On thorium and Lynas — Chan Chee Khoon
TMI: March 27, 2012
MARCH 27 — The Sun declined to publish my response (below) to Dr Looi Hoong Wah’s earlier letter. In the interest of reasoned exchanges, I hope this response to Dr Looi’s latest letter sees the light of day.
In this letter, Dr Looi’s cites the Argonne National Lab’s fact sheet on thorium to argue that only a miniscule portion of thorium-232 which is ingested via food or water is absorbed into the bloodstream, of which only 4 per cent gets deposited in the liver where it is retained with a biological half-life of 700 days.
He neglects to mention that thorium-232 is much more readily absorbed into the human body via an inhalation route, and furthermore that 70 per cent of the amount entering the bloodstream gets deposited in bone where it is retained with a biological half-life of about 22 years, all that while irradiating the much more radio-sensitive blood-forming tissues there with highly mutagenic alpha-particles (20 times more damaging to cellular genetic material than beta or gamma radiation).
Could this be the reason for the cluster of childhood leukaemias observed among the children of Bukit Merah? (Recall also the inverse square law — the intensity of radiation from a radioactive particle a metre away from a human body increases a trillion-fold when that same particle sits at micron-level distances on the body’s cells and tissues.)
Dr Looi considers that inhalation exposures to thorium-containing dust is solely an occupational problem which is not relevant to the greater Kuantan-Kemaman community. Let’s recall that the ARE rare earths refinery at Bukit Merah, like LAMP, had no long-term waste management plan. Ad hoc arrangements, including the aborted Papan dump site, eventually led to a situation of indiscriminate, clandestine dumping of radioactive thorium-cake wastes at Lahat, Menglembu, Pengkalan, Jelapang, Buntong, Simpang Pulai, among other locations.
The Kuantan-Kemaman community similarly faces the prospect of unknown numbers of dump sites at unknown locations scattered in and around the cities if Lynas does not come up with an acceptable plan for long-term waste disposal.
Allow me also to bring to Dr Looi’s attention a 1993-1994 study of male miners at the Bayun Obo rare earths and iron mine in Inner Mongolia which was reported in the Journal of Radiological Protection in 2005.
In that study, highly dust-exposed miners had 5.15 times the age-adjusted lung cancer rate compared to the rate among Chinese males in the general population. The less-exposed mining staff had 2.30 times the general population rate. Both groups had similar smoking rates (78 per cent vs 67 per cent for the general adult male population).
On this basis, the authors concluded that the excess lung cancer risk among the less-exposed was largely due to above-average smoking, and the further difference between the two miner groups was due to high exposure to airborne crystalline silica particulates (mainly) and to thorium-containing dust and its radioactive daughter nuclides such as thoron gas.
These conclusions are highly debatable, and it is precisely in this situation of uncertainty and lack of consensus that the Kuantan-Kemaman community shouldn’t end up as tikus makmal (lab rats) in a natural experiment for Lynas.
Finally, it should also be noted that the ores that the Chinese miners were exposed to contained 400 ppm of thorium. The rare earth oxide concentrates that will be arriving shortly at Kuantan port will have 1,600 ppm of thorium.
The US Public Health Service (1990) reports that the natural background level in North American soil is typically ~ 6 ppm of thorium.
The unpublished letter to The Sun.
Dr Looi Hoong Wah, in dismissing the Kuantan community’s apprehensions over Lynas rare earths refinery in Gebeng (The Sun, March 7, 2012), has glossed over a number of points:
1. Potassium-40, when absorbed, is distributed more uniformly throughout the human body, mostly in muscle tissue which is among the least radio-sensitive of the body’s tissues (the most radio-sensitive tissues are the lymphoid organs, bone marrow, blood, testes, ovaries, intestines)
2. Thorium-232 is very poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, but much more readily via an inhalation route. Seventy per cent of thorium entering the bloodstream localises to the bones where it is retained with a biological half-life of 22 years, all that while irradiating the blood-forming tissues with alpha-particles which are 20 times more damaging than gamma or beta radiation.
3. In contrast, potassium-40 is excreted from the body much more rapidly, with a biological half-life of 30 days.
4. The net result of all this: the lifetime cancer mortality risk per Curie of inhaled thorium-232 is 200 times that of inhaled potassium-40, and 2,000 times that of ingested potassium-40 (1 Curie = 37 GBq).
5. The “safe thresholds” of 1 mSv/yr (public) and 20 mSv/yr (occupational) that Dr Looi, Dr Che Rosli Che Mat (MP, Hulu Langat), Lynas, AELB, and IAEA repeatedly invoke are derived from ICRP risk models which are currently under critical scrutiny and challenge, in the wake of excess childhood leukaemia near nuclear power plants that can’t be explained by radiation exposures which are much below the “safe thresholds”. A UK expert panel for instance (2004, www.cerrie.org) could not arrive at a consensus regarding the health risks of low-level exposure to internal emitters (inhaled or ingested radioactive particles). Opinions among the UK panel members ranged from negligible adverse effects to an underestimation of risk by at least a 100-fold.
6. In short, nobody really knows at this point how hazardous the Lynas refinery may turn out to be, given that much of the radioactive solid wastes will be in powdery form, i.e. respirable as suspended particulates, or ingestable from contaminated surfaces.
7. In asserting that the LAMP refinery is unquestionably safe, Dr Looi, Dr Che Rosli, Lynas and AELB have recklessly abandoned the precautionary principle. The Kuantan-Kemaman community may end up as lab rats in a natural experiment.
* Chan Chee Khoon, ScD (Epidemiology) is from the Centre for Population Health, Department Social & Preventive Medicine Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
Addendum:
Axiom or postulate (in mathematics): a proposition that is not and cannot be proven within the system based on them. Axioms define and delimit the realm of analysis. In other words, an axiom is a logical statement that is assumed to be true. Therefore, its truth is taken for granted within the particular domain of analysis, and serves as a starting point for deducing and inferring other (theory and domain dependent) truths. An axiom is defined as a mathematical statement that is accepted as being true without a mathematical proof. (Wikipedia)
Can I assume (that word again!) that Dr Looi made no assumptions in his medical practice? That it was based on incontrovertible and unchangeable truths? Dr Looi is perfectly aware that clinical medicine, more than most sciences, is very pragmatic and often entails (unavoidably) decisionmaking in situations of uncertainty.
Let's recall that obstetric X-rays were assumed to be safe by the medical and scientific community until the 1950s, when Professor Alice Stewart (Oxford) raised the alarm with her findings of increased risk of childhood leukemia. These findings were initially also dismissed as a fringe minority opinion (by Sir Richard Doll, no less, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford), but her persistence eventually saw them incorporated into mainstream medical practice.
