The Department of Environment (DOE) today refuted claims by anti-Lynas NGOs and activists that shipping waste materials from the Australian firm’s Gebeng rare earth plant overseas contravenes international regulations on hazardous waste transport.

“The Department of Environment would like to clarify that radioactive wastes are not covered under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.”

This was stated in a joint statemeThnt from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation in response to The Sun ’s report on Wednesday.

NONE The news report quoted the NGOs and activists as saying that Lynas is prohibited by the United Nations Environment Programme's Basel Convention from transporting its waste materials to another country.

The department contended that waste materials from the Lynas Advance Materials Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Kuantan, is “radioactive”, thus is excluded from the Basel Convention which is for hazardous materials.

“Article 1(3) of the Basel Convention states that wastes which as a result of being radioactive are subject to other international control systems.”

                        

Shipping of radioactive materials

These “controls systems”, said the department, includes the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which applies specifically to radioactive materials.

The IAEA regulations have been adopted by about 60 countries, as well as by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Maritime Organisation and regional transport organisations.

The latest revision of the IAEA transport regulations that would apply, said the department, are the TS-R-1, Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, 2009 Edition, and which if Lynas waste is transported will fall under.

            

“The fundamental principle applied to the transport of radioactive material is that the protection comes from the design of the package, regardless of how the material is transported.”

These requirements, the DOE said, are also stated in the Atomic Energy Licensing (Radioactive Wastes Management) 2011 under the Atomic Energy Licensing Act, 1984.

        

AELB can declassify Lynas wastes

However, the statement also says that the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) has the power to declassify the Lynas wastes from the “radioactive list based on their radioactivity concentrations and levels”.

NONE The wastes, it explained, will then be regulated as scheduled wastes under the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005.

“Under such circumstances, the Basel Convention instrument can be used to control the transboundary movement of these hazardous wastes if the need arises.”

The department also clarified that internationally, wastes from the Lynas plant is not categorised as radioactive as it occurs naturally from the ore.

However, it added, the residues from Lynas come under the control of Malaysian laws.

The main bone of contention for the opposition to Lamp has been the fate of the waste.

NGOs and activists are concerned that the wastes if kept in the country may lead to contamination of the areas surrounding the disposal site, rekindling the nightmare which befell Bukit Merah, Perak, which was the site of Mitsubishi Kasel’s Asian Rare Earth plant.