Would you allow your pregnant wife to work in the premises with those drums of radioactive waste?

Lynas and the Malaysian Green movement — Kua Kia Soong
October 10, 2011

OCT 10 — The Green Assembly (Himpunan Hijau 109) at dawn at the Kuantan beach yesterday was the harbinger of the Malaysian Green movement that has been a long time coming. Kudos to the organisers of this inspirational event that managed to draw together other green campaigns as well as environmentally conscious Malaysians throughout the country. It was especially heart-warming to see the Orang Asli from nearby Chini taking an active part in the event. There, we pledged our commitment to the Earth Charter and sustainable development and our opposition to projects that are socially disruptive and health-threatening.

Green consciousness in Malaysia has been growing with every toxic project in the country, most noxious has been the processing and storage of radioactive waste. The BN government has always tried to justify their production by saying that “impartial experts” have testified to their safety. In the latest case of the Lynas rare earth plant at Gebeng, near Kuantan, they have invited the IAEA as an afterthought and they say that subject to certain recommendations, the plant should be safe. But the people are not convinced and will continue to oppose this toxic project.

The myth of impartial experts

In 1984, during the controversy over the nuclear dumps of Asian Rare Earth (ARE) at Papan in Perak, I wrote an article in The Star (September 2, 1984) entitled “The Myth of the Impartial Scientist”. The government was trying to convince the public that the dumps for the radioactive waste were constructed to the required specifications and scientific experts were carted out to back up their case. But the people of Papan were not impressed and they continued to organise a protracted resistance to the dumps until they won.

The ARE factory had started operating in Bukit Merah New Village in 1982. In February 1985, the Bukit Merah residents filed an application in the Ipoh High Court to stop ARE from operating in the vicinity of their village. The residents turned out in force at the court and their organisation and commitment to the cause of environmental safety was an inspiration for the rest of the country. On April 12, 1987, some 10,000 people marched through Bukit Merah to protest the resumption of operations by ARE after the company had disregarded an injunction to stop operations. They finally won through their sustained campaign and ARE had to pack up and pay them compensation. The people of Papan and Bukit Merah were more concerned about their health and the health of their future generations than they were about the short-term gain of employment that ARE provided.

Today, the people in Kuantan who are opposing the Lynas rare earth plant are displaying the same admirable organisation, commitment to protecting their environment and concern for their health and the health of their future generations and we salute their efforts.

Far from being impartial, the IAEA is deeply involved in promoting nuclear energy. It failed to correctly assess the dangers caused by nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and recently at Fukushima. For all its “impartiality”, it also failed to prevent the Iraq war, when Bush and Blair had insisted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It turned out to be an elaborate lie to justify western invasion of Iraq.

Since the key question to allay the fears of the people is that of safety and the effects of the plant on the people’s health, one would have expected the government to bring in independent members outside the IAEA with expertise in nuclear safety, public health, environmental protection and other social concerns. Besides the danger of radiation, the Lynas plant also produces large quantities of industrial acids and chemicals which will adversely affect the environment.

The lesson of Bukit Merah should be instructive for the Lynas controversy. The ARE expert there had insisted that their facilities were safe. I remember visiting their premises and the Japanese manager had assured me of the same. When I asked the manager if he would allow his pregnant wife to work in the premises with those drums of radioactive waste around her, he was completely stumped and couldn’t answer me. During the Bukit Merah court case, other international experts testified that the adverse health effects on the residents — cancer, congenital deformities, cardiovascular disease, etc — were the direct result of the radioactivity from the waste produced by ARE.

Whatever IAEA may recommend for the Lynas plant, they have no power to regulate or enforce compliance on Lynas. We also know that the Malaysian government’s record on monitoring and implementing such environmental safety standards and its maintenance culture are legendary! If not, how did the DOE and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board fail the residents of Bukit Merah?

Neutrality of science is a myth

The lesson from all these controversies is that there is no such thing as a “neutral expert”. Science and technology have never been neutral — the neutrality of science is a myth. You can as soon find an expert who will say the project is safe and another who will warn you of its dangers.

Through the ages, science has been carried out in a manner reflecting the norms and ideology of the social order. Thus, whether it is environmental pollution, genetic engineering, climate change, psychological control technologies, computer invasion of privacy, biological and chemical warfare, scientific research is not independent and unrelated to scientists’ activity.

The history of science reveals that scientific discoveries emerged as a consequence of a specific technological requirement of a particular social order. For example, Newtonian mechanics developed during the development of industrial capitalism. The atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki exploded the myth of the autonomy of science once and for all.