Dr Looi was rather nonchalant in describing the risks posed by Thorotrast exposure, another unfortunate instance of unwitting human experimentation. Here’s an abstract from a June 2008 report of a long term follow-up study of German patients subjected to Thorotrast between 1930 and 1950 (European J Cancer) :
Abstract
Thorotrast was the brand name of a stabilised colloidal solution of thorium dioxide which was used preferentially as an X-ray contrast medium for arteriography between 1930 and 1950. The administration of the medium led to lifelong chronic α-particle irradiation by thorium decay products, mainly in the organs of deposition. Several epidemiological follow-up studies were set up after recognition of these side-effects among which the German study was the largest. After an extended follow-up, by 2004 only nine out of 2326 originally exposed subjects were still alive (while 151 of the comparison group, which originally numbered 1890 subjects, survived) and partially more than 70 years observation and chronic exposure time could be studied allowing for further observations to be made about long-term mortality effects of Thorotrast exposure. Median life-expectancy was shortened by 14 years and mortality increased, affecting total mortality SMR = 287 for males, SMR = 387 for females) as well as cause-specific, especially liver cancer (SMR = 16,695 and SMR = 12,680, respectively), and the haematopoietic system (SMR = 556 and SMR = 504, respectively), but not lung cancer. Mortality (total and selected cause-specific) increased with cumulative time since first exposure.
i.e. the liver cancer mortality rate among Thorotrast-exposed males was 167 times the rate among German males in the general population; for females, it was 127 times.
What these episodes teach us is that when technical experts disagree among themselves (as they did in the CERRIE expert panel on internal emitters), the precautionary principle becomes even more important.
In this situation of uncertainty, IAEA, AELB, and Lynas are taking the precautionary principle rather lightly with regards to LAMP, in contrast to California for instance, where Molycorp must comply with a zero liquid wastes discharge requirement despite the limited solubility of thorium compounds in most circumstances; or in Germany, where the popular will has obliged Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power plants even as scientists and researchers continue to lock horns over the unexplained excess of childhood leukemias in the vicinity of nuclear power plants and nuclear reprocessing facilities (see below).
A quick response to Ng Ai Soo (?): I’m referring to macroscopic radioactive particles (e.g. thorium-containing dusts), not to a radioactive atomic nucleus nor sub-atomic particles. You have also assumed that the doubling of leukemia risk for children living within 5km of a nuclear power plant in Germany (KiKK 2008) and in France (Geocap 2012) couldn’t possibly have been due to ionising radiation (including internal emissions). That’s what mainstream medical opinion (in retrospect, hubris) assumed about obstetric X-rays and Thorotrast imaging. Dr Ian Fairlie, who headed the scientific secretariat of CERRIE, has attempted to marshal some evidence in support of a hypothesis of teratogenic effects of ionising radiation on the developing embryo or foetus:
Notwithstanding Busby's controversial persona, the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) accepts that Busby raises legitimate and important scientific issues (regarding internal emitters), even as they disagree with his opinions and conclusions in these matters.
In my comments I have tried to avoid ad hominem (personal) attacks and to engage solely with the scientific/technical merits of the arguments, whatever the credentials and personal or other motivations of my contenders might be. In that same spirit, I have viewed these 2 videos of an exchange between Busby and Jack Valentin, scientific secretary emeritus of ICRP (hosted by Swedish environmentalists):
50 comments:
Dear Dr Quek,
The Hon Prof. Chan Chee Khoon:
Quote from the Hon. Professor "...childhood leukaemias observed among the children of Bukit Merah? (Recall also the inverse square law — the intensity of radiation from a radioactive particle a metre away from a human body increases a trillion-fold when that same particle sits at micron-level distances on the body’s cells and tissues.)
Reply by Mr Ng Ai Soo
"The inverse square law applies to trillions and trillions of particles, not just the one particle. That one particle IS the radiation only "dilutes" in a quantum sense... it otherwise remains one particle no matter how far it is from the source... so the cellular damage by that one particle is the same, no matter how far it travelled to get into the cell. But it must survive that journey into the cell and for different particles the survival rates are different.
The Hon. Prof. Chan Chee Khoon
A quick response to Ng Ai Soo (?): I’m referring to macroscopic radioactive particles (e.g. thorium-containing dusts), not to a radioactive atomic nucleus nor sub-atomic particles.
Comment by Me.
1. In addition to the clarification by Mr Ng Ai Soo of the inappropriateness in invoking the inverse square law to just one particle, if we assume that the intensity is increased by a trillion fold, an alpha particle from Thorium-232 with an energy of 4 MeV is magnified by a factor of 1 trillion, the energy would be 0.64 Joules and this is so "intense" that all the cells that are hit, will be vaporized. We know that DEAD cells do not and cannot turn into cancer cells!
2. Even if we are referring to thorium-containing dusts in Bukit Merah and "not to a radioactive atomic nucleus nor sub-atomic particles,"
it would not work either because at 1 metre away, alpha particles from the Thorium-232 can travel about a couple of centimetres, and since the cells are subjected to an intensity of radiation at 1 metre = 0 units.
Therefore at micron level, 0 multiplied by 1 Trillion is still = 0 units
This shows that if we use retrograde calculations in these situations, we can end up with some rather embarrassing results.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
Dear Dr Quek,
I am a pretty old man now and I have seen a lot and done a lot in life and it is really sad for me to see such an intelligent and brilliant young man like Prof. Chan Chee Khoon, who because he really cares about the safety of the people that he embark on a mission to write about the precautionary steps that need to be taken in all our endeavors.
Unfortunately, without his knowledge, these noble ideas have been hijacked by some unscrupulous people with ulterior motives for their own evil ends.
Thanking you and sending my regards to Prof. Chan
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
All the anti-Lynas people must consider these 2 contradictions:
1. They assume that they are "saving" the people of Kuantan from dangerous Fukushima style Radiation and preventing their descendants from congenital defects for millions of years etc.
However, this, of course, is a blatant misconception but if we take this argument a little further, we have to ask why are they still using their computers, handphones, iPads, printers, cars etc. and all the modern facilities since all these need the rare earth elements.
AND SOMEONE HAS TO MINE AND REFINE THESE RARE EARTH ELEMENTS !
At present, about 97% of these rare earths are mined and refined in China. So we have to conclude that these Anti-Lynas people who continue to use all the modern facilities WOULD NOT CARE TWO HOOTS ABOUT ALL THOSE MILLIONS OF CHINESE IN CHINA WHO ARE SUFFERING FROM THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF RADIATION AND POLLUTION !
IT IS OK FOR PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES TO SUFFER AND DIE BUT IT IS NOT OK FOR US TO SUFFER AND DIE !
THIS TYPE OF ATTITUDE IS PURE HYPOCRASY.. HYPOCRASY AT ITS LOWEST AND MOST DESPICABLE LEVEL !
2. If the main aim of the Anti-Lynas people were to maintain the virtual monopoly of the word market by China, then it is definitely counterproductive and obviously going to backfire as
THIS WOULD CALL INTO QUESTION THE LOYALTY OF ALL OVERSEAS CHINESE IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND WOULD CAUSE GREAT HARM AND INSULT TO PEOPLE OF CHINESE ORIGIN IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE CHINA !
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
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
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) MRCP(London)
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
LYNAS TOXIC WASTES
And what about other pollution and/or radiation sources in the environment before Lynas even starts.
Quote Ng AS "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.
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 the Anti-Lynas people? "
"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)
So to be fair we have to close down all our power plants, factories and industrial plants and go back to the good old days of plucking coconuts and tapping rubber for the BIG WHITE MAN!
The Anti-Lynas people are adamant that we should insist that Lynas waste be sent back to Australia.
Using the same logic, we should ask Intel, Motorolla, Seagate, Honda and all the foreign factories to send all their waste back to England, USA, Germany, Taiwan and Japan.
I can bet with you that no SANE foreigner would be stupid enough to invest in Malaysia and with all our factories closed we would remain a poor agricultural country.
