Lynas review recommends permanent disposal facility, Ministry says residue must be removed from Malaysia

Signboard indicating the entrance to the construction site of the Lynas rare earth refinery in Gebeng.

KUANTAN: The Lynas executive review committee has found the rare earth materials producer to be in general compliance with all relevant regulations.

However, the committee recommended that Lynas immediately identify and build a permanent disposal facility (PDF) for its water leached purification (WLP) residue.

"Site screening works for the PDF's construction is required before the next renewal of the licence, without waiting for the results of research into recycling.

"This is taking into account the risk of the residue accumulated on site that is exposed to the threat of weather and natural disaster caused by climate change," said the committee in its report put up for public access on Tuesday (Dec 4).

It added that for this purpose, Lynas had to prepare an environmental impact assessment report.

The committee also said any research into recycling the neutralisation underflow (NUF) residue without involving WLP could proceed.

It recommended that an independent research and development committee be set up to coordinate, evaluate, manage and monitor the research to ensure it is free from any conflict of interest on the part of Lynas.

"The R&D committee also had to scrutinise and evaluate the aspect of product commercialisation," it said.

The committee also said Lynas had to be prepared to remove the WLP from Malaysia if the location of the PDF could not be identified or approved.

Despite that, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry is putting its foot down, saying that it will not allow the unlimited accumulation of residue at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP).

In a statement, the ministry said the accumulated WLP residue, which contained radioactive materials, must be removed from Malaysia.

The ministry noted that Lynas Australia and Lynas Malaysia had each presented letters of undertaking in 2012 indicating their commitment to remove Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) residue from Malaysia, if necessary.

"For the non-radioactive NUF scheduled waste, LAMP shall submit an action plan on the disposal of its accumulated wastes before it will be considered for future applications under Rule 9 (6) and 9 (7) of the Environmental Quality Regulations (Scheduled Waste) 2005," it said, adding that the current approval for scheduled waste storage was valid until Feb 15, 2019.