http://enenews.com/exposed-world-health-organization-beholden-nuclear-interests-videos
Still think they are independent? Sorry to burst your pro-industry bubble.
Why not start your own blog instead of filling up the comments here with your pro-Lynas propaganda? Afraid no one will read if you started your own blog?
Whatever the pro-industry quack science you are trying to promote, people know better and you can’t stop the downward slide in the Lynas share price. Too bad, Looi boy. You are not as clever as you think.
..
To Anti-Propaganda, Still have no guts and still cowardly hiding under a pseudonym when passing silly, nonsensical childish remarks ? Still clowning with utterances of idiotic, nonsensical brainless statements because you are still incapable of debunking any of the scientific facts that I have posted? You are just a typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard who is not intelligent enough to debunk the scientific facts presented by me and fall back to the typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard’s tactic of “MAKE CHILDISH ATTACKS ON THE PERSON IF YOU ARE BANKRUPT OF IDEAS TO COUNTER THE TRUTH”. I think it is time for you to grow up and have enough guts to admit that you are completely bankrupt of ideas and are really scratching the bottom of the barrrel. IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR BRAINY MASTER BRAINWASHER DO HAVE SOME COMPASSION AND AFTER CAUSING SO MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING TO THE PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA, HAVE DECIDED TO EMPLOY AN INTERNATIONAL CLASS VILLAGE CLOWN TO ENTERTAIN THE MALAYSIA AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE WORLD. Please don’t try so hard to compete with the rest of the Anti-Lynas clique for the… Read more »
Quote The Hon. Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj dated 21.02.13: “. The British Parliament found this so disturbing that they set up a special committee – the Cherie Committee – to study this increased incidence. The minority report of this committee posits that the health effect of exposure to low levels of radiation has been grossly under-estimated by perhaps a factor of 100, because the effect of “internal emitters” has not been factored in.” Unquote COMMENT: Quoted from Ng Ai Soo response to the Hon. Prof. Chan ‘s article in the Malaysian Political Podium and Insider: “The inverse square law applies to trillions and trillions of particles, not just the one particle. That one particle IS the radiation only “dilutes” in a quantum sense… it otherwise remains one particle no matter how far it is from the source… so the cellular damage by that one particle is the same, no matter how far it travelled to get into the cell. But it must survive that journey into the cell and for different particles the survival rates are different. The “precautionary principle” has to be used judiciously… overuse can… Read more »
Quote The Hon. Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj dated 21.02.13: “..the Cherie Committee – to study this increased incidence. The minority report of this committee posits that the health effect of exposure to low levels of radiation has been grossly under-estimated by perhaps a factor of 100, because the effect of “internal emitters” has not been factored in (Submission by Dr Chan Chee Khoon…)….” Uquote. COMMENT: All the above claims come from The Learned Hon Prof. Chan : QUOTE No. 01 : Quote from the Hon. Professor “…childhood leukaemias observed among the children of Bukit Merah? (Recall also the inverse square law — the intensity of radiation from a radioactive particle a metre away from a human body increases a trillion-fold when that same particle sits at micron-level distances on the body’s cells and tissues.) ANSWER by Ng Ai Soo “The inverse square law applies to trillions and trillions of particles, not just the one particle. That one particle IS the radiation only “dilutes” in a quantum sense… it otherwise remains one particle no matter how far it is from the source… so the cellular damage by that… Read more »
Quote Anti-Propaganda: “…How does your quack pseudo science measure up against the German consultants’ report?..” Unquote AS REPORTED IN THE FZ SUNDAY during the Videoconferencing with Gerhard Schmidt of OEKO Institute. Gerhard Schmidt, of Oeko Institute said, the WLP waste produced by Lynas, with the highest radioactive content, would be 1,000 TIMES ABOVE INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED PROTECTION LEVELS for the release of radioactive materials from regulatory control. Comment: By Nick Tsurikov the Renown International Radiation Safety Expert who is the co-author of the IAEA safety report: ” GERHARD SCHMIDT IS SO OBVIOUSLY WRONG that it is not even funny. The WLP waste produced by Lynas would be 6 to 7 times above internationally accepted protection levels for the release of radioactive materials from regulatory control. I HAVE NO IDEA WHATSOEVER WHERE HE GOT “1000 TIMES” FROM… But I would like to respectfully note that a researcher/scientist from Germany is unlikely to have more knowledge and understanding of the issue than numerous reputable UN and other organisations, such as: – World Health Organisation, – UN Environment Programme, – International Labor Organisation, – International Atomic Energy Agency, – Pan-American… Read more »
Quote The Hon. Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj dated 21.02.13: ” Lynas is trying to pull wool over our eyes!……if one “dilutes” it by mixing this solid waste up with nine parts of road fill material, then its radiation level drops to 0.64 Becquerel – Hey Presto! No longer radioactive!” Unquote COMMENT: DILUTING A SUBSTANCE WILL NOT MAKE IT GO AWAY, BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS AN INTERNATIONALLY LEGITIMATE AND ACCEPTED WAY FOR REDUCING ANY RADIONUCLIDE’S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT. For instance, STRYCHNINE IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS POISON AND YET WHEN PROPERLY DILUTED IT HAS BEEN USED FOR DECADES AS A TONIC ! CHORINE WHICH IS ALSO AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS POISON, WHEN WELL DILUTED IN WATER IS PERFECTLY SAFE AND IS DRUNK BY ALL THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLK IN THE FORM OF TAP WATER! Blending of tailings follows the basic safety principle of World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation and seven more UN and other reputable international organisation – with guidelines on this existing in many countries AVERAGE MALAYSIAN SOIL = 20 ppm OF THORIUM Nick Tsurikov, Radiation Safety Expert: ” THE MAJORITY OF THIS LYNAS “WASTE”… Read more »
Wah! Datuk (grandfather) – you want to impress-ah telling all the grandfather stories. You got so much time, may be you got shares in that radioactive waste plant-lah. Oh, very rich-ah. You better give more money to charity than waste time ‘jadi mulut’ Lynas. Next time can ask you to donate for medical treatment of people living near the plant who get radioactive disease. Sooo, better start saving now, going to bring the donation box to your house!!!