AND OUR DESCENDANTS WILL HAVE TO SEND THEIR DAUGHTERS AND GRANDDAUGHTERS TO WORK AS MAIDS AND DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN MYAMMAR AND KAMPUCHEA!
Remember the Tin slag 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 slag 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 slag!
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 and purposes will become 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.
to continue nxt pg.
con't
Anti-Lynas quote " The USA has closed most of its mines, and so has China. In inner Mongolia, vast tracts of lands and thousands of square kilometres have been rendered hazardous, with toxic runoffs destroying everything in their path, and with high radioactivity, tainting and polluting precious water supplies." Unquote
I HAVE TO KEEP REPEATING THAT KUANTAN PEOPLE ARE NOT MINERS IN THE RARE EARTH OR URANIUM OR THORIUM MINES.
The " toxic runoffs destroying everything in their path, and with high radioactivity, tainting and polluting precious water supplies.",
IS FROM THE MINES AND NOT FROM THE MODERN REFINING CHEMICAL PLANTS!
PLEASE DO NOT KEEP COMPARING US TO "THE WORKERS IN THE MINES EXPOSED TO THORIUM BY INHALATION OF FINE PARTICLES !
" Thorium-232 is considered to be a carcinogen only IF ADMINISTERED INTRAVENOUSLY AS A COLLOIDAL DISPERSION OF THORIUM-232 DIOXIDE."
AND NOBODY FROM LYNAS IS GOING AROUND IN KUANTAN INJECTING US WITH THORIUM DIOXIDE !!
I REPEAT: KUANTAN PEOPLE ARE NOT RARE EARTH OR THORIUM MINERS !
The rare earth miners in the case of the Lynas Rare Earth Plant are still in a place called Mount Weld in Western Australia !
If there is any long term lung problem, the Australians are the ones who will be getting those problems and not the Kuantan people.
Kuantan people are just ordinary traders, office workers, taxi drivers or just hanging around doing nothing in the air-conditioned malls.
It is tantamount to claiming that since workers in the granite quarries and underground tin mines developed severe lung disease (silicosis) and lung cancer from inhaling dust containing silica (sand), the millions of tons of sand in our beaches should be relocated to somewhere safe or shipped back to...?Australia.
Definite evidence that crystalline silica (Sand, Sio2) is associated with an increased rate of lung cancer led the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC) to conclude in 1997 that crystalline silica is a known human
carcinogen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IARC_Group_1_carcinogens
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB.,ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
*
Contributing Significantly to the Country and Local Economies: The Lynas Rare Earth Plant
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).
Why do we have to give Lynas the 12 yrs tax free incentive?
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
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 and agree that it all depends on what we are trying to compare with.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
A reader claimed that the actual casualties from Chernobyl is MUCH higher than what establishment acknowledges and may actually run into the thousands.
My reply:
I am aware of the claims that thousands upon thousands of the liquidators (clean up workers) have died but you must remember that there was a total of well over 700,000 liquidators.
The male life expectancy in Russia in 1999 was only 58 years. The accident happened in 1986 i.e. 26 years ago and so all those who were above 32 years old at that time (58 minus 26 years) have already exceeded their normal life expectancy. The average age of the early liquidators were between 20 and 45 years.
So out of the 700,000 people probably a few hundred thousand must have exceeded their life expectance by now and it is not unexpected to find thousands of these people have died by now from causes other than radiation. An UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008.
Quote from IAEA: "Emergency workers or “liquidators” were drafted into the area and helped to clean up the plant premises and the surrounding area. These workers, generally men aged 20 to 45, were mostly plant employees, Ukrainian fire-fighters plus many soldiers and miners from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of the then Soviet Union.
Within the first three months, the group known as the “Early Liquidators”, those first on the scene including plant workers, construction workers and local fire-fighters, lost 28 members to Acute Radiation Sickness. Another 106 persons were treated for the same disease and survived. Nineteen additional patients died over the eight years following the accident, although these were not necessarily associated with radiation exposure
Some 350,000 people involved in the initial clean-up of the plant in 1986-87 received average total body radiation doses of the order of 100 millisieverts (mSv) - a millisievert is a unit of radiation dose equivalent to about 10 general chest x-rays. This dose is about five times the maximum annual dose limit currently permitted for workers in nuclear facilities (20 mSv per year). Average worldwide natural “background” radiation is about 2.4 mSv annually." Unquote
What I am trying to say is that it is not valid to use the results of the ACUTE HIGH INTENSITY radiation (100 mSv) of Chernobyl to justify evolutionary changes in the chronic low intensity (about 10 mSv/year) radiation found in places like Ramsar.
Dato' Dr Looi
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
Quote: "Thorium-232 do not produce any gamma rays, but it's daughter radionuclides do produce the dangerous penetrating gamma rays" Unquote
Pure freshly separated Thorium-232 has only a slight alpha activity. There is no beta radiation and only a slight amount of gamma radiation (from the 0.09-MeV gamma rays which emanate from Th-228 decay).
However, the activity from the Th-228 side of the chain is quickly re-established. A first equilibrium state is reached in about 36 days (10 half-lives of Ra-224).
Activity then declines, as Th-228 decays faster than it is replenished by decaying Ac-228. About 3 years after separation, the activity is lower than at any other time except just after isolation.
Activity then increases until the second equilibrium state is reached in about 60 years or so.
Thorium-232 with all its daughter radionuclides
Total alpha energy = 36.2 MeV per nuclear decay
Total Gamma energy = 3.40 MeV per nuclear decay
Total Beta energy = 5.95 MeV per nuclear decay
Since the Lynas waste has 6 Bq/gm of activity, 1 KILOGRAM would have 6,000 Bq and that will produce 20,400 MeV of gamma ray energy from all the daughter radionuclides at equilibrium.
20,400 MeV from 1 kg of Lynas waste = 0.0000000007808 calories or 0.000000003268 joules.
This amount of gamma ray energy from 1 KILOGRAM of Lynas waste is not enough to tickle the backside of even a tiny little newborn caterpillar!
The total alpha energy is much larger i.e. 36.2 MeV but since alpha radiation does not pose an external threat and Thorium in clay soil is not absorbed, and since inhalation only affects miners, it is not a problem either for the Kuantan folks. But it may be a problem for those poor Australian miners in Mount Weld in Western Australia.
So, the Australians are the ones getting the wrong side of the deal!
Dust particles can get deep into the lungs only if they are very small i.e. much less than 10 micron. The particles that are less than 5 microns are the ones which can get deep into the alveoli of the lungs. Larger ones are trapped by the mucus in the nose and upper respiratory tract and are coughed out or sneezed out.
Particles of less than 5 microns can only be found in the Thorium and Uranium mines where powerful machines are used or where there is combustion.
Since alpha radiation cannot go far (the 4.0 MeV alpha particle from Thorium-232 decay can travel only 27.8 microns in water), even if you have a huge pile of Lynas waste, the external radiation would not increase by much because only the 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 and be converted to simple helium gas and those on the surface will travel only 2.54 cm into the air, picks up 2 electrons and become the harmless Helium for you to fill up your balloon.
The beta particles which are electrons (electricity = flow of electrons) do not pose an external threat either. There are lots more high voltage electrons on your clothing as static electricity when you stay in a dry air-condition room than from the waste.
