I do not know why the Gomen tolerate so much nonsense and scare mongering about the Lynas Rare Earth Processing Plant in Gebeng by the obviously Pakatan inspired and led StopLynas and Himpunan Hijau.
Its one thing to have the freedom to demonstrate against something that you do not like but this small group of people have crossed the line of decency, its pure scare mongering and what they are doing will not only scare the residents around Gebeng but they will make Malaysia a less attractive place for foreign investors to invest and it will damage Malaysia's precious reputation as a investors' haven in the long run. Malaysia is a global trading nation, we are competing with Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore for FDIs and we certainly do not need local scare mongerers scaring away investors from our country.
About 1% of Malaysia's GDP can be created from the Lynas Gebeng plant when it is fully operational, this is not a small business, it is mega and benefits Malaysia's economy. Mark my words if these demonstrations are not stopped, jobs opportunities will be lost as investors will be scared to invest in a place where the Gomen is flip-flopping in its decision, bending backwards to the demands of selfish minority who is using the Lynas issue as a political battering ram to whack the BN.
The Lynas issue started with PKR YB Fuziah belatedly making noise about Lynas Gebeng, making noise when the plant is being constructed after the relevant Authority approval has been given.
After much explanation and reports by AELB and the world authority and independent IAEA no less (source here):
Main Findings and Recommendations of IAEA Review Mission - Summary
International safety standards complied with;
The IAEA reported that Lynas has so far met all radiation safety standards imposed on them at the plant by the regulatory authorities (AELB and DOE).These standards meet internationally recognised IAEA safety standards.
Lynas must submit waste management plan for approval
The IAEA said Lynas must submit – before the start of operations – a comprehensive waste management plan for AELB's approval.
The plan should address the following issues:
How waste will be stored or disposed off
How waste will be stored or disposed off
What will happen when the project ends and the plant is dismantled
How the environment will be restored to normal use at the end of the project life
AELB should be strengthened
The IAEA said the AELB should be strengthened and given more resources – human, financial, technical – to do its job.
....... after that much explanation by the very patient AELB supported by the IAEA review, the StopLynas gang now goes nuts about the Lynas waste byproduct containing Thorium 232 and draw their inspiration from the ARE plant in Perak which closed down. That the Lynas plant and the ARE plant processed different material to begin with was conveniently not mentioned.
The IAEA said the AELB should be strengthened and given more resources – human, financial, technical – to do its job.
....... after that much explanation by the very patient AELB supported by the IAEA review, the StopLynas gang now goes nuts about the Lynas waste byproduct containing Thorium 232 and draw their inspiration from the ARE plant in Perak which closed down. That the Lynas plant and the ARE plant processed different material to begin with was conveniently not mentioned.
What is Thorium-232?
The early experimental nuclear reactor used thorium as its fuel. Thorium is a safe radioactive material provided you do not inhale or eat it. Thorium will be the future nuclear fuel. The waste will be black gold in future if we can ensure proper waste storage.Read more here.
How safe is Thorium-232?
The following is a letter from a real expert (sourced here) not the scare mongering pseudo experts:
Fear of Radioactivity in Lynas Rare Earth Plant
Dear Sir,
I just cannot understand what the big fuss is all about with regards to the radioactivity in the Lynas Rare Earth plant.
Thoriun-232 is the only radioactive element associated with rare earth mining and Thorium-232 has been regarded as the future green nuclear fuel.
It is present in the rocks everywhere and even in its purest form radiates only alpha particles.
Alpha particles which consist of 2 protons and 2 neutrons are nothing more than just helium atoms without their electrons.
These alpha particles cannot penetrate more than a few centimeters of air and CANNOT penetrate the human skin.
As such you can hold a lump of pure Thorium-232 in your rubber gloved hands without any danger at all.
Thorium-232 do not produce the dangerous Gamma particles which are ionising high energy, high frequency and extremely short wavelengh electromagnetic waves.
These can easily pass though the whole human body and cause widespread radiation damage.
To be very frank, I do not mind keeping a few thousand kilograms of pure Thorium-232 in my house if someone is kind enough to give me such a valuable substance.
In other words, the fear of radioactivity dangers from the rare earth processing plant is unfounded and grossly exaggerated. What we need to worry is the chemical toxic waste that such plants produce.
But unfortunately all industrial plants produce toxic wastes and the only way to avoid these toxic wastes is for us to remain as a poor agricultural country.
Fear of Radioactivity in Lynas Rare Earth Plant
Dear Sir,
I just cannot understand what the big fuss is all about with regards to the radioactivity in the Lynas Rare Earth plant.
Thoriun-232 is the only radioactive element associated with rare earth mining and Thorium-232 has been regarded as the future green nuclear fuel.
It is present in the rocks everywhere and even in its purest form radiates only alpha particles.
Alpha particles which consist of 2 protons and 2 neutrons are nothing more than just helium atoms without their electrons.
These alpha particles cannot penetrate more than a few centimeters of air and CANNOT penetrate the human skin.
As such you can hold a lump of pure Thorium-232 in your rubber gloved hands without any danger at all.
Thorium-232 do not produce the dangerous Gamma particles which are ionising high energy, high frequency and extremely short wavelengh electromagnetic waves.
These can easily pass though the whole human body and cause widespread radiation damage.
To be very frank, I do not mind keeping a few thousand kilograms of pure Thorium-232 in my house if someone is kind enough to give me such a valuable substance.
In other words, the fear of radioactivity dangers from the rare earth processing plant is unfounded and grossly exaggerated. What we need to worry is the chemical toxic waste that such plants produce.
But unfortunately all industrial plants produce toxic wastes and the only way to avoid these toxic wastes is for us to remain as a poor agricultural country.
Yours sincerely,
Dato’ Dr Looi Hoong Wah
DIMP,AMP, KMN, (MSIA),MRCS (England), LRCP, London)
MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCP (UK), FAMM
Consultant Physician.
18 Perkampungan BatuSawar,
Jalan Sungai Lembing, Kuantan, Pahang D.M.
Not enough to convince the skeptics you say? OK....Datuk Dr. Looi also stated that (source here):
Thorium-232 is strongly bound (adsorbed) by soil especially clay soil. The thorium concentration in the clay particles is about 500,000% higher than in the water between the clay particles (the interstitial spaces of the clay particles). So, it cannot be leached out by water or intestinal juice.
When ingested, there is insignificant absorption of the thorium because of this strong bond between clay particles and thorium. Practically all the thorium will be excreted in the faeces with the clay.
So the actual amount of thorium that is absorbed into the blood stream when mixed with clay soil as in the case of the Lynas waste is much, much less than 0.02%.
Since Lynas waste contains 1,650 parts of thorium per million and even if we take the inflated rate of 0.02% absorption, it would mean that to get 0.33g of thorium into the blood stream, we have to swallow 1,000kg (1 tonne) of Lynas waste!
Practically all the data on the carcinogenic effects of thorium-232 was obtained retrospectively from the intravenous use of a massive dose of thorium dioxide called Thorotrast (a 25cc vial of a 25% colloidal suspension of thorium dioxide) in investigative radiological studies.
Studies appear to show that a small number out of the 4 million patients who were given this massive dose of 1 or 2 vials (containing 5.58g to 11.7g of thorium) of Thorotrast, developed cancer especially of the liver 20 to 30 years later in their old age.
So in order to get 5.58g of thorium-232 (equivalent to 1 vial of Thorotrast), we have to swallow an incredible 17,000kg or 17 tonnes of Lynas waste!
I do not think anybody in Kuantan will be able to swallow 17 tonnes of Lynas waste ... and that is assuming that the thorium-232 is not strongly adsorbed to clay particles.
With respect to the inhalation of thorium-232, all studies were conducted on workers in the uranium or thorium mining or refining industry and not on populations in towns like Kuantan, and therefore do not apply to the present issue.
Thorium-232 is strongly bound (adsorbed) by soil especially clay soil. The thorium concentration in the clay particles is about 500,000% higher than in the water between the clay particles (the interstitial spaces of the clay particles). So, it cannot be leached out by water or intestinal juice.
When ingested, there is insignificant absorption of the thorium because of this strong bond between clay particles and thorium. Practically all the thorium will be excreted in the faeces with the clay.
So the actual amount of thorium that is absorbed into the blood stream when mixed with clay soil as in the case of the Lynas waste is much, much less than 0.02%.
Since Lynas waste contains 1,650 parts of thorium per million and even if we take the inflated rate of 0.02% absorption, it would mean that to get 0.33g of thorium into the blood stream, we have to swallow 1,000kg (1 tonne) of Lynas waste!
Practically all the data on the carcinogenic effects of thorium-232 was obtained retrospectively from the intravenous use of a massive dose of thorium dioxide called Thorotrast (a 25cc vial of a 25% colloidal suspension of thorium dioxide) in investigative radiological studies.
Studies appear to show that a small number out of the 4 million patients who were given this massive dose of 1 or 2 vials (containing 5.58g to 11.7g of thorium) of Thorotrast, developed cancer especially of the liver 20 to 30 years later in their old age.
So in order to get 5.58g of thorium-232 (equivalent to 1 vial of Thorotrast), we have to swallow an incredible 17,000kg or 17 tonnes of Lynas waste!
I do not think anybody in Kuantan will be able to swallow 17 tonnes of Lynas waste ... and that is assuming that the thorium-232 is not strongly adsorbed to clay particles.
