'Lynas' thorium can generate RM4 trillion in energy'

Do you believe this idiot? The rest of the world must be idiots not to jump for the project if it is really so profitable and without risk - 1Christians

The thorium waste which will be produced by Lynas’ RM700 million rare-earth processing factory can be used as fuel to generate up to RM3 trillion worth of electricity a year, the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on the plant heard today.

Nuclear physicist Abdul Rahman Omar (left) told the panel in a public hearing at Parliament today that one tonne of thorium generates the same amount of energy as 10 million tonnes of coal.

“It can generate 1 gigawatt of electricity in a year which is worth RM1 billion to RM2 billion, multiply this by the 2,000 tonnes a year that the factory will produce, then it is worth between RM2 trillion to RM4 trillion in electricity,” he said.

This technology dubbed Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), he said, was mooted by the Americans at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee between 1968 to 1972 but was abandoned in favour of uranium due to its abundance.

“China is now working very hard on using thorium for energy generation... if you use uranium, it causes the casing to become brittle and it has to be reprocessed after 10 to 15 percent of usage, but for thorium, you can use it until the last drop,” he said.

 Gypsum could be sold to China

 Alternatively, he said, the gypsum produced as a byproduct by the plant during the neutralisation of sulphuric acid, could be sold to China, which would extract the thorium for energy production.

However, when pointed out that prominent chemist Chun-Hua Yan (left) from China had said this method was outdated and had been abandoned, Abdul Rahman disputed this.

An Atomic Energy Licensing Board representative later clarified that Chun was not a waste disposal expert.

China had last year announced a rival thorium-based technology where they claim its waste would be far less hazardous than conventional uranium.

Abdul Rahman said that alpha radiation in thorium was too weak to penetrate the human body and could only pose a threat if inhaled or ingested.

"The risk is not high, is there are any risk, it will be to the factory workers, who therefore must be given proper equipment," he said.

He added that even though thorium is radioactive, it is very stable as it has a half life of 14 billion years.

"Even after the sun has died, half of the thorium would still exist," he said.

Abdul Rahman was one of six medical and nuclear experts, all of whom had testified that the thorium produced by the rare earth processing plant was too low to pose significant health dangers.

Other experts who testified at the public hearing included an economist, a risk management consultant and a property evaluator.

Echoing this, environmental radiology expert Ahmad Termizi Ramli said the long half life of thorium is often miscontrued as being dangerous but in actual fact this means its decay is much slower, thus the radiation it emits at a time is less.

"In terms of processing, if dust containing thorium is inhaled, the levels, if it abides by our laws and regulations, is not detrimental because the amount is too small," he said.

Even if thorium enters the body, he said, only 0.02 percent of it will be absorbed, an amount small enough for the body to repair itself from the damage.

Pressure groups

He added that pressure groups had acted based on misinformation, but credited them as a necessary mechanism to ensure the plant adheres to proper standards.

"I have no confidence towards multinational companies, if there are not watched, they may try to take advantage," he said.

As such, he said as long as regulators kept check on the plant, radiation concerns were a "non-issue".

The hearing today in Kuala Lumpur is the last following two other hearing held in Kuantan on May 10 and 11.

"Unlike the PSC on electoral reform, (it is shorter because) this issue  primarily only concerns the residents of Kuantan.

"We've gathered input from Pahang and now we're having it in KL to gather input where most experts are based," said PSC chairperson Khaled Nordin (left).

The report, he said, will be tabled in Parliament on June 14 and is expected to be debated on June 19.