KELULUSAN RARE EARTH PRODUCTION DI KUANTAN HARUS DI TARIK BALIK

Pemuda UMNO hari ini meminta kerajaan mengkaji semula kelulusan yang diberikan oleh Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB)  kepada sebuah syarikat Australia, Lynas Corp untuk membina kilang memproses  tanah jarang (rare earth)  di Kuantan yang dikhuatiri memberi kesan kepada orang ramai dan alam sekitar.  

Mining, refining, and recycling of rare earths have serious environmental consequences if not properly managed. A particular hazard is mildly radioactive slurrys tailing resulting from the common occurrence of thorium and uranium in rare earth element ores. Improper handling of these substances can result in extensive environmental damage. Additionally, toxic acids are required during the refining process.

Australian mining company, Lynas, was reported to be "hurrying to finish" a US$230 million rare earth refinery on the northern outskirts of Malaysia’s industrial port of Kuantan. The plant would refine "slightly radioactive" ore from the Mount Weld mine in Australia. The ore would be trucked to Fremantle and transported by container ship to Kuantan. Within two years, Lynas was said to expect the refinery to be able to meet nearly a third of the world’s demand for rare earth materials

The Kuantan development brought renewed attention to the Malaysian town of Bukit Merah in Perak, where a rare-earth mine operated by a Mitsubishi Chemical subsidary, Asian Rare Earth, closed in 1992 and left continuing environmental and health concerns.The Bukit Merah mine in Malaysia has been the focus of a US$100 million cleanup which is proceeding in 2011. "Residents blamed a rare earth refinery for birth defects and eight leukemia cases within five years in a community of 11,000 — after many years with no leukemia cases." Seven of the leukemia victims died. After having accomplished the hilltop entombment of 11,000 truckloads of radioactively contaminated material, the project is expected to entail in summer, 2011, the removal of "more than 80,000 steel barrels of radioactive waste to the hilltop repository. 

(Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare earth)