With respect to the inhalation of thorium-232, all studies were conducted on workers in the uranium or thorium mining or refining industry and not on populations in towns like Kuantan, and therefore do not apply to the present issue.
I bet that it will be physically impossible to even force feed a person 17 tonnes of Lynas waste for him or her to get cancer. Therefore this scare mongering by the StopLynas or Himpunan Hijau group is certainly not necessary. Lynas Gebeng is safe! You guys want to save the world...get people to quit smoking it will be a more useful endeavour.
Here is a part comment ny Ng Ai Soo taken from here:
"And what about other polution and/or radiation sources in the environment before Lynas even starts. For example, a 1,000MW coal plant after just 1 year of operation produces 6,000,000 tons of CO2, 44,000 tons of SO2, 22,000 tons of NOx, 320,000 tons of ash containing 400 tons of heavy metals (arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead etc.) and, here’s the kicker, including 5 tons or Uranium and 12 tons of Thorium from which the radon gas of both decay chains are out the chimney and into our air… and we are building TWO of these now to add to those we already have on the peninsula. Where do we store this waste? Does this waste go into making our roads or construction material? What is Lynas waste in comparison?! How did we manage to put up with that yearly radioactive and toxic waste, and plan to build more of the same, with no objection from you?
Be fair… if you want to protect us from industrial radiation pollution, then tackle the whole lot of them in proportion to their pollution, not just Lynas." Read his comments in full here.
OK here's a part extract about Lynas Gebeng that can easily be understood by all Malaysians:
Fakta Tentang Lynas Gebeng (Source here)
Maklumat Lynas adalah berdasarkan Fakta Saintifik yang boleh di uji dan di bukti;
Lynas mengalu-alukan pakar-pakar berkecuali yang berkelayakan bagi menyemak laporan berkaitan dengan keselamatan radiasi dan alam sekitar;
Lynas mengalu-alukan pakar-pakar berkecuali yang berkelayakan untuk menyertai AELB atau DOE bagi menjalankan ujian mereka sendiri;
Kilang Lynas TIDAK MERBAHAYA kepada orang awam,pesekitaran dan perkerja;
Kilang Lynas BUKAN KILANG NUKLEAR..Ia hanya kilang kimia biasa;
Mengikut undang-undang pengangkutan antarabangsa,bahan Lynas adalah BUKAN bahan radioaktif kerana kandungan radioaktifnya adalah rendah kerana kandungan radioaktifnya adalah rendah;
Dedahan radiasi kepada orang awam adalah TERAMAT rendah (sila lihat perbandingan di bawah):
Perlepasan air dan udara dari kilang Lynas TIDAK ada bahan radioaktif;
Kilang Lynas berteknoloji tinggi dan MEMATUHI undang-undang antarabangsa dan Malaysia;
Dedahan radiasi oleh kilang Lynas pada orang awam selama setahun hanyalah 0.002mSv. ( Lagi merbahaya radiasi dari menghisap rokok).
Apakah angka dedahan radiasi yang membahayakan manusia?
Undang-undang Malaysia dan antarabangsa berhubung had dedahan radiasi kepada manusia
1) Orang Awam - tidak melebihi 1.0 mSv setahun
2) Pekerja sinaran - tidak melebihi 20mSv setahun
Lynas TIDAK SAMA dengan Asian Rare Earth (ARE), Bukit Merah :
Bahan mentah kilang ARE di Bukit Merah adalah bahan buangan industri bijih timah,iaitu tahi bijih;
Bahan mentah Lynas adalah tanah dari lombong dan bukan BAHAN BUANGAN;
Kandungan radioaktif bahan mentah Lynas adalah jauh lebih rendah dari bahan mentah dan sisa.
ARE Bukit Merah
Kandungan radioaktif dalam bahan mentah ARE Bukit Merah adalah 37 kali lebih tinggi dari Lynas;
Kandungan radioaktif dalam sisa ARE Bukit Merah adalah 60 kali lebih tinggi dari Lynas.
Kenapa Lynas memilih GEBENG?Kenapa tidak Australia?
Lynas telah mendapat kelulusan bina kilang di Australia
Cadangan pembinaan kilang di Australia Barat di dapati tidak komersial kerana kos yang tinggi dan kekurangan kemudahan asas seperti air,gas asli dan bahan kimia...
Surat kelulusan pembinaan di Australia di keluarkan oleh pihak kerajaan Australia
Kenapa Gebeng Pahang?
Lynas telah mendapat kelulusan bina kilang di Gebeng
Kemudahan Pelabuhan yang berdekatan
Bekalan gas asli yang sedia ada
Bekalan bahan Kimia yang sedia ada
Bekalan air yang mencukupi
Wujud tenaga kerja mahir
Kos operasi yang kompetitif secara global
Pengurusan Bahan sisa
Bahan sisa Lynas mengandungi kadar radioaktif yang sanggat rendah dan tidak merbahayakan pada orang awam,alam sekitar dan pekerja;
Dedahan sinaran dari bahan sisa ke atas orang awam adalah TERAMAT RENDAH (sila rujuk di atas);
Walaupun bahan sisa ini tidak merbahaya,pihak berkuasa mewajibkan ia di simpan di tempat khas sama sepertu industri-industri kimia yang lain;
Lynas melalui makmal antarabangsa telah berjaya menurunkan lagi kadar radioaktif di dalam sisa;
Negara seperti Amerika Syarikat telah menggunakan kaedah ini untuk membuat jalan.
Pengurusan Bahan Sisa- Senario Terburuk
Senario terburuk adalah JIKA bahan sisa ini tidak dapat di guna pakai semula Ianya boleh di tangani dengan salah satu daripada cara berikut:
Bahan sisa ini akan di cairkan (dilute) dengan bahan lain atau tanah biasa untuk menjadikan bahan bukan radioaktif (takrif antarabangsa kurang dari 1 Bq / g adalah bahan bukan radioaktif).Bahan campuran ini boleh di gunakan untuk apa-apa aplikasi yang berfaedah
atau
Bahan sisa ini akan di simpan dengan selamat di tempat simpanan sisa kekal yang di rekabentuk mengikut standard antarabangsa setelah mendapat kelulusan AELB dan DOE
Pelepasan Udara
Lynas mempunyai Waste Gas Treatment System yang mempunyai 5 peringkat tapisan untuk memastikan pelepasan udara adalah selamat;
Tahap radioaktif yang di keluarkan adalah amat rendah sehingga sukar di kesan;
Bahan-bahan yang di proses di Lynas tidak mengandungi Uranium (Tidak Boleh Di Ukur) Ianya mengandungi Thorium yang mempunyai kadar radioaktif yang amat rendah;
Di sebabkan kadar radio aktif Thorium yang amat rendah,maka gas Thoron (yang mempunyai jangka separuh hayat hanya 55.6 saat) yang di hasilkan juga amat rendah;
Pendedahan radiasi di pinggir pagar kilang Lynas adalah 0.002mSv setahun (berbanding menonton TV selama 4 jam sehari selama setahun yang memberi radiasi 10 kali lebih tinggi);
Untuk mengesahkan dan memantau kualiti pelepasan udara.Lynas telah memasang Airborne Monitoring System (AMS) di tapak kilang dan akan memasang satu unit di bandar Kuantan.
Pelepasan Air
Proses Lynas akan membuatkan Thorium tidak larut dalam air.
Thorium dan Air ini akan di rawat di Waste Water Treatment Plant
Air yang telah di rawat tidak mengandungi bahan-bahan radioaktif serta memenuhi 32 parameter yang di tetapkan oleh DOE sebelum di lepaskan ke Sungai Balok
Kualiti air yang telah di rawat memenuhi piawaian World Health Organization (WHO)
Selain China, kilang-kilang seperti Lynas yang sedang beroperasi di Negara Maju seperti Amerika Syarikat dan lain-lain
A Prosesan sepenuh
Molycorp di California,Amerika Syarikat
Indian Rare Earth di India
Solikampsk di Russia & Silmet di Estonia (Eropah)
B Prosesan separa
Rhodia di Perancis
Shin Etsu di Jepun
Nippon Yttrium di Jepun
C Kilang-kilang dalam perancangan
Arafura di Whayalla Australia
Great Western Minerals di Steenkampskraal South Afrika
Avalon Rare Metal di Thor Lake Canada
Alkane di Dubbo New South Wales Australia
Faedah
Pelaburan dan kewangan;
Pelaburan langsung asing (FDI) dengan modal RM2.3 Bilion;
Fasa pertama - modal pelaburan sebanyak RM1.318 Bilion.RM618 juta di belanjakan di Malaysia termasuk RM235 juta yang di berikan kepada kontrakor di Kuantan;
Fasa kedua - Modal pelaburan ialah RM700 juta di mana 50% akan di belanjakan di Malaysia;
Kos operasi ialah RM400 juta setahun / (RM600 juta mulai dari 2013);
Servis luar -Pengangkutan , penyelengaraan;
Tenaga kerja - keselamatan , mekanikal , elektrikal , sivil , gudang dan proses.
Tenaga Kerja
Lynas akan mengambil 350 pekerja,terdiri dari 75 Ijazah teknikal,15 Ijazah bukan teknikal,dan 260 tenaga mahir dan separa mahir
250 orang pekerja kontrak yang tetap
100% Kakitangan Lynas Malaysia termasuk pihak pengurusan adalah rakyat Malaysia kecuali 4 pakar Nadir bumi dari Negara China.