Only gamma rays from your mountain of Lynas waste from less than 45 cm deep (depending on the type of soil and the water content) are able to see the light of day, as those deeper than that will be blocked by the layer of soil from getting out.
And as shown above the total amount of gamma rays from the Thorium-232 decay chain is insignificant.
SO WHAT'S THE BIG RADIATION PROBLEM?
Dr Looi
Members of the anti-lynas crowd have been asking some very childish and ridiculous questions (repeatedly parroted, more as a means of cyber harassment than for any form of intellectual benefit).
Some of the best examples are:
1. If you think it is so safe why don't you eat it?
Answer: Since my cooked SH*T IS ALSO SAFE, would YOU like to eat it?
(What I mean is that if something is safe or not radioactive, it does not necessarily mean that you have to eat it!)
This chain question probably started when one of the young, naive inexperienced politicians asked another to drink drain water and since then this question has been brainlessly parroted by some of his followers.
2. If you think it is so safe, why don't you put it in your fridge?
Answer: Since my cooked SH*T IS ALSO SAFE, why don't YOU put it in YOUR fridge?
3. If you think there is no radioactivity why don't you live next to the Lynas plant?
Answer (Short answer. If you want a longer answer, please refer to my posts in other blogs):
A pigs farm or even a huge oil palm factory also do not have any significant radioactivity, so why don't you live next to it?
4. Can you guarantee me that the Lynas plant is 100% safe
Answer: 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%.
5. THE MOTHER OF ALL SILLY QUESTIONS, asked by an accountant in Anti-Lynas crowd.
Do you know the difference between
1 sodium metal in the lab and sodium ion in sea water?
2 iron metal power, iron oxide powder, iron salt ions?
3 lead metal , lead oxide , lead ions of the heavy metal ?
4 thorium metal powder, thorium hydroxide and rare earth waste thorium ions as heavy metallic ions ?
ANSWER:
IF YOU CAN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS,
I THINK I MIGHT TAKE SOME LSD AND PROCEED TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT YOU ASKED ABOVE.
Do you know the difference between
1 black hair on your head and brown hair in my the toilet?
2 telekom power, purple coffee powder, blue curry powder?
3 coconut husk, coconut roots, coconut leaves of tall Angsana trees?
4 arsenic tetrahydrococonut, arsenic monodurian, and arsenic as rare earth waste thorium non-ionic as heavy metallic non-submersible non-iron ironic nano-ions nonsense?
The list of infantile unintelligent questions goes on and on and on.
All these continuously repeated and parroted non-physical questions and statements will not serve the anti-lynas objective but only characterise the anti-lynas folk as childish, non-thinking ill-informed people with IQs which I would rather not mention!
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
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
Quote: AELB (Atomic Energy Licensing Board, Malaysia):
Malaysia was the world's no. 1 producer of tin. Along with tin, there's always Thorium and Uranium and therefore this is not Malaysia's first facility, AELB is has experience to handle this, to overcome this and AELB is prepared.
THERE ARE MORE THAN 10 FACILITIES THAT ARE VERY SIMILAR TO LYNAS.
SOME OF THEM ARE PRODUCING HIGHER RESIDUES, HIGHER CONCENTRATION OF URANIUM AND THORIUM.
AELB has been able to regulate and control these factories, so it is based on AELB experience and the experience of the industry abroad." Unquote
Dato' Dr Looi
From the New Straits Times Press, Ahmad Ibrahim, Fellow of Academy of Sciences, Malaysia Quote:
"La Rochelle, the 'Lynas of France'
Many would be surprised that La Rochelle has for decades been hosting a rare earths processing plant, similar to the one planned in Malaysia.
The La Rochelle facility, which belongs to France's Rhodia Group, has for years been operating like Lynas. Forty years to be exact. And there has been no adverse health and safety report in the tourist town.
The Rhodia company is an active player in the rare earths business. It is a leading processor of rare earths. In fact, it's the only fully integrated industrial player to have manufacturing operations and raw material supply both within and outside China.
The plant in La Rochelle has been in operation for more than 50 years.
In the early years, the plant processed rare earths ore concentrates from Australia and China just like Lynas would. For 40 years, the plant was operated in this manner, producing cerium for the world market.
The radioactive thorium residues have been stored within the plant's 40ha site for the past 50 years. During storage, the residues are regularly monitored by the country's regulatory authority, the equivalent of our Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).
They believe the stored thorium salts will become a fuel of the future.
What is clear is that the rare earths processing facility in La Rochelle has been operating for more than five decades without harming the population. Instead, La Rochelle has thrived over the years as an attractive tourist destination not only for the French but also for holiday-makers from other European countries and even as far away as the United States.
Through the deployment of stringent health and safety standards, the chemical plant has been of no consequence to the local community.
Instead, it has contributed to the local economy not only in terms of job opportunities but also tax revenues.
After visiting La Rochelle, it beats me why there are still people who are so hung up on Lynas."Unquote
Quote: AELB (Atomic Energy Licensing Board, Malaysia):
Malaysia was the world's no. 1 producer of tin. Along with tin, there's always Thorium and Uranium and therefore this is not Malaysia's first facility, AELB is has experience to handle this, to overcome this and AELB is prepared.
THERE ARE MORE THAN 10 FACILITIES THAT ARE VERY SIMILAR TO LYNAS.
SOME OF THEM ARE PRODUCING HIGHER RESIDUES, HIGHER CONCENTRATION OF URANIUM AND THORIUM.
AELB has been able to regulate and control these factories, so it is based on AELB experience and the experience of the industry abroad." Unquote
QUESTION: WHY IS IT THAT THERE ARE NO DEMONSTRATIONS BY
THE ANTI-LYNAS FOOT-SOLDIERS AGAINST THESE 10 CHEMICAL
PLANTS ALREADY IN MALAYSIA THAT ARE PRODUCING "WASTES
WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF URANIUM AND THORIUM"?
ANSWER: 100% PURE POLITICS FROM TOXIC RADIOACTIVE POLITICIANS !
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
HAVE A LOOK AT ALL THESE VIDEOS
Karam Singh Videos:
Penang Stadium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RPOGzrqu1Vg
Che Rosli TV3 interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjT1kUAy_08&feature=player_detailpage
Kilang Selamat..MB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0MFxBkxNX6g
Waste Product Explained:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1_7kdUomQ70
Comment by Anti-Lynas on article by Ahmad Ibrahim,
Fellow of Academy of Sciences, Malaysia Quote: " It is with ridiculous and SAD to read the article and statement by our own science academician (e.g. CEO of ASM) on the rare earth processing plant in La Rochelle. Again, it just showed that how “un-informed” (or unwilling) is our so called “scientist” in finding the facts on the rare earth industry.
The plant in La Rochelle is not like Lynas. They don't store the waste in their vicinity, the waste is stored in a facility specialized in disposing radioactive waste." Unquote.
ANSWER:
The La Rochelle plant uses Monazite-(Ce)...(Ce, La, Nd, Th, Y)PO4 and this is by far the most common and most radioactive of the 3 types of monazite ore. The other 2 types which are Monazite-(La) and Monazite-(Nd).
The monazite from Malaysian Tin tailings has 6 to 7% Thorium-232 and has an activity of 284 Bq/g.