The Vietnam War in the mid-Sixties saw the greatest proportion of university science in the US done on federal contract, especially for the Department of Defence. Today, scientists permeate every branch of government, advising and devising the most effective types of weapons of war.

Fortunately, there has been resistance to this development among socially conscious scientists on the side of the people. Thus, during the Vietnam War, the Bertrand Russell Tribunal sent scientists and doctors to collect evidence of the experimental nature of the war and the use of new technologies of destruction. Moral and political issues were brought out to the fore and it was no longer adequate to pose the problem in terms of the “uses/abuses of science”. The response produced such movements as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Society for Social Responsibility in Science and Science for People.

Poisoning Pahang

While we are in the midst of a controversy regarding the Emergency, it is worth pointing out that when the 30-year secrecy rule was lifted in Britain, it was discovered that the authorities had used Agent Orange to spray at least 20 sites in Pahang. Pahang happened to be the state in which the Tenth Regiment of the Communist Party of Malaya was particularly active and it was the regiment that was made up of Malays.

I raised this in an article in The Star entitled “Emergency Secrets” on March 30, 1984. Malaysian government officials were quoted in The Star (January 29, 1984) as saying it was not their responsibility to conduct studies since the spraying happened before independence. Well, if according to our professors, Malaya was never colonised, then shouldn’t the Malaysian government do something about finding out how much of our country was sprayed with Agent Orange during the Emergency? How good are our medical records to show if congenital deformities in recent years have been caused by the spraying of defoliants during the Emergency?

At a medical conference in France in 1970, attention was drawn to the possible cancer-producing effects of dioxin, the deadly component of these poisonous herbicides. Questions were also raised of aberrations in the chromosomes of those affected which may affect their reproductive ability. These findings on the long-term effects of Agent Orange — which was used by the Americans to spray rebel areas during the Vietnam War — were presented at an international symposium of 140 scientists in January 1983. Their conclusion was that there is good reason to suppose that the defoliants used not only have noxious effects on the present generation but also for future generations!

Socially useful production please!

In Malaysia, the proliferation of the domestic military-industrial complex has been in the vicinity of Kuantan, namely in Pekan, the prime minister’s constituency. The prime minister almost lost the seat in 2004 but he has now ensured that the military automotive industry is there to provide contractors, sub-contractors, servicemen and other workers with a vested interest. Defence companies enjoy “feather bedding” in which contracts are awarded without competition. But is arms production in the interest of the people even if they may chalk up our GDP figures?

Not in my backyard mate!

The reason given by Lynas for why this rare earth processing plant has to be in Malaysia rather than in West Australia where it is mined surely takes the biscuit! Their spokesperson has said that Malaysia has the infrastructure lacking in Australia! It seems clear to most that the Aussies do not want this radioactive industry in their backyard.

It reminds me of that other energy-guzzling highly toxic aluminium smelting industry from Australia that the Sarawak/federal government has been trying to attract into Sarawak in order to use the abundant electricity from the Bakun dam. Once again, one wonders why Alcoa does not smelt aluminium in their own backyard.

Either Malaysians are the most gullible people on this earth or the Malaysian government merely wants to attract the big projects regardless of their sustainability or toxicity. Big projects mean big commissions seem to be the motivating factor in Malaysian development logic!

People before profits

Thus the experts we call upon to evaluate Lynas’ rare earth processing project will give us different conclusions depending on whether their prime concern is people or profits. As in all capitalist enterprises, there will be cost cutting. Whether they use welded steel drums or plastic bags to store the processed rare earth will affect the cost drastically. So will other measures to ensure there is no environmental damage or emissions to affect the residents.

The people of Kuantan are rightly angry that their lives are being reckoned on a weighted scale and they do not want this toxic industry in their backyard. All Malaysians who care for people before profits fully support them and we must do all we can to ensure that Lynas processes the rare earth in their own backyard and not in ours.

The people of Kuantan have asserted their rights as a community. It underpins the inseparable connection between the environmental movement and the people’s movement for democracy, justice and human rights. They have initiated an assembly which, hopefully, will be the start of a green movement whose time has come.

It is time to establish a national coalition of support and solidarity for all communities under threat from such irresponsible and dubious projects and strive for an alternative path of development in which the interests of the people come before profits. The success of campaigns such as Papan and Bukit Merah demonstrates the truism that the people united will never be defeated!