Industri sokongan akan menjana 1000 peluang pekerjaan tambahan;
Lynas mendapat sokongan teknikal dari Rhodia,Perancis yang telah mengendalikan logi nadir bumi semenjak tahun 60an.
Fasa pembinaan
Lebih 2000 orang di ambil bekerja pada kemuncak fasa pembinaan.
Menyediakan peluang perniagaan untuk kontraktor dan pembekal tempatan
Aktiviti Perintis
Besar kemungkinan,syarikat-syarikat yang menggunakan produk Lynas akan mendirikan kilang di Malaysia seperti - Magnet Rare Earth - Siemens telah menanda tangani kerjasama dengan Lynas untuk mendirikan kilang magnet dengan anggaran pelaburan - RM500 juta
Produk Teknologi Hijau
- Hybrid vehicle
- Catalytic converters
- Polishing powder
- Flat Panel Display
- Ceramic capacitors
- Compact fluorescent light
- Fuel cells
- NiMH batteries
I say to the StopLynas and Himpunan Hijau folks, be objective be fair, if you guys are really concerned about the environment then show some sincerity don't just go for Lynas Gebeng go after all those industries that could cause radiation and produce toxic waste, of course it will make millions of Malaysians jobless and Malaysia lose a lot of money and we should all balik kampung tanam jagung or padi, you minorities sure would like that shoved down the throat of the majority wouldn't you.
God bless this country whose majority understands the risk and benefits of industrialisation even though the Gomen is painfully tolerating the antics of this so called selective environmentalists in StopLynas and Himpunan Hijau.
Instead of selfishly go on a campaign to stop Lynas Gebeng, the responsible way would be to ensure that the rare earth processing plant is monitored during its operation and waste treatment and storage process. This the AELB will do, and they have much expertise to do what needs to be done. I trust that the AELB will do their job well.
25 comments:
All the Anti-Lynas foot soldiers and RED GUARDS BARU should realise that they have been misled by some very sophisticated ultra-devious people who are experts in mass brainwashing and are using the issue to gain political mileage for their own evil ulterior motives.
In Bukit Merah, the radiation comes from Thorium and Uranium which are our own and has been in Malaysia for billions of years.
Although the radiation level is well over 37 times that of the Lynas waste, there is no definite well controlled scientific proof that the cases of leukaemia and birth defects are caused by radiation from the waste.
I have seen lots of cases of leukaemia and other types of cancer as well as birth defects over the last 45 years or so in Malaysia and unfortunately we do not have Lynas around at that time to use as a scapegoat.
Unscrupulous people have been using videos and pictures of patients with congenital abnormalities and other illnesses to instil fear into the population. There is absolutely no scientific proof that these cases are caused by radiation.
Only the absolutely immoral people would use pictures and videos of these unfortunate patients whose disorders have nothing to do with radiation to score political points !
In the south of the state of Kerala in India the soil contains as much as 4,000 ppm (parts of Thorium per million). Studies have shown that there is little or no accumulation of Thorium-232 in the inhabitants.
The Lynas waste contains only 1,650 ppm.
It has been estimated that in the worst case scenario, the radiation risk from the Lynas plant is only 0.002 mSv/yr.
In Ramsar, Iran, the naturally occurring radiation
is extremely high at 260 mSv/yr.
This is 13,000,000% higher than the expected worse case scenario in Kuantan.
And the people in Ramsar, Iran has been found to be healthier and live longer than the rest of the Iranians! There is also no increase in the number of cancer cases.
Remember the Tin slags from the Eastern Smelting and Straits Trading in Penang ? These, which contain the tantalum and monazite ore, and the monazite ore can be more than 3,700 % more radioactive than the Lynas waste.
And these radioactive tin slags were used to fill up the old Penang Stadium and the roads in Penang. A lot of these has already been stolen and sold off at a huge profit, but a lot still remains in the roads in Butterworth and Penang island.
The people in Penang have not developed Cancer so far as a result of these slags!
Even ordinary Sand (crystalline silica, SiO2) is classified as a group 1 Carcinogen (a confirmed cancer causing agent), but as you know, we do not expect a huge number of people in living in the deserts or along the seashores to die from silica induced lung cancer.
The lung cancer risk occurs only when fine sand (silica) is inhaled by miners for a prolonged period in the quarries and mines i.e. silica is not a carcinogen when ingested and of course not when injected for nobody would allow you to inject sand into their veins.
Thorium-232 is a very weakly radioactive substance and produces only alpha particles which cannot even penetrate a thin piece of paper.
All you have to do is to wrap it up in a piece of newspaper and it is for all intents an purposes, is non-radioactive !
" Thorium-232 is considered to be a carcinogen only IF ADMINISTERED INTRAVENOUSLY AS A COLLOIDAL DISPERSION OF THORIUM-232 DIOXIDE."
It is not considered to be a cancer causing substance if taken orally or inhaled according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC, just like silica (sand) which is not carcinogenic if ingested.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
There are only 2 natural ways of getting any substance into your body:
1. By Eating it (Ingestion) or
2. By Breathing it (Inhalation)
Thorium-232 in clay soil cannot get into you blood stream if you eat it because of it's strong adsorption to clay (stuck firmly to clay).
As explained below, you need to eat far more than 17,000 Kilograms of Lynas waste before you can get cancer in about 30 years time in your old age.
Likewise, you need to breathe in 3.4 Kilograms of Lynas waste (in order to get 5.58 gm of Thorium or 1 vial of Thorotrast) to get cancer in about 30 years time !
As stated, Kuantan people are not MINERS and as such it is impossible to inhale 3.4 Kilograms even in a life-time !
Thorium-232 is harmless when outside the body as it produces only alpha rays which cannot penetrate even a thin piece of paper.
All you have to do is to wrap it up in a piece of newspaper and it will become virtually non-radioactive.
So if Thoriun-232 cannot get into the body in significant amount by inhalation or ingestion and it poses no external threat,
HOW and WHY on earth IS IT CONSIDERED TO BE SO DANGEROUS BY THE ANTI-LYNAS PEOPLE ?
My Reply to Soo Jin Hou’s Letter in the Sun Daily
“LET’S de-politicise the Lynas issue” (Letters, March 23) refers.
The writer said 0.02% to 0.05% of ingested thorium is absorbed and gets into the blood stream. Absorption studies were done on animals for obvious reasons, and in the vast majority of these, the thorium was not mixed with clay, which binds very strongly to the clay particles i.e. adsorbed.
Thorium-232 is strongly bound (adsorbed) by soil especially clay soil. The thorium concentration in the clay particles is about 500,000% higher than in the water between the clay particles (the interstitial spaces of the clay particles). So, it cannot be leached out by water or intestinal juice.
When ingested, there is insignificant absorption of the thorium because of this strong bond between clay particles and thorium. Practically all the thorium will be excreted in the faeces with the clay.
So the actual amount of thorium that is absorbed into the blood stream when mixed with clay soil as in the case of the Lynas waste is much, much less than 0.02%.
Since Lynas waste contains 1,650 parts of thorium per million and even if we take the inflated rate of 0.02% absorption, it would mean that to get 0.33g of thorium into the blood stream, we have to swallow 1,000kg (1 tonne) of Lynas waste!
Practically all the data on the carcinogenic effects of thorium-232 was obtained retrospectively from the intravenous use of a massive dose of thorium dioxide called Thorotrast (a 25cc vial of a 25% colloidal suspension of thorium dioxide) in investigative radiological studies.
Studies appear to show that a small number out of the 4 million patients who were given this massive dose of 1 or 2 vials (containing 5.58g to 11.7g of thorium) of Thorotrast, developed cancer especially of the liver 20 to 30 years later in their old age.
So in order to get 5.58g of thorium-232 (equivalent to 1 vial of Thorotrast), we have to swallow an incredible 17,000kg or 17 tonnes of Lynas waste!
I do not think anybody in Kuantan will be able to swallow 17 tonnes of Lynas waste … and that is assuming that the thorium-232 is not strongly adsorbed to clay particles.
With respect to the inhalation of thorium-232, all studies were conducted on workers in the uranium or thorium mining or refining industry and not on populations in towns like Kuantan, and therefore do not apply to the present issue.
Datuk Dr Looi Hoong Wah
Thank you for visiting my blog Dato', appreciate your comments..the truth must be let free.
Dear Eddy,
Thank you very much for helping me to counter the blatant propaganda put up by the anti-lynas people.
Here are 2 sites where you can find more information about Thorium-232 and Lynas...please read the comments part as well.
*
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/16/rare-earth-a-richer-malaysia-and-a-greener-world/#comment-76493
Warmest regards
Dato' Dr Looi
New Rare earth plants
1. Arafura di Whayalla Australia
2. Great Western Minerals di Steenkampskraal South Afrika
3. Avalon Rare Metal di Thor Lake Canada
4. Alkane di Dubbo New South Wales Australia
5. Molycorp Inc. in Mountain Pass, California, USA
In the past the rare earth plants in America were closed for the same reason why any mine or company close down...it had become uneconomical i.e. losing money!
This was because at that time China was selling rare earth elements at a ridiculously low price and nobody could compete with them.
Feb 22, 2012 :
Molycorp Inc. said it will start up a newly constructed rare earths processing plant at its Mountain Pass, Calif., operation this week.
Crushing and cracking operations as well as the facility’s combined heat and power plant are scheduled to come online this week, while other components—including milling and mineral extraction, rare earth oxide...
