Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has warned that Lynas’ plan to construct a permanent disposal facility (PDF) in the Gebeng Industrial Estate contradicts Kuantan’s district locality plan.
The PKR lawmaker claimed that the PDF construction plan is unlawful if it did not get prior approval from the National Physical Planning Council or PlanMalaysia.
This came after Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Adham Baba said that the construction of the Gebeng PDF will comply with local and international standards and is guaranteed to be safe.
“To be honest, the area has been elevated and has had a 20-metre radius radiological impact assessment (RIA) survey done and it was found to be safe.
“We have three principles, namely safety, safeguard and security that we have set, and these must be complied with before we allow (PDF construction), the Malay Mail reported Adham as telling the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
According to Fuziah (above), the Kuantan District Locality Plan 2035 (Replacement) states that the classification of heavy industrial land in Kuantan includes “producing radioactive materials, processing nuclear waste materials or producing nuclear components, processing toxic or dangerous waste materials”.
However, a disposal site for radioactive waste is not listed, Fuziah stressed.
“The Gebeng Industrial Estate can generate radioactive materials, but (the plan) never says it can be a dumpsite (for radioactive waste).
“It is wrong for the government to conclude that Gebeng can construct a PDF, this is twisting the facts,” she said.
Fuziah, who is Pahang Pakatan Harapan chairperson, pointed out that the state government made the same mistake when it allowed the Gebeng PDF plan to be carried out.
Proposal not referred to PlanMalaysia main office
According to the appendixes of Gebeng PDF’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, the state government and PlanMalaysia's Pahang department exempted the developer, Gading Senggara Sdn Bhd (GSSB), from referring the project proposal to PlanMalaysia's main office.
Fuziah argued that this violated Section 20(B) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.
Section 20(B) states that departments or agencies of federal and state governments are obligated to seek advice from PlanMalaysia if a project is a construction of major infrastructure, including building a toxic waste disposal site.
The Act further states that government agencies have to submit the project proposal, a social impact assessment report and other reports.
“Pahang’s PlanMalaysia claimed that it doesn’t need to refer to (central PlanMalaysia)... this is violating laws and contradictory to the fact,” Fuziah said.
Misclassification of Lynas’ radioactive waste
Fuziah also claimed that radioactive water leach purification (WLP) residue is classified as “low-level waste” (LLW) according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Yet the EIA report misclassified the WLP residue as “very low-level waste” (VLLW), she said.
“The classification is contradictory with IAEA’s definition, IAEA said it was LLW, not VLLW.”
The public feedback submission deadline for the proposed project ended on Nov 30.
The proposed site is located at Lot 31375, Kuantan Gebeng Industrial Estate, which sits 30 metres away from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp).
GSSB is the contractor for the PDF and Pahang Regent Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah is the majority shareholder of the company.
The EIA report states that under the worst-case scenario, such as a rainstorm, contaminated runoffs containing radioactive residues might reach Sungai Baluk - the nearest river to the proposed site. - Mkini
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