Don’t say “boh looi” when we come round OK?
Hello insecure Looi boy with the alphabet soup at the end of your name.
Touched a raw nerve there, haven’t we.
You claim to be just an ordinary citizen so concerned about the Lynas workers’ welfare, Well, what about the thousands of people in the Kuantan area who are against the project? Are they stupid and only Looi boy is so clever?
How does your quack pseudo science measure up against the German consultants’ report? Oh wait, I forgot, only Looi boy with the alphabet soup is so clever and the rest are plain dumb.
Give it a rest, Looi boy. You are not impressing anyone.
And no CAPITAL letters please. It doesn’t add anything to your quack science. Plus, it’s bad internet manners, Looi boy.
To Anti-Propaganda,
Still have no guts and still cowardly hiding under a pseudonym when passing childish, silly and non-physical remarks?
You are just a typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard who is not intelligent enough to debunk the scientific facts presented by me and fall back to the typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard’s tactic of “ATTACK THE PERSON IF YOU ARE BANKRUPT OF IDEAS TO COUNTER THE TRUTH”.
ALL THAT I HAVE WRITTEN MUST BE THE TRUTH OTHERWISE IT WILL NOT MAKE BRAINLESS ANTI-LYNAS RED GUARDS LIKE THE COWARD BY THE PSEUDONYM OF “ANTI-PROPAGANDA” SO AGITATED!
Dato’ Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London
*
http://aliran.com/archives/monthly/2002/6e.html
Quote Anti-Propaganda: “…How does your quack pseudo science measure up against the German consultants’ report?..” Unquote. COMMENT: THE GERMAN OEKO Institute REPORT ON LYNAS COMMENT: The above report reminds me of the Chinese saying “If you have enough money, you can make even the Devil pull your cart for you !” There is actually nothing new in this report but rather the same old mundane arguments that have been persistently harped on by the Anti-Lynas clique. What this report does is exploiting the well known technique of presenting the incontestable facts in a devious complicated way so as to confuse the general population and to evoke a response that is completely opposite to that if the same facts were presented in a SIMPLE HONEST WAY ! For instance, instead of saying that my rocket propelled car is capable of a maximum speed of 100 km/hr (which is obviously very slow for a rocket car), I can just boast and say that my rocket car is capable of going at 100 x10^15 femtometers/hr or 100,000,000,000,000,000 femtometers/hr ! This makes it look like going at warp speed !… Read more »
* Quote The Hon. Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj: ” As lead is the final product in the decay chain for thorium, there will be a significant amount of lead in the solid waste. Lead can cause mental retardation in children if ingested by them. Lead dust in road mix would not add to the quality of our environment.” * LEAD IS THE FINAL END PRODUCT OF THE RADIOACTIVE DECAY CHAIN FOR THORIUM.Unquote. COMMENT: Half Life of Th-232 = 14.2 x 10^9 years The ore contains about 5.9 ppm of Thorium-232 and after the rare earths have been extracted at LAMP, the concentration of the NORM is NOT increased and remains at about 6 Bq/g in the form of WLP. Lynas is expected to produce about 824,400 cubic meters of WLP in the 1st 10 years of operation or 82,440 cubic meters of WLP per year (in terms of dry weight only 32,000 tonnes in year 1 and this dry WLP has a SG of 0.7). If the average volume of the yearly production given by Lynas of 82,440 cubic meters refers to the dry volume of the… Read more »
SAFETY OF THORIUM-232 It is safer and cleaner than uranium because its radioactivity is significantly lower: Quote Richard Martin, famous journalist with extensive experience in Thorium “A CHUNK OF THORIUM IS NO MORE HARMFUL THAN A BAR OF SOAP”. You can safely hold metallic Thorium-232 in your hands as it is an alpha emitter and alpha particles cannot penetrate even a piece of paper. ##### 2. Thorium-232 is strongly adsorbed to clay. There is no natural way it can get into body. Even the plants and fruits do not contain any Thorium in places with high Thorium in soil. The amount of Th-232 in the human body is tiny (estimated to be only 30 micrograms per body i.e. to get 30 gm of Th-232, you need 1 million bodies! NICK TSURIKOV, INTERNATIONAL RADIATION SAFETY SPECIALIST THORIUM IN “WASTE” IS INSOLUBLE AND CANNOT POISON ANY PLANTS, ANIMALS OR THE ENVIRONMENT – EVEN IN THEORY. RADIATION FROM THE PLANT WILL BE UNDETECTABLE OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES (of the plant).” ##### 3. QUOTE NICK TSURIKOV, INTERNATIONAL RADIATION SAFETY EXPERT WHO IS THE CO-AUTHOR OF IAEA RADIATION SAFETY REPORT: “On dust… Read more »