Australians building Giant Rare Earth Plant in Australia:
It should also be noted that Australians are delighted that a company called Arafura is building a huge Rare Earth Processing Plant costing over A$1 Billion in Whyalla in South Australia.
This plant is expected to produce over 1,000 high paying jobs for the Australians.
Arafura must be hoping that we are stupid enough to stop Lynas and stop competing with them.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London
The Problem: A Mountain of Lynas Waste ?
A reader once asked " Would it be safe to say 132,000,000,000 bq will be resulting from 22,000 tonnes of Lynas waste even though it has only 6 bq per gm?"
Well, Thorium-232 produces only alpha rays (gamma rays from daughter isotopes are insignificant, please see below) which cannot pass through even a thin piece of paper or the surface of the skin.
If you have a lump of pure Thorium-232, all you need to do is to wrap it up in newspaper and that will stop all the alpha radiation from getting out!
Since alpha particles of Thorium-232 which decay with energies of 3.8 to about 4.8 MeV can travel only a couple of centimetres in air, only less than 50 micron in fluids and much less in solid material, even if you have a huge pile of Lynas waste, the external radiation would not increase by much because only a tiny percentage of thorium-232 atoms directly on the surface of the pile will be able to radiate out their alpha particles.
Those just below the surface will remain inside the pile. Each alpha particle will just pick up 2 electrons and be converted to the simple non-radioactive helium gas.
Even those apha particles from the surface will be converted to harmless helium gas after a few centimetres through the air.
So all that your mountain of Lynas waste will only "radiate" harmless non-radioactive Helium gas.
The radiation of 6 bq/gm from the weakly radioactive Thorium-232 in the Lynas waste is so low that even IAEA do not consider it significant and as such can be transported without any special permission.
One reader stated that although Thorium-232 may not be dangerous, all their "daughter" isotopes have very short half-lives like Radon-220 and these are highly radioactive, so how could we say that Thorium-232 is not dangerous.
Well, the reason is obvious. But I find great difficulty in explaining to the layman the reason why when an element with an extremely long half-life that decays into isotopes with very short half-life, there is minimal accumulation of the short half-life isotopes and as such do not build up into a large enough quantity to pose any significant hazard.
I will try to explain by this simple analogy.
If there are 2 million people waiting outside a stadium and 1 million people managed to get into the stadium after 14,000,000,000 years (half-life of Thorium-232), it means that you will see only 1 person getting into the stadium every 14,000 years.
But once in the stadium the half-life of the new person (half-life of Radon-220 from the Thorium-232 decay chain is only 55 seconds) is so short when compared with those outside (Thorium-232) that he has left the stadium almost immediately. Getting in is extremely slow but getting out is extremely fast!
Since only 1 person gets into the stadium every 14,000 years, if you look into the stadium you will see it as empty most of the time!
It is just like trying to fill up a bucket by a slow, slow drop by drop drip and the bucket has a big hole at the bottom. If you look into the bucket you will see practically little or no water in it!
Since the Lynas waste product has only 6 Bq/gm of radioactivity, the chance of detecting any significant amount of radon gas is pretty slim indeed.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
EVEN YOUR WIFE IS RADIOACTIVE!
Even our DNA is radioactive as the highly radioactive Carbon-14 which constitute a part of the DNA molecule undergoes beta decay by emission of an electron and an antineutrino and changes into Nitrogen-14.
So even our sacred DNA changes with time as a result of this intrinsic radioactivity.
The potassium tablets that your doctor gives you as an adjunct for high blood pressure therapy is highly radioactive with a radioactivity of 32 Bq/gm and we need about 2 to 3 grams of potassium per day to stay alive.
The radioactivity comes from potassium-40. This is more than 500% the radioactivity of the Lynas waste which contains only 6 Bq/gm mainly from Thorium-232.
Potassium when taken stays in the intracellular space where the cancer sensitive chromosomes are located whereas the ingested or inhaled Thorium-232 remains in the extracellular (outside the cell) space.
All the potassium that we eat everyday in our food contains potassium-40 and the normal dietary potassium would give a total of about 80 Bq per day.
Compare this with the Lynas waste which produces only 6 Bq/gm
Even your wife or husband is radioactive, with a radioactivity of 4,000 Bq from Potassium-40 and another 3,000 Bq from Carbon-14 giving a total of about 7,000 Bq!
Since all living cells contain potassium, all types of meat, flesh, fruits, nuts and vegetables are radioactive because of the potassium-40 content.
The so-called sodium free salt recommended by health experts to combat high blood pressure is nothing more than just highly radioactive potassium salt! Even a lot of doctors, specialists and professors do not know this!
A miner for Potassium chloride (16.4 Bq/G) would only need to be near the big pile of the mine for about 7 hours to exceed the public dose limit of 1 mSv.
This exposure level is same dose of radiation as working 6 months in LAMP or living 500 years near it.
The message here is that more radioactive substances are freely sold in the shops and used as a fertilizer or eaten by us than you would otherwise thought.
Guarapari which has a population about 100,000 is a coastal town in Brazil.
Every year, many people visit the beach with black sand in this town for swimming and treatment of rheumatic disorders.
The usual beach sand in Guarapari has a radiation dose of 5 microsievert/hour.
The black sand is even higher with 131 microsievert/hour. Average radiation exposure of Guarapari is 175 milisievert/year.
The radioactivity is originated from the mountains rich in zirconites and monazites along the coast.
Ramsar is a city in Iran with population of more than 31,000. The average dose of radiation received by people in Ramsar is about 10 milisievert/year, and can reach level in exceed of 260 milisievert/year.
Quote from Wikipedia: "This high level of radiation does not seem to have caused ill effects on the residents of the area and even possibly has made them slightly more radioresistant, which is puzzling and has been called "radiation paradox". It has also been reported that residents have healthier and longer lives.
On the basis of this and other evidence including the fact that life had originated in a much more irradiated environment, some scientists have questioned the validity of linear no-threshold model, on which all radiation regulations currently depend.
Others point out that some level of radiation might actually be good for health and have a positive effect on population based on the controversial radiation hormesis model, by jump starting DNA repair mechanisms inside the cell. "
Dr Looi
Quote: From Anti-Lynas " If you have so much confidence of its safety. Move your house and your family next to LYNAS."
At present I live in a bungalow with 2 acres of free-hold land about 15 miles from the Lynas Rare Earth Plant. This land and house was bought with money earned by my own sweat and tears.
So if anyone is good enough (or rather stupid enough) to buy for me and pay for me 2 acres of free-hold land just next to the Lynas Plant and build for me a bungalow of my own design,
I will be most willing to move myself and all my family to live next to the Lynas plant.
AND DON'T FORGET TO BUY AND PAY FOR ME 100,000 KILOGRAMS OF PURE THORIUM-232 AS WELL!
I WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO THAT SOMEONE.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK
Quote: From Anti-Lynas " If you have so much confidence of its safety. Move your house and your family next to LYNAS."
At present I live in a bungalow with 2 acres of free-hold land about 15 miles from the Lynas Rare Earth Plant. This land and house was bought with money earned by my own sweat and tears.
So if anyone is good enough (or rather stupid enough) to buy for me, pay for me and give it to me 2 acres of free-hold land just next to the Lynas Plant and build for me a bungalow of my own design,
I will be most willing to move myself and all my family to live next to the Lynas plant.
AND DON'T FORGET TO BUY AND PAY FOR ME 100,000 KILOGRAMS OF PURE THORIUM-232 AS WELL!
I WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO THAT SOMEONE.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK
*
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/16/rare-earth-a-richer-malaysia-and-a-greener-world/#comment-76493
Lynas Rare Earth Plant Contribute Significantly to our Country and Local Economies
Even a primary school child should know that the construction of a multi-billion dollar industrial plant would bring enormous financial benefits to the local community as well as to the country.
Construction of the plant had provided a substantial boost to suppliers of commodities like concrete and steel and manufacturers of hundreds of other components. For example, the plant had used thousands of cubic metres of concrete—as well as
• Thousands of tons of steel and miles of piping
• Hundreds of miles of electric wiring and hundreds of electrical components and all these are supplied by our local contractors.
The construction of the plant itself would had added hundreds of millions to the gross domestic product.
Each year, the plant will generate billions in sales of the rare earth (economic output) and millions more in total labor income. These figures include both direct and secondary effects. The direct effects reflect the plant’s expenditures for goods, services and labor. The secondary effects include subsequent spending attributable to the presence of the plant and its employees as plant expenditures filter through the local economy (e.g., restaurants and shops buying goods and hiring employees).
And the subsequent production of the plant is expected to be in the billions of ringgit and this is considered to be part of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Billions more would be added to the GDP as a result of the spin-off effect.
And when our GDP is increased by the billions, the government will be allowed to print more billions of ringgit to pay for the schools, hospitals, subsidies and scholarships etc for the people, without any devaluation of our ringgit by the foreigners.
Key Facts
• Each year, the plant will generate millions to billions of ringgit as a spin-off effect in sales of goods and services in the local community and millions more in total labor income.
• Operation of the plant creates more than 350 highly paid permanent jobs. These jobs pay much more than those working the super markets or places like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• The permanent jobs at the plant create an equivalent number of additional jobs in the local area to provide the goods and services necessary to support the the plant work force (e.g., grocery stores, dry cleaners, car dealers). Even the sex workers in Kuantan would benefit!
