Going nuclear: Not always but sometimes Dr M is right

There is always a first time for anyone to agree with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

When the government originally proposed the construction of a nuclear power plant, Mahathir alluded to “a small amount” of nuclear waste buried in Perak and that the disposal site was ‘still regarded unsafe’.

Last May he said, “In Malaysia, we do have nuclear waste which perhaps the public is not aware of. We had to bury the amang, a by-product from tin mining”

Mahathir revealed something else, “It is not radioactive but it is not good to handle. We had to bury it in Perak, deep in the ground. But the place is still not safe, and we have almost one square mile that is dangerous.”

Mahathir’s revelations take us to two postcard-perfect towns in an idyllic scene of green rolling hills and mining pools.

And he was wrong about two things.

For three decades, the dangerous radioactive waste was stored in drums in a concrete facility.

But it was not buried “deep in the ground” as he claims. The 80,000 drums (200-litre each) are just ‘kept’ at the dump behind Papan town. And the waste is not amang, it is thorium hydroxide.

The Papan-Pusing-Siputeh Anti-Radioacative Waste Dump committee chairman Low Tong Hooi was disturbed by Dr Mahathir's statements: “Why is it only now that he has admitted the radioactive dump is dangerous? In 1984, he maintained that the poorly constructed trenches for the waste in Papan in 1984 were safe”.

The deliberate misinformation when Mahathir was Prime minister is understandable. We are familiar with the varying levels of directives which BN leaders have purported to be true, but which we know are all hogwash.

Low also claimed that Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Consumer Associa­tion of Penang and the Environmental Protec­tion Society of Malaysia sought expert help from America, Britain, Canada and Japan to declare the factory and the dump unsafe.

The government ignored these recommendations and started a decommissioning and decontamination exercise in the factory in 2003 and 2005. And itt was only in January 2010 that they considered building a proper underground storage facility.

In the 1980s, the residents of Bukit Merah and Papan had a long-drawn battle to stop Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE), located in the Bukit Merah Industrial Area from disposing its radioactive waste near their towns. People became ill because of ARE's activities. Protestors were arrested under the Internal Security Act.

Hew Yoon Tat, who is the Perak Anti-Radioactive Committee (PARC) chair­man was arrested under Operation Lalang in 1987.

He is astounded by Mahathir's claims: “The waste was never buried and the amount is not small. I would also like to remind Dr Mahathir that the radioactive waste came from a company approved by the government to process rare earth”.

The ARE factory extracted yytrium from monazite, one of the minerals found in amang. This was then exported for use in high technology products. Thorium hydroxide is produced in the production process. Both monazite and the waste contains thorium, which has a half-life of 13.9 billion years. Cancer-causing radon gas is released during decay.

The General Manager (administration) for ARE, Kazuhiko Nishikawa, claimed that 250,000 tonnes of contaminated equipment, concrete structure, soil and materials were removed and that the Atomic Energy Licensing Board confirmed that the former factory site was free from radioactive contamination.

He also said that further works were in progress and that the operation did not pose any public risk as there was no one living within 2km from the site.

Nevertheless, PARC's Hew is unconvinced and said that no one could guarantee that the dump would be free of danger.

This dump-site is mired deep in secrecy, controversy and cover-up. Maybe it is time we press for an inquiry, to be both transparent and detailed, to be conducted with extreme urgency. Where are the politicians, both BN and Pakatan when we need them?

Mahathir’s dramatic revelations have angered and worried the residents of Papan and Bukit Merah.

Thus far, ARE has refused to disclose how much the company has spent to date, to make the place safe. For a problem that was created in the 80s we still have no clue as to the true extent of the danger that remains hidden.

Mahathir reiterated his views on nuclear power this November. Yes, it is disgusting how Prime ministers, past and present, lie to the electorate. But for once let us heed his advice when he says “Once you activate the uranium or whatever, you cannot deactivate it.” Also why should we believe the current reassurances by this government about ‘nuclear’ being safe.

Talk of two more nuclear power plants will open another can of worms and will reopen a lot of wounds. It should be a firm “No” to nuclear power plants.