Review must be fair: Lynas

KUALA LUMPUR: Australian mining company Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) has stated that pilots and flight crew are exposed to more radiation in a year than the staff at their plant in Gebeng, Kuantan.

LAMP chief executive officer Amanda Lacaze ( pix) said the plant was a world-class, safe chemical processing facility as proven by its international certifications, that include the ISO Health, Safety and Environmental standard.

“There is naturally-occurring low level radioactivity in the material we process and we manage its use and storage carefully to protect the health and well-being of our people and the local community.”

Lacaze said the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency had stated operations at the plant were “intrinsically low risk”.

She said the waste materials are completely contained and none are exposed to the environment, adding that 650 to 1,000 people could lose their jobs if the plant was shut down.

A Lynas evaluation committee has been set up and Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who is also deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, was appointed its chairman for three months from Sept 24.

Fuziah had been at the forefront of protests against the Lynas plant in Gebeng when it first opened in 2008.

Lacaze said the company will cooperate with any government review but it must be “procedurally fair” so that the company has “a fair go”.