PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya today defended its decision to revoke the permit of Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) if it fails to remove its radioactive waste from Malaysia.
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said she understood the anxiety of workers losing their jobs but the onus was still on Lynas Malaysia to remove waste residue from the country.
She was responding to a plea by Lynas employees in Gebeng, Kuantan, who fear losing their jobs if LAMP shuts down.
About 130 workers held a demonstration outside the Parliament building on Tuesday. They urged the government to save the 1,000 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs that would be impacted if the facility’s licence is not renewed.
Yeo cited two letters, dated Feb 23, 2012 and March 6, 2012, which indicated the commitment by Lynas Australia and Lynas Malaysia to remove LAMP residues from Malaysia, if necessary.
“Your employer has twice made the commitment to the government to remove waste from Malaysia, based on the two letters of undertaking.
“Considering the risk of the residue accumulation, it is now necessary to do that.
“I would like you to know that I did not ask more than what your employer had committed back in 2012.
“Therefore, it is my hope that Lynas will honour their word and start the process of shipping out WLP (water leached purification) residues from Malaysia,” she said in a statement today.
Yeo said the Lynas management was trying to stage a drama through “the myriads of paid advertorials in all major newspapers, the press conferences that paint a bad picture of the ministry and so on”.
“It eventually boils down to this: (Lynas is out) to protect the company’s bottom line by not honouring the commitment made. As a minister, my job, on the other hand, is to protect the public interest and people of Malaysia.”
Lynas was recently told by the ministry to remove its waste from the Kuantan plant or risk not having its operational permit renewed.
The ministry said LAMP would be allowed to continue operating as long as it removed and disposed its WLP residue which contains radioactive material.
It also said Lynas must submit an action plan on the disposal of its non-radioactive neutralisation underflow residue scheduled waste.
Lynas CEO Amanda Lacaze has dismissed allegations that the company is using Malaysia as a dumping ground for radioactive waste, saying the claims are “not rooted in science” and seek only to scare the public.
In her statement, Yeo also said it would only cost Lynas 10% of its earnings for one year to send out waste that had been accumulated in Malaysia over six years.
“I really hope you can put things into perspective according to these figures,” she said.
The Bakri MP said there was continuous accumulation of two primary residues at the LAMP site, namely WLP, totalling 451,564 tonnes, and neutralisation underflow residue (NUF) totalling 1.113 million tonnes.
“As of now, there is no viable near-term solution to manage the accumulated residues, stored at the open landfill temporary site.
“The risks to the surrounding communities and environment increases with the increasing amount of accumulated residues as these are exposed to the threat of natural disasters such as major flooding,” she said. - FMT
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