AELB: No disposal plan yet but Lynas still has time

Anti-Lynas campaigners argue that the miner was already contravening a key proviso of its licence. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 ― Lynas Corp has not submitted its plans for a permanent disposal facility (PDF) for the possible wastes it will produce at its controversial rare earth refinery in Kuantan, says the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB)

An AELB spokesman told The Malaysian Insider that submission of the PDF plans is a legally binding condition of the Temporary Operating Licence (TOL) issued to Lynas, but noted that the stipulation has not been breached.

The spokesman, who declined to be named, confirmed that failure to submit the PDF plans within 10 months of the TOL being issued could lead to the Australian miner’s licence for the multi-billion ringgit refinery being suspended or revoked.

“If they don’t submit to AELB, we will use the power and authority that we have,” he said, pointing to Section 22 of the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 (Act 304)

If Lynas violates any condition in the TOL, AELB’s options under Section 22 include the suspension and revocation of the licence.

When asked whether AELB would need to pay compensation to Lynas in the event of a suspension or revocation of the TOL, the spokesman referred to Section 22 (3) of the same law.

Section 22 (3) states that the licensee, in this case Lynas, would not have any claim or be entitled to compensation for losses suffered due to the licence being cancelled, suspended or not renewed.

Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) chairman Tan Bun Teet has said Lynas was yet to identify the site of its PDF and submit plans on treating the waste, despite the AELB’s condition of 10 month-period from the date of the TOL’s issuance.

“It’s been 10 months exactly and Lynas has said it will not be exporting its waste. What’s the permanent solution?” the environmental activist asked yesterday.

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who has actively campaigned against the Lynas plant, claimed in a statement today that the Australian miner had breached the PDF clause.

“From the above conditions it is very clear that Lynas has breached the conditions of the TOL since it is more than 10 months since the TOL was issued on 1st February 2012,” Fuziah alleged, referring to the conditions in a February 22 statement jointly made by four Cabinet ministers.

But the AELB spokesman clarified that the 10-month period starts from the date of issuance of TOL by AELB, not its date of approval.

AELB had approved the TOL this February 1, but only issued it this September 5, which means the deadline for the 10-month period is likely to fall on July next year.

The spokesman said that the 10-month period is “more complicated now”, pointing out that the local courts had previously suspended Lynas’s operations here for several months.

He suggested that it was possible that Lynas would use the court’s previous suspension of its operations to argue the actual deadline of the 10-month period.

But he said a five-man AELB board will decide on all the implementation of the Act, including the TOL’s conditions and the start of the 10-month period.

The spokesman said that Lynas will still have to apply for a full licence, pointing out that the firm now only possessed a TOL.

A statement by AELB on February 1 and the February 22 joint ministerial statement, which have similar content, explicitly states five conditions, with three relating to the PDF.

The February 22 statement, written in the English language, said that Lynas has to submit details of the plans and location of a proposed PDF to AELB, and the submission must be made within 10 months of the date that the TOL is issued.

The third condition states: “This requirement must be complied with regardless of any alternative proposal Lynas may make for the management or disposal of the factory residue (eg. recycling, conversion into products that can be sold, etc)”.

Sydney-based Lynas Corp had on Monday repeated that it is committed to following the rules and regulations set by Malaysian regulators, including a condition to export residues produced out of Malaysia.

Unprecedented public anger towards the Lynas plant has turned it into campaign fodder for the general election that must be called by next April when the BN’s mandate expires.

Despite widespread opposition owing to environmental and health concerns, the government granted the Australian miner a temporary operating licence that allowed it to carry out a trial run earlier this month.

Anti-Lynas groups are still seeking to halt the project and have taken their case to court. Their challenge will be next heard on December 21.

LAMP is touted to be the world’s biggest rare earth plant outside China and aims to break the eastern giant’s 90 per cent chokehold on the material crucial to the manufacture of high-technology products like smartphones.