* Dr Kua Kia Soong is a director of human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Papan - I have not forgotten too

I still remember the hardship faced by people in Papan, Perak. There were news everyday on that controversial dumpsite. Asian Rare Earth (ARE) produced television tube. There were huge demonstrations. Many were ISAed. People who don't live near Papan just couldn't care. I was in my 20s and was blur-blur over that hu-ha. I visited Papan a few years ago and the company ARE, was still around. Lately, Mahafiraun (aka Mamak Kutty) dares to reveal the truth. He was the one that caused all the problem and he is now telling us about the problem. What did he do then? Greatest liar on earth and also the most racist and also the most provocator of war (remember the Fortilla to Israel? - he was the organiser that like to jeopardise world peace). This is the most hypocrite creature on earth. He condemned people of Papan, he ISAed people of Papan and now he has the gut to tell about that danger. I don't know when he will repent. Can he?
Read the articles below. Google Asian Rare Earth to learn about this dark episode.


Sunday June 13, 2010
A long-drawn battle against ARE
Star

THE people of Papan demonstrated for two months in the town and along the main road and even sent a petition written in blood before the Government decided to negotiate with them.

Papan-Pusing-Siputeh Anti-Radioacative Waste Dump committee chairman Low Tong Hooi, 69, remembers that the people of Papan and nearby towns were determined to fight Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE) because the issue involved the health of their future generation.

Papan resident Lau Chin Yau, 73, said almost everybody in town was involved in the demonstrations.

“Tents were set up along the main road and the people, including many from Batu Gajah, Pusing, Siputeh and Lahat, took turns to be there round the clock. We had our meals at the site as bags of rice and lots of biscuits were donated by supporters,” she said.

Nine children suffering from various sicknesses including brain tumour and leukaemia were initially registered with the Perak Anti-Radioactive Commit­tee. Five have since died.

Cheah Kok Leong is one of those alive. He receives RM150 each month from PARC chairman Hew Yoon Tat.

Cheah, 27, lives in Bukit Merah with his single mother Lam Lai Kuan, 68. He was born mentally retarded and almost blind, with cataracts in both eyes.

“I have to be at home with him to attend to his needs round the clock,” said Lam who had worked as a contract labourer in ARE while pregnant with Cheah.

“We were not informed about the materials processed there. Some people even used the waste as fertiliser, claiming that they were advised to do so by factory employees.”

A private practitioner, Dr T. Jayabalan, said he found 13 children from Bukit Merah suffering from leukaemia in 1984 and there was a high number of cancer cases among the 11,000 villagers.

Dr Jayabalan remembered that a survey he carried out in Bukit Merah showed the number of miscarriages in the village was high, adding that tests on a sample of 60 children revealed high levels of lead in their bloodstream.

However, his medical findings submitted in the villagers’ 1985 suit in the Ipoh High Court were dismissed by the judge.

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Sunday June 13, 2010
Dumpsite danger
BY FOONG THIM LENG
Star


It has been 28 years but the people of Bukit Merah and Papan have not forgotten. Triggered by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent comments about the radioactive waste in Perak, The Star has unearthed some new developments there.

FOR almost 30 years, the country’s cache of dangerous radioactive waste has been stored in drums in a concrete facility – and not buried “deep in the ground” as claimed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister, commenting on the Government’s proposal to build a nuclear power plant, told a press conference on May 14 that there was ‘’a small amount’’ of nuclear waste buried in Perak and that the disposal site was still regarded unsafe.

‘’In Malaysia, we do have nuclear waste which perhaps the public is not aware of. We had to bury the amang, a by-product from tin mining.

‘’It is not radioactive but it is not good to handle. We had to bury it in Perak, deep in the ground. But the place is still not safe, and we have almost one square mile that is dangerous,” he said, adding that he did not know where the site was.

Following his remarks, The Star has discovered that 80,000 200-litre drums containing radioactive waste are currently being kept at the dump located in the Kledang Range behind Papan town. The site is about 3km from Bukit Merah and Papan and about 15km from Ipoh. And the waste is thorium hydroxide, not amang.

In fact, it is only January this year that work finally began on the building of a proper underground storage facility called an engineered cell (EC).

For the residents of Bukit Merah and Papan, Dr Mahathir’s acknowledgement of the danger comes as a bitter vindication of their long-drawn battle to stop Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE), a company located at the Bukit Merah Industrial Area in the 1980s, from disposing of its radioactive waste near their towns.

And if the rest of the country has forgotten what they went through 27 years ago, the people of Bukit Merah, Papan and other settlements have not.

Perak Anti-Radioactive Committee chair­man Hew Yoon Tat took Dr Mahathir to task for seemingly making light of the matter.

“The waste was never buried and the amount is not small. I would also like to remind Dr Mahathir that the radioactive waste came from a company approved by the Government to process rare earth,” he said.

Hew, 66, a butcher from Bukit Merah, added that the ARE factory extracted yytrium from monazite, one of the minerals found in amang (tin tailings), which were exported for use in high technology products.