• Construction of the new plant had created up to thousands of jobs at peak construction.
•
• Local contracters had benefitted enormously from the construction of the plant, in terms of hundreds of millions of ringgit
•
• The yearly production of billions of ringgit of rare earth will add billions to our GDP and produce billions in export earnings (even though the money belongs to Lynas share holders, the national statistics will show up as our own in terms of GDP growth and export growth).
In Other Words,The Plant WILL Boost Local and Country's Economy.
The Lynas plant WILL provide substantial economic benefits during the decades of operation. The jobs, employee's taxes, and direct and secondary spending WILL strengthen the economy.
SO DO NOT ASK THE NON-PHYSICAL and RATHER CHILDISH QUESTION OF WHAT BENEFIT DO MALAYSIA GET FROM THE LYNAS PLANT!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK
Lynas Rare Earth Plant Contribute Significantly to our Country and Local Economies
Even a primary school child should know that the construction of a multi-billion dollar industrial plant would bring enormous financial benefits to the local community as well as to the country.
Construction of the plant had provided a substantial boost to suppliers of commodities like concrete and steel and manufacturers of hundreds of other components. For example, the plant had used thousands of cubic metres of concrete—as well as
• Thousands of tons of steel and miles of piping
• Hundreds of miles of electric wiring and hundreds of electrical components and all these are supplied by our local contractors.
The construction of the plant itself would had added hundreds of millions to the gross domestic product.
Each year, the plant will generate billions in sales of the rare earth (economic output) and millions more in total labor income. These figures include both direct and secondary effects. The direct effects reflect the plant’s expenditures for goods, services and labor. The secondary effects include subsequent spending attributable to the presence of the plant and its employees as plant expenditures filter through the local economy (e.g., restaurants and shops buying goods and hiring employees).
And the subsequent production of the plant is expected to be in the billions of ringgit and this is considered to be part of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Billions more would be added to the GDP as a result of the spin-off effect.
And when our GDP is increased by the billions, the government will be allowed to print more billions of ringgit to pay for the schools, hospitals, subsidies and scholarships etc for the people, without any devaluation of our ringgit by the foreigners.
Key Facts
• Each year, the plant will generate millions to billions of ringgit as a spin-off effect in sales of goods and services in the local community and millions more in total labor income.
• Operation of the plant creates more than 350 highly paid permanent jobs. These jobs pay much more than those working the super markets or places like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• The permanent jobs at the plant create an equivalent number of additional jobs in the local area to provide the goods and services necessary to support the the plant work force (e.g., grocery stores, dry cleaners, car dealers). Even the sex workers in Kuantan would benefit!
• Construction of the new plant had created up to thousands of jobs at peak construction.
•
• Local contracters had benefitted enormously from the construction of the plant, in terms of hundreds of millions of ringgit
•
• The yearly production of billions of ringgit of rare earth will add billions to our GDP and produce billions in export earnings (even though the money belongs to Lynas share holders, the national statistics will show up as our own in terms of GDP growth and export growth).
In Other Words,The Plant WILL Boost Local and Country's Economy.
The Lynas plant WILL provide substantial economic benefits during the decades of operation. The jobs, employee's taxes, and direct and secondary spending WILL strengthen the economy.
SO DO NOT ASK THE NON-PHYSICAL and RATHER CHILDISH QUESTION OF WHAT BENEFIT DO MALAYSIA GET FROM THE LYNAS PLANT!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK
Why do we have to give Lynas the 12 yrs tax free incentive?
Quote Optiplex330:
"Giving tax break is very common to entice people to set up business. If you are a Indian or Chinese your forebear coming from India or China know that very well. They were entice to come to Malaysia to open up the country and land were practically given free. Old people told me their land rental is a single pepper corn. Those who don't know about tax break know zero about businesses. Having said that, I think the maximum is 10 yrs so Lynas is unusual to be given 12 years.
A classic example: Business has to give Bumi 30% share but when Intel came to Penang, they were allowed SPECIAL treatment and don't have to give a single share to Bumi (may be this explain the extra 2 yrs tax break?). Why? This is because the government badly wanted Intel because when they come, they will bring along an entire electronic industry to Malaysia. So while government do not directly benefited from Intel, the follow on industry created by Intel greatly benefited Malaysia. And for this reason, all responsible Malaysian should go read this document.
And also for this reason, those who think Lynas is a only about 300 jobs and no tax revenue for Malaysia are just being short sighted. They don't know that because of Lynas, a Green Technology industry could be born and Siemens is the 1st to annouce coming precisely because of Lynas. But because of Anti-Lynas, Siemens may pull out so there go more jobs and tax revenue for Malaysia."
In Other Words,The Plant WILL Boost Local and Country's Economy.
The Lynas plant WILL provide substantial economic benefits during the decades of operation. The jobs, employee's taxes, and direct and secondary spending WILL strengthen the economy.
SO DO NOT ASK THE NON-PHYSICAL and RATHER CHILDISH QUESTION OF WHAT BENEFIT DO MALAYSIA GET FROM THE LYNAS PLANT!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK) MRCP(London)
Why do we have to give Lynas the 12 yrs tax free incentive?
Quote Optiplex330:
"Giving tax break is very common to entice people to set up business. If you are a Indian or Chinese your forebear coming from India or China know that very well. They were entice to come to Malaysia to open up the country and land were practically given free. Old people told me their land rental is a single pepper corn. Those who don't know about tax break know zero about businesses. Having said that, I think the maximum is 10 yrs so Lynas is unusual to be given 12 years.
A classic example: Business has to give Bumi 30% share but when Intel came to Penang, they were allowed SPECIAL treatment and don't have to give a single share to Bumi (may be this explain the extra 2 yrs tax break?). Why? This is because the government badly wanted Intel because when they come, they will bring along an entire electronic industry to Malaysia. So while government do not directly benefited from Intel, the follow on industry created by Intel greatly benefited Malaysia. And for this reason, all responsible Malaysian should go read this document.
And also for this reason, those who think Lynas is a only about 300 jobs and no tax revenue for Malaysia are just being short sighted. They don't know that because of Lynas, a Green Technology industry could be born and Siemens is the 1st to annouce coming precisely because of Lynas. But because of Anti-Lynas, Siemens may pull out so there go more jobs and tax revenue for Malaysia."
In Other Words,The Plant WILL Boost Local and Country's Economy.
The Lynas plant WILL provide substantial economic benefits during the decades of operation. The jobs, employee's taxes, and direct and secondary spending WILL strengthen the economy.
SO DO NOT ASK THE NON-PHYSICAL and RATHER CHILDISH QUESTION OF WHAT BENEFIT DO MALAYSIA GET FROM THE LYNAS PLANT!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK) MRCP(London)
Which is more radioactive, Potassium-40 or Thorium-232?
Recently one professor and one nuclear scientist claimed that potassium-40 is far LESS radioactive than Thorium-232 and they cited the EPA (environment protection agency of American) and the WHO UNSCEAR as proof of their statements!
One of my friends who stated that K-40 is about 62 times more radioactive than Thorium-232 was rubbished by the nuclear scientist!
Well, that depends on what we are talking about.
Quote " It was written somewhere above that potassium-40 is 62 times more radioactive than thorium. That is, I am sorry to note, a complete and utter rubbish:"
Unquote.
1. I think what my friend was thinking about is radioactivity in terms of Bq i.e. activity rather than biological effect (Sv) when he said potassium-40 is 62 times more radioactive than Thorium-232.
Pure Potassium-40 = 254,000 Bq/gram
Pure Thorium-232 = 4,080 Bq/gram
Therefore potassium-40 has about 62X more Bq than Thorium-232
Even in terms of biological effect, 1 gram of pure potassium-40 will still have a greater biological effect when compared with 1 gram of pure Thorium-232.
****************
Pure Potassium-40 = 254,000 Bq/gram
Quote from nuclear scientist: 1 Becquerel per gram of K-40 in the soil (should actually be 1 Bq of K-40 per gram of soil) results in an increase in gamma-levels by ~0.042 microSieverts per hour (WHO UNSCEAR). Unquote
Therefore 254,000 Bq = 10,668 microSieverts/hour
(from 1 gram of pure potassium-40 i.e. not mixed with K-39 and K-41)
****************
Pure Thorium-232 = 4,080 Bq/gram
Quote from nuclear scientist: Each becquerel per gram of Th-232 (should actually be 1 Bq of K-40 per gram of soil) increases this level by ~0.604 microSv/hour.
Therefore 4,080 Bq = 2,464 microSieverts/hour
*************************
10,668 microSv/hr divided by 2,464 microSv/hr = 4.33
or the biological effect of radiation from pure Potassium-40 is actually 4.33 times more than that of pure Thorium-232.
2. If we are talking about 1 gram of naturally occurring Potassium which contains only 0.0118% of K-40, then it is perfectly correct to say that Thorium-232 is more radioactive biologically than Potassium as the naturally occurring potassium has only 32 Bq per gram as compared to K-40 which has 254,000 Bq per gram.
So 32 Bq of K = 1.344 microSieverts/hr while 4080 Bq of Thorium-232 = 2,464 microSieverts/hr which is far more biologically radioactive than Potassium.
3. If we compare radioactivity in terms of becquerel (number of atoms decaying per second), 1 Bq of course is equal to 1 Bq in terms of activity.