WASTES
Until the end of 1974, the plant released all radioactive liquids and solids directly into the sea. Since, and until the end of 1990, it sent at least a part of the solid residues to the CSM. These wastes are composed, among other substances, of thorium 232, uranium 238, and their descendants (including radium 226 and 228).
SOLID WASTES
--A solid residue resulting from the processing prior to July 1994 and described by Andra as “Résidu solide banalisé” (RSB), solid residue made commonplace.
As of June 1999, 8025 tons (50% moisture) with an activity of 217 GBq were on the site. The thorium 232 in the dry product represented 48 Bq/g; the uranium 238, 6 Bq/g.
Rhône-Poulenc placed 61,000 t of what Andra describes as RSB into a waste site located near its factory and belonging to the city of La Rochelle (Port de Pallice). The residues contain in particular thorium 232 (48 Bq/g dry product) and uranium 238 (6 Bq/g dry product), for a total of 1.65 TBq [Andra 00].
--Radioactive minerals that have not been attacked. According to Andra, they have been used to fill in a part of the plant site;
--Substances in suspension, the only residue produced by the minerals used today. 10,048 t (50% moisture) containing thorium 232 (2.6 Bq/g ) and uranium 238 (4.7Bq/g) for a total of 37 GBq are stored at the plant;
--Tailings, containing thorium 232, uranium 238, and their descendents including radium. They are more radioactive than the RSB (see above). They are located at Cadarache and presumably in the bay of La Rochelle. They were stored for a time at the CSM.
--Thorium nitrate and crude thorium hydroxide. The 2000 inventory of Andra states in a footnote that it does not take into consideration some 11,000 t of thorium nitrate (mass activity 1650 Bq/g) and about 20,000 t of crude thorium hydroxide (mass activity 720 Bq/g), the “historic” residue of the processing prior to mid-1994, because these substances are “commercialized at present “by Rhodia Terres Rares.
The thorium nitrate is used in the manufacture of lamp sleeves; the hydroxide “is a potential raw material.” Apparently these substances are stored at the site [Andra 99]. The 1997 inventory of Andra listed the hydroxide as a waste.
The waste thorium nitrate (mass activity 1650 Bq/g) has an activity which is 27,500% higher than the waste from Lynas which is only 6 Bq/g! Apparently these substances are stored at the site [Andra 99].
8,025 TONS OF WASTE WITH AN ACTIVITY OF 217 GBq were still stored in the compounds of the plant.
THIS "LOW RADIOACTICITY WASTE" has 48 Bq/g from Thorium 232 and 6 Bq/g from Uranium-238 giving a total of 54 Bq/g.
You have to realise that 54 Bq/g is 900% higher than that of the Lynas waste of 6 Bq/g.
And these wastes are still being stored in the compound of the plant.
IF THE FRENCH ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT 54 Bq/g OF RADIOACTIVITY, WHY ARE SOME MALAYSIANS SO FRIGHTENED OF ONLY 6 Bq/g?
Answer: 100% pure politics from toxic radioactive politicians!
Dato' Dr Looi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjT1kUAy_08&feature=player_detailpage
.
QUESTION BY ANTI-LYNAS: "CAN YOU BE SURE THAT THE LYNAS PLANT IS 100% SAFE ?
.
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.
Anti-Lynas Quote: " Lynas and AELB have made the Tenorm sound like low level waste"
ORE FOR LYNAS PLANT = 1,600 ppm (parts per million)
2 MOST VOLUMINOUS LYNAS "WASTE" = 12 ppm
3rd RESIDUE STREAM = 1,500 ppm of Thorium
AVERAGE MALAYSIAN SOIL = 20 ppm OF THORIUM
SO HOW CAN YOU CALL THE LYNAS "WASTE" A TENORM ?
Nick Tsurikov, Radiation Safety Expert: " THE MAJORITY OF THIS LYNAS "WASTE" WILL HAVE ONLY HALF THE THORIUM THAN IN NORMAL MALAYSIAN SOIL.
So, in fact most of Lynas residues are only half as radioactive as the sand the kids all over Malaysia play in the kindergartens" (Note: Sand or crystalline SiO2 is also classified as a group 1 Carcinogen by IARC).
If you do look through the Lynas RIA together with UN (not IAEA) reports - you will clearly see that two most 'voluminous' residues from LAMP will have less than 12 parts per million of thorium - and the average Malaysian soil - 20 parts per million of thorium. Of course, the third 'residue stream' will have about 1500 ppm of thorium and will need to be managed appropriately
COMPARISON OF RADIOACTIVITY IN Bq (Specific activity.. number of atoms decaying in 1second)
Pure Thorium-232 = 4,080 Bq/gm
Pure Potassium-40 = 254,000 Bq/gm
Naturally Occurring Potassium (3 different isotopes) in our body and food = 31.825 Bq/gm
Artificially created Plutonium-238 = 634,000,000,000 Bq/gm (1/2 life=87.7 years)
Monazite ore from Amang or Tin Tailings in Malaysia = 284 Bq/gm
Lynas Rare Earth Waste = 6 Bq/gm
Quote: AELB (Atomic Energy Licensing Board, Malaysia):
Malaysia was the world's no. 1 producer of tin. Along with tin, there's always Thorium and Uranium and therefore this is not Malaysia's first facility, AELB is has experience to handle this, to overcome this and AELB is prepared.
THERE ARE MORE THAN 10 FACILITIES THAT ARE VERY SIMILAR TO LYNAS.
SOME OF THEM ARE PRODUCING HIGHER RESIDUES, HIGHER CONCENTRATION OF URANIUM AND THORIUM.
AELB has been able to regulate and control these factories, so it is based on AELB experience and the experience of the industry abroad." Unquote
QUESTION: WHY IS IT THAT THERE ARE NO DEMONSTRATIONS BY
THE ANTI-LYNAS FOOT-SOLDIERS AGAINST THESE 10 CHEMICAL
PLANTS ALREADY IN MALAYSIA THAT ARE PRODUCING "WASTES
WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF URANIUM AND THORIUM"?
Dr Looi
QUOTE ANTI-LYNAS FOOT SOLDIER: "DURING THE RECENT "INTERNATIONAL" DEMONSTRATION AGAINST LYNAS, A VOTE WAS TAKEN AND NEARLY ALL THE VOTERS ARE AGAINST LYNAS".
Misusing, Misrepresenting and Misinterpreting legitimate scientific methodology and statistical analysis in order to distort the truth and further enhance the misinformation they have engraved into the innocent minds of their naive and innocent brainwashed followers, is the classical hallmark of the Anti-Lynas clique.
They assume that all Malaysians have IQs that would make even a chimpanzee laugh !
If you are to hold a "DEMONcratic" vote among Anti-Lynas people who are fanatical enough to take the trouble to go to a demonstration in order to massage the ego of their egoistic master brainwasher, it will not take even the intelligence of a 1 year old child to know what the outcome would be.
IT IS TANTAMOUNT TO TAKING A VOTE AT AN INTERNATIONAL PURE VEGETARIAN CONVENTION TO ASSESS HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE AGAINST EATING MEAT.
And...... out comes... the answer :..."99.9999% OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD ARE AGAINST EATING MEAT ! (not 100% only because a couple of people accidentally drop the slip into the wrong box like what they did in Kuantan !)
This type of statistics is best confined to the garbage bin. Come to think about it even the garbage bin is too clean for such crab ! Even the garbage bin might object !