* * Quote Ariel: “However much scientific data cannot erase the painful memories of the Bukit Merah incident.” Unquote COMMENT: Pictures of a children with cerebral palsy, mental retardation as well as many other pictures with congenital defects and leukaemia from the Bukit Merah area has been used repeatedly to instil fear into the unsuspecting naive population of Malaysia in a very sick attempt to link Lynas to these terrible illnesses. THE LINK BEWEEN CONGENITAL DEFECTS, CEREBRAL PALSY AND RADIATION IN BUKIT MERAH ARE MISINFORMATIONS MALICIOUSLY CREATED BY THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS ! In a unique study by scientists at the John Hopkins University, published in 1988 by American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers investigated the association of parental occupational exposure to low-level external whole-body penetrating ionizing radiation and risk of congenital malformations in their offspring. THE UNIQUE FEATURE OF THIS STUDY WAS THE LINKING OF QUANTITATIVE INDIVIDUAL MEASUREMENTS OF EXTERNAL WHOLE-BODY PENETRATING IONIZING RADIATION EXPOSURE OF EMPLOYEES AT THE HANDFORD SITE IN WASHINGTON STATE, USING PERSONAL DOSIMETERS AND THE DISEASE OUTCOME i.e. CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS. The study population included 672 malformation cases and 977 matched controls from births… Read more »
Hi Looi boy,
I was wondering when you would show up again. Still using that ridiculous alphabet soup at the end of your name, I see. Still feeling very insecure you have to show off your so-called credentials and titles and whatnot?
So tell me, why are you so ‘rajin’ in defending Lynas against the interests of your fellow Malaysians? You are behaving like another one of those pathetic pro-Lynas propaganda boys, ya know. Nobody will bother to read your long-winded ‘thesis’ here, full of hot air, signifying nothing. So give it a rest, loser. Or start your own blog and see how many suckers bother to read your pro-Lynas propaganda.
To Anti-Propaganda, Still have no guts and still cowardly hiding under a pseudonym when passing sillly remarks ? You are just a typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard who is not intelligent enough to debunk the scientific facts presented by me and and fall back to the typical Anti-Lynas Red Guard’s tactic of “ATTACK THE PERSON IF YOU ARE BANKRUPT OF IDEAS TO COUNTER THE TRUTH”. Kindly note: I am not Pro or Anti Lynas or Pro or Anti Government. I have absolutely no links whatsoever with any political parties or NGO or being paid by anyone or has any share in Lynas. I owe nobody a living and nobody owes me a living. I have not received even a word of thanks from Lynas for debunking all the CRAPS posted by the Anti-Lynas folks. I have nothing to gain by saying what I have said, except for brickbats, numerous four letter words and other unmentionable expletives from the Anti-Lynas Thugs. I AM JUST AN ORDINARY CITIZEN OF MALAYSIA WHO IS NAUSEATED BY ALL THE LIES THAT ARE BEING PROPAGATED AND RADIATED BY THESE ANTI-LYNAS THUGS. THESE PEOPLE… Read more »
I am puzzled by the logic that because it is cheaper to run the plant in Malaysia the safety standards are less. It costs twice as much to build an LNG plant in Australiia compared to the USA. Does that mean safety standards are any less in the US? Australia has prohibitively high labour costs which are making many industries uncompetative on a global level. Countries like Malaysia will benefit from Australia’s stupidity.
OK, that statement is illogical. In the broader context, the question is, are safety standards in Malaysia indeed lower than in Australia? It is apparent that costs are significantly cheaper in Malaysia, no issue with that. But are lower costs the only reason for producing it here rather than in Australia?
Lynas built in Malaysia because of economic reasons
For instance, a CLEANER IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA IS PAID RM 150,000 PER YEAR AND A TECHNICIAN WELL OVER RM 300,000 !
1. Chemical Engineer : Malaysia = RM 10,000/month
Australia = RM 40,000/month
1. Water………………… : Malaysia = RM 0.84/ cu m
Australia = RM 6.00/cu m
1. Electricity…………… : Malaysia = RM 0.23 /kWatt hr
Australia = RM 0.96 /kWatt hr
1. Caustic Soda : Malaysia = RM 500/ton
Australia = RM 1,500/ton
Easy access to cheap water, near to suppliers of Sulphuric acids and other chemicals, next to a first class port and a 12 year tax break are also factors which persuaded Lynas to build their plant in Gebeng
Dr Looi