But in terms of PER Bq (radioactivity from only one nuclear decay) the biological effect, according to UNSCEAR, Potassium-40 and natural potassium is less radioactive biologically than Thorium-232 (but remember that 1 gm potassium-40 has 254,000 atomic decay per sec while 1 gm of Thorium-232 has only 4.080 atomic decay per second ).
SO, BEFORE YOU RUBBISH ANYONE FOR SAYING THAT POTASSIUM-4O IS MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN THORIUM-232 OR VICE VERSA, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
It all depends on whether you are comparing activity (Bq) or biological effect (Sv), whether you are taking about pure potassium-40 or natural potassium which is composed of only 0.0118% highly radioactive K-40 and whether you are comparing Bq per gram of potassium-40 or Bq per gram of soil.
Moreover, we have to state that the Thorium-232 is not that of pure Thorium-232 as freshly isolated pure Thorium-232 do not produce any gamma rays and as such has practically no external biological effect (the 0.09 MeV of gamma rays in freshly isolated Thorium-232 actually comes from Radium-228).
The same arguments apply to the comparison of the cancer coefficients of potassium-40 and Thorium-232.
In fact the nuclear scientist had to apologise to me and agree that it all depends on what we are trying to compare with.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
Which is more radioactive, Potassium-40 or Thorium-232?
Recently one professor and one nuclear scientist claimed that potassium-40 is far LESS radioactive than Thorium-232 and they cited the EPA (environment protection agency of American) and the WHO UNSCEAR as proof of their statements!
One of my friends who stated that K-40 is about 62 times more radioactive than Thorium-232 was rubbished by the nuclear scientist!
Well, that depends on what we are talking about.
Quote " It was written somewhere above that potassium-40 is 62 times more radioactive than thorium. That is, I am sorry to note, a complete and utter rubbish:"
Unquote.
1. I think what my friend was thinking about is radioactivity in terms of Bq i.e. activity rather than biological effect (Sv) when he said potassium-40 is 62 times more radioactive than Thorium-232.
Pure Potassium-40 = 254,000 Bq/gram
Pure Thorium-232 = 4,080 Bq/gram
Therefore potassium-40 has about 62X more Bq than Thorium-232
Even in terms of biological effect, 1 gram of pure potassium-40 will still have a greater biological effect when compared with 1 gram of pure Thorium-232.
****************
Pure Potassium-40 = 254,000 Bq/gram
Quote from nuclear scientist: 1 Becquerel per gram of K-40 in the soil (should actually be 1 Bq of K-40 per gram of soil) results in an increase in gamma-levels by ~0.042 microSieverts per hour (WHO UNSCEAR). Unquote
Therefore 254,000 Bq = 10,668 microSieverts/hour
(from 1 gram of pure potassium-40 i.e. not mixed with K-39 and K-41)
****************
Pure Thorium-232 = 4,080 Bq/gram
Quote from nuclear scientist: Each becquerel per gram of Th-232 (should actually be 1 Bq of K-40 per gram of soil) increases this level by ~0.604 microSv/hour.
Therefore 4,080 Bq = 2,464 microSieverts/hour
*************************
10,668 microSv/hr divided by 2,464 microSv/hr = 4.33
or the biological effect of radiation from pure Potassium-40 is actually 4.33 times more than that of pure Thorium-232.
2. If we are talking about 1 gram of naturally occurring Potassium which contains only 0.0118% of K-40, then it is perfectly correct to say that Thorium-232 is more radioactive biologically than Potassium as the naturally occurring potassium has only 32 Bq per gram as compared to K-40 which has 254,000 Bq per gram.
So 32 Bq of K = 1.344 microSieverts/hr while 4080 Bq of Thorium-232 = 2,464 microSieverts/hr which is far more biologically radioactive than Potassium.
3. If we compare radioactivity in terms of becquerel (number of atoms decaying per second), 1 Bq of course is equal to 1 Bq in terms of activity.
But in terms of PER Bq (radioactivity from only one nuclear decay) the biological effect, according to UNSCEAR, Potassium-40 and natural potassium is less radioactive biologically than Thorium-232 (but remember that 1 gm potassium-40 has 254,000 atomic decay per sec while 1 gm of Thorium-232 has only 4.080 atomic decay per second ).
SO, BEFORE YOU RUBBISH ANYONE FOR SAYING THAT POTASSIUM-4O IS MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN THORIUM-232 OR VICE VERSA, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
It all depends on whether you are comparing activity (Bq) or biological effect (Sv), whether you are taking about pure potassium-40 or natural potassium which is composed of only 0.0118% highly radioactive K-40 and whether you are comparing Bq per gram of potassium-40 or Bq per gram of soil.
Moreover, we have to state that the Thorium-232 is not that of pure Thorium-232 as freshly isolated pure Thorium-232 do not produce any gamma rays and as such has practically no external biological effect (the 0.09 MeV of gamma rays in freshly isolated Thorium-232 actually comes from Radium-228).
The same arguments apply to the comparison of the cancer coefficients of potassium-40 and Thorium-232.
In fact the nuclear scientist had to apologise to me and agree that it all depends on what we are trying to compare with.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
Quote:
“IF YOUR PLANT IS SO SAFE, IS IT SAFE FOR A PREGNANT LADY TO WORK HERE?”
Unquote
The answer is a big YES!, provided certain precautions are taken...just like even when crossing a road we have to take certain precautions.
To be frank, I would have no objections if any of my family members who are pregnant want to work in the Lynas plant.
In all the hospitals where I have worked in, I have come across many pregnant nurses, radiologists, doctors and other pregnant female staff members who worked in high radiation risk areas of the Radiology and Radiotherapy departments and I have not come across a single problem affecting the pregnancy or the baby that is related to radiation injury.
The biggest danger to the baby is during the first trimester when development is greatest. In the 2nd and 3rd trimester, the danger is the same as that for an adult.
All staff working in the high radiation areas are provided with a radiation dosimeter. And if the dose is exceed, the pregnant lady is relocated to an area where the radiation is much lower.
Standards for radiation protection in the USA are established by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) and its international counterpart, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Both of these organizations offer recommendations for the maximum permissible dose (MPD) of radiation to which people should be exposed.
The MPD During Pregnancy by ICRP is 2 mSv while that of the American counterpart NRCP is even higher at 5 mSv.
For flight attendants and pilots, the exposure to radiation are much higher and to date I have not come across any well documented report of any such personnel developing radiation induced malformations or cancers in their babies. There is of course many other reasons why it is not advisable for a flight attendant to continue flying in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. In the presence of an emergency, a pregnant flight attendant would be more of a liability than a help.
In the Lynas plant, I see no reason why a pregnant woman cannot continue working well into the 3rd trimester, if she so wishes.
Dato' Dr Looi
THORIUM-232, THOROTRAST, AND CANCER
I have known about the controversy of Thorotrast (a 25 cc vail of a 25% colloidal suspension of Thorium dioxide) since I was a medical student in Manchester about 45 years ago and in fact I have been collecting a fair amount of data with regards to this contrast media.
Thorotrast was given as a contrast media via the vein and the dose of Thorium used was huge, though this depends on the type of radiological procedure done.
It had been estimated that as many as 4 million people were given this contrast in the 1930 to late 1950s.
It has been claimed that there was an increase in the incidence of cancers especially of the liver.
However, we need to consider a number of factors before we can be sure that this is the real culprit.
1) The radiation dose from those old X-ray machines in the 1930 to 1950s are hundreds of times that of the present machines.
For instance an 1896 X-ray machine was tested and found to have exposed the body to 1,500 times more radiation than modern technology does, largely because each image took 90 minutes to develop, dramatically increasing the patient's cumulative exposure to the rays. By 1930 to 1950s, the radiation dose have improved a lot but still much higher than the present X-ray machines.
Modern day X-rays require only about 21 milliseconds, and technicians place lead coverings over the body to protect vital organs from even this slight exposure.
When we do a contrast study we do not take just one X-ray, but many, sometimes more than 20 to 50.
So the patients who received the Thorotrast were subjected to a huge dose of X-rays from these antique X-ray machines.
This huge dose of X-rays may be the cause of most of the cancers, we just do not know as most of the studies are unable to assess the X-ray's dose. All these studies are done 20 to 30 years later.
So we cannot use other patients who have X-rays done in the 1930s to 1950s as a control group since most X-rays which do not need a contrast media consist of only 1 or 2 X-ray pictures.
2) The contrast studies are usually done for patients who are rather ill and may have multiple other disorders.
The cancers usually appear (as most cancers do) about 20 to 30 years later when the patients reach the "cancer" age. Because of this long lapse of cause and effect, all the studies are retrospective in nature.
And as you know, all retrospective studies are full of problems and inaccuracies.
3) A lot of these patients, have other disorders which may also lead to cancer like alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis B. In fact the first case of liver cancer I saw in Manchester was an old alcoholic with severe liver cirrhosis. But he also had Thorotrast contrast study more than 20 years earlier. Because of this history, the surgeon had to report him as a Thorotrast induced cancer.
4) With about 4 million by now old people, we are bound to come across a lot of cancer cases. So how many if any of these (taking into account all the above problems) are really caused by the radiation from the massive dose of intravenous Thorium-232... nobody can be really sure. If anybody says he can tell, then either he is lying or he does not know what he is saying.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
CERRIE Minority Report and European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR)
The anti-lynas group (including the good Hon. Professor C.) has often used the CERRIE Minority Report to claim that "There is strong evidence that current models of hazard from radioactivity inside the human body underestimate risks by at least 100 and possibly up to 1,000 times."