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
REMEMBER THE "WHITE GAS BULBS" OR RATHER KEROSENE GAS MANTLES MADE IN GERMANY?
THESE WERE USED IN THOSE LANTERNS WHICH GIVE OFF A VERY BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT AND WERE UNIVERSALLY USED BY ALL STREET HAWKERS IN THE WHOLE OF MALAYSIA IN THE 60s AND 70s?
THESE GAS MANTLES ARE MADE OF FABRIC SOAKED IN THORIUM-232 MIXED WITH A LITTLE CERIUM. AND AFTER THE INITIAL "FIRING" IT BECOMES ALMOST PURE THORIUM DIOXIDE.
IN THE BURNING KEROSENE VAPOUR, THE TEMPERATURE CAN REACH OVER 1,000 DEGREES CENTIGRADE.
MILLIONS OF MALAYSIANS IN THE PAST HAD HELD THESE "DANGEROUS, RADIOACTIVE" THORIUM GAS MANTLES IN THEIR HANDS.
THESE ARE STILL BEING SOLD FREELY AND WITHOUT ANY SPECIAL LICENSE FROM AELB.
REMEMBER THORIUM DIOXIDE HAS A SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF 3,585 Bq/g ! THE "WASTE" FROM LYNAS IS ONLY 6 Bq/g.
WHY ARE FOLKS FROM THE ANTI-LYNAS CAMP SO FRIGHTEN OF 6 Bq/g FROM LYNAS WASTE WHILE NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE 3,585 Bq/g OF RADIATION FROM THEIR KEROSENE LAMP ?
Dr Looi
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjT1kUAy_08&feature=player_detailpage
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
-232, THOROTRAST, RADIATION AND CANCER
I have known about the controversy of Thorotrast (a 25 cc vial 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.
Even in the 60s, the dose of X-rays from Tuberculosis screening is about 100 times higher than that of today's Chest X-Ray.
The fluoroscope leaves the X-ray beam "on" while the physician does his examination and as such, the fluoroscope has the potential to deliver very high X-ray doses.
In the 1920s, fluoroscopy became very popular procedure not only among radiologists, but also among many kinds of physicians.
Radiological methods of diagnosis became so important that no investigation of a patient is considered complete without the X-rays, which generally include fluoroscopy. These studies are often carried out by a general practitioner or surgeon in his office.
In 1942, Dr. Franz Buschke and Herbert M. Parker wrote (Buschke 1942):
"Recently we became aware of the fact that apparently a number of pediatricians include fluoroscopy in the monthly routine examinations of infants in their care during the first and second years of life." This pediatric practice is confirmed in Pifer 1963 and in Blatz 1970.
After studying the radiation output of seven fluoroscopes in the offices of "reputable pediatricians selected at random," Buschke and Parker estimated (Buschke 1942, p.527): "If the average rapid fluoroscopy by an experienced and well-adapted examiner takes twenty seconds, about 8.3 roentgens [entrance dose] will be delivered at this rate or 100 roentgens during the first year of life." The roentgen is a dose-unit which is approximately equivalent to a rad
cont.
cont.
Fluoroscopy was popular also in hospitals.
(Braestrup 1942, p.213):
"During the past years, we have measured the roentgen output of large numbers of fluoroscopes, using the settings at which they are normally operated ... and have found a very wide variation ... Attention is called particularly to test B-116, where the R [roentgen] per minute at the panel was 127, that is, an erythema dose would be reached in about three minutes. Such a unit could be classified as a lethal diagnostic weapon and yet there are many of these still in use."
Of the various types of radiologic equipment, the mobile unit probably has been responsible for more radiation damage than any other piece of apparatus. These accidents have in most cases occurred while the mobile unit was used for fluoroscopy by surgeons, who apparently did not realize the high output obtained at short distances."
In an attempt to prevent some injuries, A LIMIT OF 100 ROENTGENS (1,000 mSv) per fluoroscopic examination was set in New York City hospitals (Braestrup 1969).
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.
A few of the studies do have controls but these controls were cases from later years especially after 1947 when the advancement in radiological techniques and hence dosage reduction is greatest.
It is generally accepted that the risk of radiation induced cancer is 1 in 20,000 per mSv..
As such, a dose of 1,000 mSv would mean a risk of 1 in 20. For 4 million patients injected with Thorotrast, THIS RADIATION WOULD GIVE RISE TO 200,000 CASES OF RADIATION INDUCED CANCERS !
In 1953, Dade W. Moeller (then of the Public Health Service; later, president of the Health Physics Society) published an estimate that the average entrance dose per fluoroscopic examination was about 65 roentgens (650 mSv) at mid-century (Moeller 1953, pp.58-59).
The use of Thorotrast was discontinued by 1953.
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)
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http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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
Quote:
"Odysess Sin Ner >>...........I am interested to know how does 64,000 tons/annum of acidic thorium will behave in a swampy, wet and leaky condition. Please do not divert the topic and talk about politics that thorium is not soluble. This is truly a coward act and deceiving saying. People is talking about fact but you are mentioning about politics. Oh ya... it is pricking your bone isn't it? Step up like a man and quench my keen to know as my statement says." Unquote
Answer:
The figure of 64,000 tons per year of Thorium alleged to be produced by the Lynas plant is too ridiculous to be true.
Let's see...
The Lynas ore from Mount Weld contains less than 1,600 ppm (parts per million of Thorium) so:
1,600 tons of Thorium = 1,000,000 tons of Ore.
64,000 tons of Thorium = 64,000 x 1 million divided by 1,600
= 40,000,000 tons of Ore !!
WHERE ON EARTH IS LYNAS GOING TO FIND THE SHIPS TO CARRY 40,000,000 TONS OF ORE PER YEAR FROM AUSTRALIA TO KUANTAN !!
IF A GIANT LORRY COULD CARRY 4 TONS, WE NEED 10,000,000 LORRY LOADS TO CARRY THE ORE FROM THE PORT TO THE PLANT !
THIS IS THE TYPE OF GROSS EXAGGERATION THAT IS VERY TYPICAL OF THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLK.
Actually, Lynas is expected to produce about 820,000 tons of WLP in the 1st 10 years of operation or 82,000 tons of WLP per year.
The WLP (Water Leached Purification) contains less than 1,600 ppm or 0.16 % of Thorium-232.
As such we would expect to get only 0.0016 x 82,000 tons of Thorium per year i.e.131 tons of Thorium per year AND NOT 64,000 TONS OF THORIUM PER YEAR !
This magical transformation of 131 tons of Thorium into 64,000 tons of Thorium reminds me of this joke:
"For normal people 1 + 1 = 2 but for those people in the Share Market 1 + 1 = 11,"
AND OF COURSE, FOR THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLK, 131 = 64,000 !
Dato' Dr Looi.
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http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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DO YOU KNOW THAT COFFEE HAS A RADIOACTIVITY OF 1,000 Bq/Kg?
And yet:
According to recent research, Coffee is good for you:
Quote: "Mental and Medical Benefits of Coffee:
From Medscape:
The best part of waking up...is reducing your risk of neurodegeneration. And depression, and cancer, and cardiovascular disease... It's becoming increasingly clear that coffee is more than just a morning routine.
...
