For most of us, the word "radioactive" brings to mind images of a dangerous substance, which we should shun rather than handle.
Some people believe radioactive substance can explode, cause death or cancer.
This is the public perception. Not only that, radioactivity linked to certain calamities the world over, such as the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug 6, 1945; the nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on April 26, 1986; and lately, the radiation leak at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, resulting from an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Incidents such as these strike anxiety and fear in the people because they tend to assume that radioactivity is the cause of death, damege to property, environmental pollution and disease such as cancer.
It may difficult to change the public stigma towards radioactivity. Nevertheless, unbeknown to us, radioactivity is present around us naturally and we are exposed to radiation in our daily lives.
For example, we are exposed to radiaton from soil and rocks, and space (in the form of cosmic rays), and fro the food we consume daily, such as fruits and vegetables.
Our body consist of natural radioactive substance such as Potassium-40. Data gleaned from UNSCEAR 2000 (United Nations scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation to the General Assembly) states that, on average, we are exposed to natural radiation up to 2.4 milliSievert (mSv) annually.
All soil in the worl contains naturally occuring radioactive materials(NORM), particularly Uranium 238 im the range of 16 to 110 Becquerel/kg (Bq/kg) (equivalent to 0.016 to 0.1 Bq/gm) and Thorium-232 in the range of 11 to 64 Bq/kg (equivalent to 0.011 to 0.064 Bq/kg)
The latest issue involving radioactive substance in the country, which is widely debated, is Lynas project. Briefly, Lynas(M) Sdn Bdh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lynas corporation Ltd of Australia. It is in the business of producing and selling rare earth.
Output from the processing of rare earth is used by hundreds of industrial applications, for example batteries for laptop computers, mobile telephones and hibrid cars, cathode-ray tubes for TV monitors and computers, fibre-optic cables, aerospace applications and magnets for generation of energy from wind.
The Lynas company in Kuantan is expected to produce almost 30 percent of the world's supply (outside China) once it becomes operational.
The dispute centres on the residue, containing naturally occuring radioactive materials (NORM).
The main reason for the people's fear, espsecially those in Pahang, is the Lynas proposes to import Lanthanide ore from the Mount Weld mine in Western Australian for processing and extraction in the Gebeng industrial site in Pahang.
The waste by-product from the extraction of rare earth is people's point of contention and the transparency of the government and its relevent agencies in ensuring the people's safety.
The issue had been raise by certain quarters solely with a political motive.
It is regrettable that the public have become the victim for they have been fed with misleading information, leading them to equate the processing of rare earth by Lynas to that by Asian Rare Earth (ARE) and harbouring fears of a repeat of the incident involving the latter in the 1980s.
The government has taken precautionary measures to prevent any recurrence of the ARE incident. Various government agencies, among them the Department of Environment, Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and Occupational Safety and Health Department are responsible for ensuring the people's safety and health as well as quality of the environment.
The public have questioned the credibility of the relevent agencies, including the move by AELB in issuing the licence, as well as the transparency of the independent panel of experts who arrived at the decision on the Lynas project.
In fact, in a project involving the processing of the radioactive substance, the construction approval would be given but the operating licence would only be issued after Lynas complies with all safety measures and requirement stated in the conditions for licensing and in its radiation protection programme.
The government has also invited an independent panel of international experts from countries which have no vested interest in the Lynas project to undertake a review of all the safety and health aspects, reflecting that it is truly transparent in the decision-making process.
Based on the facts and analysis of samples by the relevent agencies, the residue generated by the Lynas project is low in radiation, which is 0.165 percent in thorium content, equivalent to 1 650 parts per million (ppm) or 6.7 Bq/g or 6 500 Bq/kg.
The thorium content in the residue at Lynas, namely the water leach purification (WLP), has a radiation exposure of 0.002 mSv per year, much lower than the permissible exposure level of 1mSv per year.
As such, it is needless for people in the vicinity, such as in Balok, Beserah, Sungai Ular and Sungai Karang, to be fearful because the project will not have any harmful health effect on them.
A study undertaken by an independent body shows that the maximum exposure dose gauged around Kuantan is 0.00012 milliSievert per hour, much lower than the exposure dose a person is subjected to during a CT scan and X-ray.
The marble on which we walk, porcelain cups and saucers which we use, soil on which our children play and stones used in the construction of houses and offices contain radioactive elements such as thorium, uranium and other substances.
However, these elements only generate a low level of radiation and do not pose any threat to our health.
In here, Lynas is not the only company engaged in the processing of minerals. Others include Petronas Carigali, TOT Mineral, Tioxide Huntsman and Samsung Corning.
Processing of rare earth also takes place in Africa, India, Canada, Vietnam, China and Brazil.
As such, it is unfair to associate radiation only with danger.
The fact is that radiation has brought much benefit to man, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
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