What happened at CERRIE (Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters) is well known (see http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/24/4/E02/pdf/jr44e1.pdf , http://www.cerrie.org/ and
http://www.comare.org.uk which advises the UK government) and is due to two members, one of whom is Christopher Busby who, it seems, sells radiation protection kits to Fukushima survivors
(see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/21/christopher-busby-radiation-pills-fukushima and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/nov/22/christopher-busby-nuclear-green-party ). Busby is very political and even ran for office.
They also cited that the self-styled European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) which is an informal committee formed in 1997 following a meeting by the European Green Party which claimed that the risk from radioactive internal emitters are at least 100 to 200 times more hazardous than currently believed.
Quote: Nick Tsurikov "The point that I would like to make is to illustrate clearly that ECRR "100-200 times" factors cannot possibly be correct - have a look:
The 'official' risk of getting cancer from radiation exposure is 1 in 20,000 per 1 milliSievert of dose. So, if the hazard is 'understated' by, say, 200 times - it becomes 1 in 100, per 1 mSv of dose.
Thousands of people in Malaysian amang industry and in heavy mineral sands industry world wide have been exposed to about 5 mSv every year for (let's say, on average) 6 years of working life, so their cumulative dose was 30 mSv.
Which means that if ECRR is correct - every third worker should be dead from cancer by now...
And what about those who were exposed to about 20 mSv for five years or more (in any industry, uranium included) - in accordance with the ECRR coefficients - the chance is 1 in 1, so they are all dead from cancer by now...
I do not see any cancer epidemic happening... What about all the tin miners in Malaysia in 1950's-1970's: they all should've died within several years after starting their work (as their coefficient would be close to 5 to 1...) Just some points for general consideration..."
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
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http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/16/rare-earth-a-richer-malaysia-and-a-greener-world/#comment-76493
Quote:The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has warned that the Lynas rare earth processing plant will increase the risk of malignant cancers for those living in the vicinity. Unquote
When we say "MMA says" what we really mean is that ONLY 1 DOCTOR SAYS i.e. THE PRESIDENT OF THE MMA AND NOT ALL THE DOCTORS OR EVEN THE MAJORITY OF THE DOCTORS IN THE MMA because when the president of the MMA says something he did not take a vote of all the doctors or even some of the doctors in the association!
So this is the opinion of just the President of the MMA i.e. just 1 person and not that of ALL the doctors in the association. We have to make this very clear. HE OR SHE DEFINITELY DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME !
We also have to realize that whenever the head or the president of any group of people says something, there will be people with ulterior motives who, if the statement suits and reinforces their own evil motives, will seize the opportunity to sensationalize the statement.
In the worst case scenario, the radiation risk in the surrounding area will increase by only 0.002 mSv and since the risk of developing cancer is 1 per 20,000 per mSv, the increased risk is 1 in 10,000,000 for people in the Kuantan area.
This chance is as good as striking the FOUR DIGIT LOTTERY 1 THOUSAND TIMES! Let me know if you know of someone who had struck the 4 digit lottery 1,000 times!
But again, consider Ng Ai Soo's comment:
" And what about other pollution and/or radiation sources in the environment before Lynas even starts. For example, a 1,000MW coal plant after just 1 year of operation produces 6,000,000 tons of CO2, 44,000 tons of SO2, 22,000 tons of NO2, 320,000 tons of ash containing 400 tons of heavy metals (arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead etc.)
And, here’s the kicker, including 5 tons or Uranium and 12 tons of Thorium from which the radon gas of both decay chains are out the chimney and into our air... and we are building TWO of these now to add to those we already have on the peninsula. "
"In fact, the fly ash emitted by a power plant—a by-product from burning coal for electricity—carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy." (Quote from Scientific American)
The risk of getting cancer from just 1 of the many coal fired plants in Malaysia is far, far higher than that of the Lynas plant. Pollution from all our other plants and factories are just as bad.
Why this discrimination against Lynas? Why not have a massive demonstration to call for these power plants and all our factories to be closed down and send all the waste products BACK TO AUSTRALIA, GERMANY, JAPAN, TAIWAN, ENGLAND AND THE USA.
I AN VERY SURE THAT NO SANE INVESTOR WILL COME TO MALAYSIA and we can go back to the good old times of being a 4th word country and SEND OUR DAUGHTERS AND GRAND-DAUGHTERS TO KAMPUCHEA AND MYAMMAR TO WORK AS MAIDS AND DOMESTIC SERVANTS!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
ADSORPTION AND SOLUBILITY
"Thorium-232 is strongly bound (adsorbed) by soil especially clay soil. The Thorium concentration in the clay particles is about 500,000 % higher than in the water between the clay particles.
So, it cannot be leached out by water and pollute the rivers. Even if the clay soil is washed into the rivers and sea it will not do any harm as the thorium will still be strongly attached (adsorbed) to the clay and will not dissolve into the water."
Quote Anti-Lynas:
"Lynas' snake-oil salesman forgot to tell you that the WLP waste will be roasted in concentrated acid. And in that form, thorium is highly soluble. Unquote
The SOLUBILITY of a substance in a solute like water and ADSORPTION of the substance are 2 separate properties and not the same.
In nature Thorium-232 is found in the form of Monazite (Ce,La,Nd,Th)PO4 i.e. the phosphate of Thorium-232. This is completely insoluble in water.
The next most common ore is Thorite (ThSiO4) which has a gram molecular weight of 324.12 gm. This is also completely insoluble in water.
Practically most of the other thorium compounds are artificially created in the laboratory. The most famous is Thorium dioxide (ThO2) which was used as a radiological contrast media and because it is also insoluble, it is administered intravenously as a colloidal dispersion of thorium-232 dioxide (Thorotrast)
Huge doses of 25cc to 50 cc of a 25%solution of Thorium dioxide (Thorotrast) was injected into the vein or artery in the contrast radiological studies.
The other Thorium salts like the fluorides, chlorides, Iodides, sulfides, selenides, tellurides, nitrides, nitrates, sulphates and other complexes are all artificially synthesized.
All of these have varying degrees of solubility in water. The most soluble will be the nitrates, chlorides and to a lesser degree sulphates. As mentioned above, the oxides, silicates and phosphates are insoluble.
Metallic Thorium-232 is of course totally insoluble in water.
However, whether Thorium-232 is in the SOLUBLE OR INSOLUBLE FORM, IT IS STILL STRONGLY ADSORPED BY CLAY AND CANNOT BE LEACHED OUT BY WATER.
The extremely dangerous herbicide Paraquat is a liquid and is extremely soluble in water. Although it is extremely soluble and dangerous, IT IS NOT LEACHED OUT OF THE SOIL and pollute the rivers because it is STRONGLY ADSORPED BY CLAY SOIL JUST LIKE THORIUM-232.
So Lynas can continue their acid roasting of the ore and with the usual procedures taken, it should not be a problem.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London).
What is the "safe" level of radiation?
Public dose limits for exposure from uranium mining or nuclear plants are usually set at 1 mSv per year above background.
The figures below are given by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) and its international counterpart, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Both of these organizations offer recommendations for the maximum permissible dose (MPD) of radiation.
General Public annual MPD by both NCRP and ICRP is 1 mSv.
For Radiation Workers, the annual MPD is 50 mSv (NCRP) and 20 mSv (ICRP), with a cumulative MPD of 10 mSv x Age.
MPD during pregnancy is 5 mSv (NCRP) and 2 mSv (ICRP).
This is over and above background exposure, and excludes medical exposure.
However, experts including Professor Wade Allison of Oxford University argue that the dose limit can safely be raised to 100 millisieverts, based on current health statistics.
Compare this with the dose of 0.002 millisieverts/year of exposure for people living within 1 km of the Lynas plant in the worst case scenario (estimated by Lynas).
This level of 0.002 mSv/yr is actually grossly overestimated because the low energy gamma rays from the Thorium-232 decay chain is able to travel less than 300 metres in air.
Note, the average energy of most abundant emission is only 0.059 MeV, though the gamma ray from Thallium-208 decay to stable Lead-208 has a higher energy of 2.62 MeV.
The radon-220 has a very short half life of only 55 seconds and as such cannot travel far and do not accumulate in confined spaces like the radon-222 from the Uranium decay series.
So the actual radiation dose at a distance greater than 300 metres from the plant is approaching 0 mSv/year !
Comparative Dosages in Biological Effect in mSv.
Dose from natural radiation in the human body: 0.40 mSv per year
Sleeping next to someone for 8 hours 0.02 mSv/yr (10x Lynas worst case)
Sleeping in wooden house = 0.20 mSv/yr (100x Lynas worst case)
Smoking a pack of cigarettes daily 0.20 mSv/yr (100x Lynas worst case)
Slag brick and granite house = up to 2.0 mSv/yr (1,000x Lynas worst case)
Chest X-ray = 0.10 mSv
Medical or dental X-ray 0.39 mSv
CT Scan (Chest) = 10 mSv
CT Fluoroscopy of abdomen and pelvis 6 to 90 mSv (median=31 mSv)
Average individual background radiation dose: 2 mSv per year (1.5 mSv per
year for Australians and 3.0 mSv per year for Americans)
Dose from atmospheric sources (mostly radon): 2 mSv per year
Total average radiation dose for Americans: 6.2 mSv per year
Current average dose limit for nuclear workers: 20 mSv per year
Dose from background radiation in parts of Iran, India and Europe: 50 mSv per year
(Source: UNSCEAR and EPA and IAEA)
All the potassium that we eat everyday in our food contains potassium-40 and the normal dietary potassium would give a total of about 80 Bq per day.