The body of data suggesting that the world's most widely used stimulant is beneficial in a variety of mental and medical conditions is growing at a staggering rate.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that COFFEE CONSUMPTION LOWERED ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY BY OVER 10% AT 13 YEAR FOLLOW-UP." Unquote
According to Shakespeare,
"ALCOHOL PROVOKES THE DESIRE BUT TAKES
AWAY THE PERFORMANCE"....... WHEREAS COFFEE
EVOKES THE DESIRE AND REINSTATES YOUR
PREVIOUS MAGNIFICENT PERFORMANCE !
SO DRINK MORE COFFEE AND FORGET ABOUT THE
RADIATION.
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
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Quote: Anti-Lynas:
"Bukit merah (malaysia), bopal (india), chenobly (russia) and every other industries always has the same vision until it went bad." Unquote.
"TITANIC (BRITAIN) death = 1,496; THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND (CANADA) death = 1,012; FERRY DONA PAZ (PHILLIPINES) death = 4,340; STAR FERRY (SCANDINAVIA) death = 159; FERRY ESTONIA, death = 852 and the Costa Concordia and every other passenger ship industry has the same vision until it went bad.
SO USING THE SAME PERVERTED UNINTELLIGENT NONSENSICAL NONPHYSICAL LOGIC,
STOP ALL PASSENGER SHIPS FROM SAILING IN THE EVER DANGEROUS SEAS !!!!!
Dato' Dr Looi
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0MFxBkxNX6g
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
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
A lot of people in this country, especially the Chinese, do not know the following:
1. Malaysia is NOT a democracy with proportional representation. As such if the a segment of the population of a certain religion have only 50.01% of the votes, they can end up with 100% of the seats.
The Muslim population in Malaysia is now over 65%.
So getting 2/3rd majority and have the Constitution changed, is not a problem at all.
2. Once the motion for Hudud Law is tabled in the Parliament, ALL Muslims have a religious obligation to vote FOR it.
PAS SECRETARY-GENERAL DATUK MUSTAFA ALI spoke to Sin Chew Daily in an interview over the hudud issue recently.
Asked if Muslim MPs from the Barisan Nasional would support PAS if it moves a motion to amend the constitution to pave the way for hudud, he said:
“Even if we do this in the Parliament, Umno will not agree to implement hudud.
“BUT SINCE THEY ARE MUSLIMS, THEY CANNOT OPPOSE IT..”
Dato' Dr Looi
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QUOTE Anti-Lynas Jade Lee: "When a few so claimed rare earth scientists came to Kuantan to speak about the safe rare earth processing, they were criticised and BOOED OUT OF TOWN IN SHAME" Unquote.
Answer:
THE THREE RARE EARTH SPECIALISTS FROM CHINA WHO WERE INVITED BY A FEW OF THE LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS TO ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE OF KUANTAN WERE RUDELY AND CRUDELY HARASSED BY THE SMSL LEADER AND HIS RED GUARDS IN A SHAMELESS AND DESPICABLE WAY.
THESE INNOCENT FOREIGN GUESTS WERE BEING BOOED, SHOUTED AT, JEERED, MOCKED, CRITICIZED, TERRORIZED AND DEGRADED BY THESE
DESPICABLE, UNCOUTH COMMON T^^GS WHO UNWITTINGLY DISPLAYED THEIR ABSOLUTE STUPIDITY FOR ALL TO SEE.
THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR BRINGS SHAME TO ALL MALAYSIANS AND SHOULD BE STRONGLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY CONDEMNED.
THESE THREE POOR OLD CHINESE SCIENTISTS, TWO OF WHOM WERE IN THEIR 70'S, WITH YEARS OF VALUABLE EXPERIENCE, WERE FLABBERGASTED BY SUCH STUPID, CHILDISH, DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR.
THE USE OF SUCH THUGGERY UNEQUIVOCALLY CATEGORIZES THE USERS INTO THE LOWEST RUNG OF SOCIETY AND REFLECTS BADLY ON THEIR CHARACTER, INTELLIGENCE AND UPBRINGING !
BECAUSE OF THEIR BULLYING TACTIC, VERY FEW PEOPLE DARE TO SPEAK UP, AND ALL THOSE WHO DARE TO DO SO ARE BEING INTIMIDATED, HARASSED AND BOYCOTTED BY THESE ZOMBIES
May Our Good Lord Have Mercy on Their Souls.
Dr Looi.
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http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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Quote Monica Gasch: "If Williams comments are representative of SMSL they must be a very uneducated little group. Why repeat the same lies over & over? Repeating it does not make it true." Unquote.
Comments:
Agree fully with Monica's comments but members of the SMSL clique are using the same brainwashing techniques used by that devious demonic master brainwasher before and during the 2nd World War i.e. Hitler.
Brainwashing techniques are based on the consistently persistent repetition of propaganda focused on just a few issues and continuously repeated in a slightly different way.
According to Adolf Hitler in- "War Propaganda", in volume 1, chapter 6 of Mein Kampf (1925)
"But the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success." Unquote.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0MFxBkxNX6g
Quote Amus: " According to AELB (Atomic Energy Licensing Board's standard), the radioactive threshold for K-40 is 100 Bq/g whereas it is 1 Bq/g for thorium-232. This implies that K-40 is 100 times less hazardous than Th-232." Unquote.
Answer:
Even Dr. Gary H. Kramer, who is the Head of the National Internal Radiation Assessment Section at Health Canada and a world authority in radioactivity in Potassium salts, has a bone to pick with IAEA and ICRP with the above statement and is perplexed by the reason for downgrading the biological effect of K-40.
Since the average absorbed Beta energy of K-40 decay is 499 keV and the average absorbed Gamma energy is 156 keV, it can be easily calculated that the constant INTERNAL DOSAGE FROM K-40 IS IN THE RANGE OF 0.17 to 0.24 mSv/yr WHICH IS HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT AND IS ABOUT 120 TIMES THAT OF LYNAS WORST CASE SCENARIO OF 0.002 mSv/yr.
Note: The total internal dose from the NORMs in the body is about 0.42 mSv/yr with K-40 (4,400 Bq) contributing about 0.17 to 0.24 mSv/yr and the rest by C-14 (3,000 Bq) and other trace radionuclides.
If anybody wants to know more about this, they could read Dr Kramer's letter to the IAEA with regards to this problem.
Quote Dr Kramer: "40K: Potassium is the 7th most abundant element on the earth's surface and plays an integral part in life.
Reference Man (ICRP 1975) contains 140 g of potassium of which 0.0117% is the radioactive 40K, which means there is about 17 mg of 40K.
The activity of 17 mg 40K is approximately 4.4 kBq (or 0.06 Bq g-1) WHICH GIVES AN ANNUAL DOSE OF ~ 0.2 mSv.
Comparing these values with Table S2 one sees that the 40K in humans is well below the proposed exclusion level of 10 Bq g-1 but is 20 times larger than the IAEA's 10 microSv exclusion dose.
If one assumes that the exclusion dose is harmless, then is a dose that is 20 times larger still harmless? It appears so as we live with this normally.
Potassium chloride can be found in large quantities in stores selling materials for water treatment. The potassium content is about 500 g kg-1.
Typically, the material is sold in 20 kg bags so each bag contains ~600 kBq of 40K giving a concentration of 30 Bq g-1.
This is well above the exclusion level yet the material is handled as non-radioactive. The external dose rate in close proximity to a typical display in these types of shops would be about 150 microSv hr-1.
