An accident involving a lorry loaded with Lynas rare earths products left the commodities scattered on the road in Lanchang, Pahang, this morning, resulting in that stretch of the road being closed to traffic.
Lynas Malaysia public relations and communications general manager Amin Abdullah has confirmed the accident, and he went on to stress that the products are not dangerous and none are radioactive.
According to Amin, the lorry was conveying the products from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) at the Gebeng industrial zone, near Kuantan, to Port Klang for export to overseas customers.
Although the cause and the exact location of the incident are yet to be identified, he stressed that there was no casualty.
“We don’t know whether the driver was over-speeding or any other reason, but the incident which happened this morning caused no casualty or fatality.
“These products are not dangerous. They are certified safe to be transported overseas and all the certificates are in place,” Amin said when contacted by Malaysiakini this afternoon.
He added that the lorry does not belong to Lynas but from a contracted transport company, and the safety, health and environment team of the company had been sent to the scene for further investigation.
Termeloh district police chief Abdul Aziz Salleh is to address this issue at a press conference.
[More to follow]
Lynas Malaysia public relations and communications general manager Amin Abdullah has confirmed the accident, and he went on to stress that the products are not dangerous and none are radioactive.According to Amin, the lorry was conveying the products from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) at the Gebeng industrial zone, near Kuantan, to Port Klang for export to overseas customers.
Although the cause and the exact location of the incident are yet to be identified, he stressed that there was no casualty.
“We don’t know whether the driver was over-speeding or any other reason, but the incident which happened this morning caused no casualty or fatality.“These products are not dangerous. They are certified safe to be transported overseas and all the certificates are in place,” Amin said when contacted by Malaysiakini this afternoon.
He added that the lorry does not belong to Lynas but from a contracted transport company, and the safety, health and environment team of the company had been sent to the scene for further investigation.
Termeloh district police chief Abdul Aziz Salleh is to address this issue at a press conference.
[More to follow]
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ReplyDeleteThe drums contains only Neodymium chloride and Praseodymium chloride. Both these chemicals are non-toxic.
The Neodymium chloride has an oral LD50 of 3.7 gm/kg for mice and that is about the same as that of common salt (Sodium chloride).
Any chemical with an oral LD50 of greater than 2.0 gm/kg is internationally accepted as non-toxic.
Remember, KCl or the potassium chloride that your friendly doctor gives to patients as an adjunct to diuretic therapy, hypertension and potassium loss in conditions like diabetes mellitus is not only radioactive (32 Bq/g) but is more than 2x the toxicity of Neodymium chloride (Oral KCl LD50 for mice = 1.5 g/kg).
Praseodymium choride is also considered to be non-toxic.
So what's the big fuss ?
Dato' Dr Looi
♥ :) ;)
ReplyDeleteQuote Anti-Lynas: "If it's not hazardous, why wear HAZMAT (Hazardous Material) suits?.... willl kill fish when it get into the water" Unquote.
COMMENT:
In any chemical spill in all the advanced countries, the first response team will put on the "chemical suits" as a routine preventive measure because in the initial phase nobody knows what the chemical is.
Only after it is clarified and rectified that the chemicals are indeed of the harmless type, then normal clean up is carried out.
With regards to the "killing of fish", we must remember that even the "harmless" Potassium chloride, if dumped into the water, will kill all the fishes!
So what's the big fuss ?
The PrCl2.NdCl3.xH2O (Didymium Chloride) which contains Neodymium chloride and Praseodymium chloride is a highly valuable product and is not "A HAZARDOUS MATERIAL" !
Didymium Chloride 99.99% pure in its dry form sells for anything up to US$530,000 PER TON Retail."
Good quality Didymium Chloride is indeed very expensive.
There are only nine suppliers in the world,
US 5,
Germany 1,
China 2.
Malaysia 1 (Lynas)
Dato' Dr Looi