Compare this with the Lynas waste which produces only 6 Bq/gm
Even your wife or husband is radioactive, with a radioactivity of 4,000 Bq from Potassium-40 and another 3,000 Bq from Carbon-14 giving a total of about 7,000 Bq!
Sleeping next to someone (i.e. your wife or husband) for 8 hours a day will lead to an exposure of 0.02 mSv/year (Source: UNSCEAR and EPA).
Since all living cells contain potassium, all types of meat, flesh, fruits, nuts and vegetables are radioactive because of the potassium-40 content.
The so-called sodium free salt recommended by health experts to combat high blood pressure is nothing more than just highly radioactive potassium salt! Even a lot of doctors, specialists and professors do not know this!
The message here is that more radioactive substances are freely sold in the shops and used as a fertilizer or eaten by us than you would otherwise thought.
Dr Looi
Your blog is very well written, sound quite logic and accurate in the sense. Personally, I think most Malaysian have no objection on the operation of Lynas in Malaysia if they can make sure their operations are well controlled and critical safety measures are taken. However, the only issue concerned me is basically the distance of the plant with the nearest population. It's too near and as far as I know, it is not recommended in Malaysian Law. In my country, we are kind of concern of the distance as well, which is around 50 km between my home and Weld. Nevertheless, your blog and comments are inspiring, but make sure that the intention here is to express facts to public and not anger them. The words used in sentence such as "RUBBISH PEOPLE", "BACK TO KAMPUCHEA" seriously anger people. Honestly, deny it, but majority of Malaysia is anti Lynas (at least one of my Malaysian friend told me so), so stop provoking and perhaps just discuss without resolving to verbal fight. Harsh words are never be the weapon of educated people. ANyway, nice report, nice blog and hopefully when I visit Malaysia in near future, everything will be great.
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QUESTION BY ANTI-LYNAS: "CAN YOU BE SURE THAT THE LYNAS PLANT IS 100% SAFE ?
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AND AS FAR AS THE 100% BUSINESS IS CONCERNED, THE ONLY THING IN LIFE WHICH WE CAN BE A 100% SURE OF IS THE CEMETERY AND THE LAVATORY. IF WE HAVE TO GO, WE HAVE TO GO 100%.
The chance of dying one day is 100%. So do not worry yourself to death about it!
• Dying from heart disease -- 1 in 6 (lifetime risk)
• Dying in an auto accident -- 1 in 75 (lifetime risk)
• Committing suicide -- 1 in 71 (lifetime risk)
• Being Murdered -- 1 in 140 (lifetime)
DYING FROM CANCER - 1 in 5 (lifetime risk)
• Being struck by lightning -- 1 in 10,456 (lifetime)
• Seriously injuring yourself while shaving -- 1 in 5,844 (annual risk)
• Going to prison this year -- 1 in 139
• Dying from falling out of your bed or chair -- 1 in 513,142
• Being stuck and killed by a falling aircraft -- 1 in 25 million
• Getting food poisoning -- 1 in 8 (annual risk)
• Hiring a sleazy lawyer -- 1 in 8
• Freezing to death (in non-tropical countries) -- 1 in 780,938 (annual risk)
SO ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO DIE FROM CANCER OR SOMETHING NASTY, THE BEST THING TO DO IS NOT TO BE BORN!
If one is already born, the best way to avoid dying from cancer is to die young from other illnesses like dengue, bird flu or malaria or from accidents!
MAYBE, IF ONE IS ALREADY BORN, ONE OF THE MOST PLEASANT WAY TO DIE IS TO DIE UNDER GA (GENERAL ANAESTHESIA) WHEN HAVING A SURGICAL OPERATION.
VERY PLEASANT, NO PAIN, NO KNOWLEDGE, JUST LIKE GOING TO A NORMAL SLEEP AND YOU DIE UNDER THE CLEAR KNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR WIFE AND FAMILY WILL BE WELL TAKEN CARE OF FINANCIALLY because they will be able to sue the surgeon and hospital for millions of dollars ! Dying in any other way which include heart disease, infection, renal failure, lung failure, cancer or even "old age" can be rather painful and uncomfortable !
The risk of dying from a road traffic related accident in Malaysia is much higher than that which has been predicted for the death from radiation induced cancers.
For instance in 2009, there were 6,745 deaths in a population of 27.9 million giving a rate of 24.17 deaths per 100,000.
The main reason why the people of Kuantan is so frightened of the "Fukushimization" of the Lynas plant is pure and simple politics.
The chairman of the coalition of one of the anti-lynas organisation said in one of the Blogs:
Quote: "Thanks for the clarification. I agree with you, the will of the people must prevail, IRREGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE LAMP IS SAFE OR NOT1" Unquote.
What the above statement means in simple non-Australian English is that THE WHOLE ISSUE IS 100% POLITICS AND THERE IS REALLY NOTHING WRONG WITH THE LYNAS PROJECT except that it is a fantastic political tool for certain politicians to gain POWER.
ONCE THE GENERAL ELECTION IS OVER, LYNAS WILL BECOME A HIGHLY BENEFICIAL PROJECT especially if they win!
THERE ARE NO DANGEROUS RADIATION, NO TOXIC WASTE PROBLEM BUT A LOT OF TOXIC, RADIOACTIVE POLITICIANS with a lot of innocent naive brainwashed followers.
Dr Looi.
CONFUSION ON THE SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF THORIUM-232 IN ONE OF THE LYNAS "WASTE" STREAM.....6.2 Bq/g or 62 Bq/g ?
It looks like a lot of people do not have even the basic knowledge of radioactivity concentrations and the various methods of calculating the specific activity of the radionuclides, especially of the series radionuclide.
There are essentially two ways of doing this, one is old fashioned way which use the total activity and the other is the modern currently in use and internationally accepted one and this uses only the concentration of the "mother" radionuclide.
Old method: "Since each atom of Thorium-232 decays into 11 other atoms of other radionuclides (12 atoms involved), each Bq of Thorium-232 had been assumed to be multiplied by a factor of 10 (10 because the end result Lead-208 is considered non-radioactive though this may not be true as it still has a half life of 19 million billion years, and Bismuth-212 decays either into Polonium-212 or to Thallium-208 both of which then decay into Lead-208..so Po-212 and Tl-208 can be considered as 1 Bq only)."
Quote: International Radiation Safety Expert Nick Tsurikov:
" On this basis, if a material contains 400 parts per million of thorium – its specific activity is calculated as follows:
a) Outdated method – 400 x 4.09 (specific activity of Th-232) x 10 (number of radio nuclides in the thorium decay chain) = 16,360 Bq/kg, or 16.4 Bq/g
b) International standard (IAEA, AELB and Australia) – 400 x 4.09 = 1,630 Bq/kg, or 1.64 Bq/g."
Unquote.
The Anti-Lynas folk is now using this old fashion way of looking at specific activity to confuse the people.
Because of all this, they claim that the Lynas "waste" is not 6.2 Bq/g but 62 Bq/g and Lynas has been misleading the people about the radioactivity.
The truth is that nobody, except some of the Chinese in China still use this non-standard way of looking at specific activity of a series radionuclide.
The old method has been discontinued internationally since about 1997.
Actually, when we use the standard description "Lynas waste has only 6.2 Bq/g", we have already factored in the radiation from all the daughter radionuclides.
For instance, all the dose coefficients given by IAEA of 0.39 microSv/hr/Bq/g for radiation at 1 metre from a pile of Thorium, and by UNSCEAR of 0.604 microSv/hr/Bq/gm for radiation dose from an infinite field of Thorium DEMANDS THAT WE USE THE STANDARD WAY OF DESCRIBING SPECIFIC ACTIVITY i.e. 1 Bq of activity in both a series or single non-series decay means 1 atom of the "mother" radionuclide decaying.
So as far as the dosage in terms of biological effects is concerned, whether we use the standard 6.2 Bq/g or the old Chinese way of 62 Bq/g to describe the radioactivity of the Lynas "waste", there is NO DIFFERENCE, as, if we were to use the old Chinese 62 Bq/g, we will have to divide the IAEA and UNSCEAR coefficients by a factor of 10.
Dato' Dr Looi
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http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
1. Malaysian Journal of Nuclear and Related Technology
THE ANNUAL DOSE RATE EXPOSURE FROM MALAYSIAN
CLAY BRICK HOUSE = 0.43 mSv/year
(215 x Lynas Worst Case Scenario)
2. SLEEPIN IN WOODEN HOUSE = 0.20 mSv/yr
(100x Lynas worst case)
3. SLAG BRICK AND GRANITE HOUSE = up to 2.0 mSv/yr
(1,000x Lynas worst case)
SO TO ALL ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS, YOU SHOULD PITCH UP A TENT NEXT TO THE LYNAS PLANT AND SEND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY TO LIVE NEXT TO LYNAS AS THIS IS HUNDREDS OF TIMES LESS RADIOACTIVE THAN LIVING IN YOUR PRESENT WOODEN OR BRICK HOUSES !
Dato' Dr Looi
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjT1kUAy_08&feature=player_detailpage
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