In the production process, thorium hydroxide was produced. Both monazite and the waste contained thorium, which has a half-life of 13.9 billion years.

“Cancer-causing radon gas is released during decay,” he added.

ARE, which started production in 1982, had constructed the facility in the Kledang Range after former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam declared a proposed dumpsite on a durian hill near settlements in Papan unsafe and ordered the company to look for an alternative site.

Countering Dr Mahathir’s statement that “perhaps the public is not aware” of the waste, Hew said: “People involved in the series of protests, court case, and those whose lives were affected by ARE will never forget.

“These are the people who had suffered illnesses, braved clashes with the police during demonstrations, were arrested under the Internal Security Act, spent time away from work to show support during protests in Papan, Bukit Merah, Kuala Lumpur, and even in Tokyo.”

Hew was arrested under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang in 1987.

Papan-Pusing-Siputeh Anti-Radioacative Waste Dump committee chairman Low Tong Hooi, 69, is also astounded by Dr Mahathir’s statements.

“Why is it only now that he has admitted the radioactive dump is dangerous? In 1984, he maintained that the poorly constructed trenches for the waste in Papan in 1984 were safe,” he said.

Low added that experts from America, Britain, Canada and Japan brought in with the help of Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Consumer Associa­tion of Penang and the Environmental Protec­tion Society of Malaysia declared the factory and the dump unsafe but the Government preferred to heed another view.

Although the ARE factory ceased operations in 1994, the company still maintains an office in a Menglembu housing estate.

The Star has learnt that it was only nine years later, between 2003 and 2005, that a decommissioning and decontamination exercise was carried out at the factory.

ARE’s general manager (administration) Kazuhiko Nishikawa said that about 250,000 tonnes of contaminated equipment, concrete structure, soil and materials were removed and transported by specially designed lorries approved by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board to an engineered cell called EC1 constructed at the 41ha site in the Kledang Range at the back of Papan.

“AELB has confirmed that the former factory site has been fully cleaned and is free from radioactive contamination. The lot was returned to the state government last year,” he said in an interview.

Kazuhiko said the company was now carrying out a project to construct another engineered cell (EC2) next to EC1 to store the thorium hydroxide accumulated during ARE’s operations between May 1982 and July 1984. The EC2 will decommission the use of the present storage facility and dispose of everything underground to a depth of 10m, similar to EC1.

Details of the project took three years to be worked out and had been reviewed by local and international experts and approved by AELB, he said.

“The project was designed in accordance with international and Malaysian standards and regulations set by agencies such as the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the International Atomic Energy Agency, AELB and the Department of Occupa­tional Safety and Health.

“It is also being monitored by the Perak Government and its consultant is the Malay­sian Nuclear Agency,” he said.

Kazuhiko said 500,000 tonnes of contaminated materials comprising debris from the concrete facility which would be demolished, 80,000 drums of wastes, and soil would be sent to EC2.

ARE has tasked US-based environmental and geotechnical engineering design and construction services specialist GeoSyntec Consultants Inc and its Malaysian subsidiary, GSM Consultancy (M) Sdn Bhd, with the management and implementation of the project.

Work of the project commenced in January. AELB would supervise and inspect all works during construction and the Perak government, relevant state agencies, and the PARC would be briefed on its progress, said Kazuhiko.

GSM Consultancy (M) Sdn Bhd director Anthony Goh said EC1 had been properly designed and constructed, based on its monitoring over the past six years.

Goh said frequent monitoring at the site had been carried out since 1992 and the results reported to the AELB.

“We did not find any increase in the background level of radiation and radon gas. Tests on ground and surface water and vegetation in the area did not suggest any contamination,” said Goh.

He added that all those involved in EC2, scheduled for completion in 2013, would be given a dosimeter badge to check on contamination and would undergo medical check-ups every month.

“Mechanised handling of the drums and waste will be introduced when transferring into EC2. We will solidify and repack the waste if the drums are corroded,” he said.

He also said the operation did not pose any public risk as there was no one living within 2km from the site.

“The dump will have a 200m buffer zone from its fence where no human activities would be allowed,” he added.

Both the engineered cells would then be “capped” with a final single cover to ensure safe disposal and minimal impact to the environment, he added.

AELB will monitor the site for two years before it is handed to the state government for long-term management and maintenance to ensure security.

Kazuhiko added that ARE was bearing the cost for the project but declined to reveal the amount.

PARC’s Hew said no one could ensure that the dump would not pose any danger in the long run. He hoped that future state governments would not forget about the dump and would continue to monitor it for the sake of the people.