The two years during which the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) will operate under a temporary operational licence (TOL) in Gebeng will allow regulators to verify the various safety claims made by Lynas in its reports, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) says.

“Lynas’ documents have underlined the safety of its plant but this is perhaps based on other plants, pilot studies or laboratory experiments.

“It is normal for a new plant to have a TOL to verify whether claims in the documents are actually what they claim to be,” AELB director-general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan told a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Dengkil this morning.

NONE “We hope that at the end of the TOL period, we will have further answers to questions on whether it’s safe, within the limits of national regulations and international standards and best practices.”

Raja Abdul Aziz ( right ) stressed that the TOL, compared with an ordinary operational licence, would allow AELB to dictate how the Lamp is operated.

“It will be a very controlled production and its operations will be closely scrutinised and monitored by the authorities. If it needs tweaking or refinement, they will need to make them, it is not an open licence for them to produce.”

In addition to this, he said, AELB hoped by this month to identify an independent third party assessor to monitor the plant.

“What is more important is they have the right credentials. We are looking for a third party asessor that is recognised by other regulatory authorities and with experience in chemicals and naturally occurring radionuclides,’ he said.

‘Lynas to provide details in 10 months’

While the TOL is for two years, Lynas is required to provide details of its permanent waste storage facility, including its site, within 10 months of the licence being issued or it will be suspended.

“The board will not consider Gebeng as a permanent storage facility,” Raja Abdul Aziz added.

Asked if the government was prepared to deal with a radioactive leakage, he said: “Yes, we have the experience and expertise to deal with it... don’t forget, we already have a storage facility in Perak.”

This facility, he added, was from the tin mining days in the state.

“You will know Malaysia was the world’s number one tin producer. Along with tin, there is always thorium and uranium. Therefore, this is not our first facility, we have the experience to handle and overcome this.

“I think there are more than 10 other facilities similar to Lynas, some with higher residues of concentration of uranium and thorium, which we have been able to regulate and control.”

With the TOL, Lynas expects to meet its target to begin operations at its RM700 million Gebeng plant by the second quarter of this year.