A worker would only need to be near the pile for about 7 hours to exceed the public dose limit of 1 mSv.
Contrast 40K with the other exclusion level for ƒÀ/ƒÁ emitters (i.e., 0.1 Bq g-1).
When one considers that foods like bananas and potatoes exceed this level (~0.16 Bq g-1) it becomes clearer why the ICRP had to make a special case for 40K (the IAEA exempted 40K within the human body from consideration).
The question remains why the emissions of 40K (ƒÀ: 1.31 MeV max and 0.51 MeV ave; ƒÁ: 1.46 MeV) can be considered to be less harmful than other beta emitters by a factor of a 100?"
Unquote.
Dr Looi
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf4ZFngQQhg
*
*
SINCE ANTI-LYNAS, SPURIUS GREEN ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND POLITICS ARE TIGHTLY INTERTWINED IN MALAYSIA, HAVE A LOOK AT THIS ARTICLE IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES PRESS, dated 15.11.12
KOTA BARU:
PAS' DEWAN ULAMA YESTERDAY MADE A STAND THAT HUDUD AND SYARIAH ELEMENTS WOULD BE INTRODUCED IF THE OPPOSITION PACT HOLDS MAJORITY SEATS IN PARLIAMENT IN THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION.
Its chief, Datuk Harun Taib, claimed that Pas' partners in Pakatan Rakyat had agreed in general that syariah elements would be implemented when the pact led the country.
"In Pakatan, we have generally agreed to implement not only hudud but also other syariah elements once we succeed in earning the people's confidence to lead the country.
"But the syariah system will be tailored along the principles of democracy. If we hold the parliamentary majority, we will get support from Parliament for the relevant laws to be passed," he said after opening the 51st Dewan Ulama Muktamar at a resort here.
NATURALLY, HARUN SAID, THE LEGISLATION WOULD BECOME FEDERAL LAW WHICH THE PEOPLE MUST FOLLOW.
"Many people often oppose traffic rules but the government proceeds with their enforcement."
However, Harun's claim that other Pakatan parties had agreed to the plan was immediately lambasted by Karpal Singh.
The DAP chairman, who was taken by surprise by Harun's statement, told the New Straits Times that at no point in time had any agreement been made by DAP on the hudud issue.
"This is far from the truth if he's saying that DAP leaders agreed through dialogue on the application of hudud in the country."
Karpal said the party's stand against hudud remained and he did not see the need to repeat the reasons every time.
He also said that DAP's opposition to hudud was fundamental to the party's existence.
"Hudud cannot be a part of the system of this country."
Harun, however, claimed that other DAP leaders had no problems with Pas' objective to introduce hudud as they had regularly held dialogues to iron out differences.
He said even before Pakatan was formed, Pas had clarified its views on hudud with DAP on many occasions when both parties sat together to exchange their views.
"As for Karpal, he only sounds to be disagreeable (on the hudud issue), but that does not mean he disagrees."
In his opening remarks at the muktamar, HARUN SAID THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUDUD WOULD CREATE MORE EMPLOYMENT AS THERE WAS A NEED TO RECRUIT EXECUTIONERS OF PUNISHMENTS..
Harun's policy speech was later read out by dewan ulama vice-chairman Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed as the former was unwell.
Additional reporting by Carisma Kapoor
Read more: Push for hudud continues - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/push-for-hudud-continues-1.172040?cache=03d163d03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3Fpfpentwage63dp%3A%2Fhe3d03dn63f%2F7.192944%2F7.219621#ixzz2CNVUnSkv
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THE POWER OF DEMONIC HITLER'S BRAINWASHING TECHNIQUE
Sample of chants by ant-Lynas Betty Lee and Nancy Yee:
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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42 minutes ago • Like
Nancy Yee Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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Say ' NO ' to lynas
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continued in all the threads of Lynas Facebook!
(Note: These brainlessly repeated phrases were thankfully deleted by the Lynas Moderator)
The above are one of the few phrases ingrained into the innocent brains of naive victims by the demonic master brainwasher whose sole aim is purely political in nature.
This is, in fact, a form of ECHOLALIA which is usually found in patients with developmental defects or those with a form of psychiatric disorder, but hey can also be seen in people who are severely brainwashed.
KUANTAN IS NOW INFESTED BY THESE BRAINWASHED LOONIES WHOSE SOLE REASON FOR EXISTING IS TO MASSAGE THE EGO OF THEIR SUPREMELY EGOISTIC AND DEMONIC MASTER BRAINWASHER AND ENABLE HIM OR HER TO WIN THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION !
YOU MAY ALSO NOTICE THAT PRACTICALLY ALL THE IMPORTANT BLOGS IN THE WHOLE OF THE CYBERSPACE OF MALAYSIA HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED BETWEEN 3 TO 5 PROFESSIONAL CYBER HARASSERS HIRED TO COMBAT THE TRUTH AND ASK SILLY QUESTIONS, NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF INTELLECTUAL BENEFIT BUT RATHER SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CYBER HARASSMENT AND CYBER THUGGERY.
THE MASTER BRAINWASHERS HAVE IMMENSE WEALTH AND ARE USING THE LYNAS ISSUE TO INGRAIN HATRED TO THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION FOR PURELY POLITICAL REASONS.
The masters of these zombie loonies are actually well verse with the techniques used by the greatest and most demonic of all the brainwashers and manipulators i.e. Hitler himself!
Brainwashing techniques are based on the consistently persistent repetition of propaganda focused on just a few issues and continuously repeated in a slightly different way.
According to Adolf Hitler in- "War Propaganda", in volume 1, chapter 6 of Mein Kampf (1925)
"BUT THE MOST BRILLIANT PROPAGANIST TECHNIQUE WILL YIELD NO SUCCESS UNLESS ONE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE IS BORNE IN MIND CONSTANTLY AND WITH UNFLAGGING ATTENTION. IT MUST CONFINE ITSELF TO A FEW POINTS AND REPEAT THEM OVER AND OVER. HERE, AS SO OFTEN IN THIS WORLD, PERSISTENCE IS THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT FOR SUCCESS." Unquote.
Since brainwashing techniques are based on the consistently persistent repetition of propaganda, the only consistently effective way to de-brainwash a brainwashed brain is to repeatedly, consistently AND PERSISTENTLY shower the brainwashed folks with the same FACTS and TRUTH, displayed in slightly different ways.
There are 4 stages in this Hitler type of brainwashing procedure:
1. DISSEMINATION OF PROPAGANDA (usually well camouflaged lies)
2. HARASSMENT OF NON-BELIEVERS
3. INTIMIDATION OF DISSIDENTS and
4. ELIMINATION OF THE OBSTINATE DISSIDENTS
At present they have been hindered by a tiny group of dissidents in Kuantan and they are now blocked at stage 3.
In Malaysia people have been intimidated and harassed for opposing them and I for one has been threatened and bombarded with four letter words and showered with EXPLETIVES, VULGARITIES AND OBSCENITIES THAT WILL MAKE EVEN A HARDEN PORN ACTOR BLUSH !
One poor soul was even made to kneel before these nincompoops to ask for forgiveness, for mentioning what these thugs were unwilling to hear.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London)
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Quote: "Sandrinah Soo -
-
SMSL is caught telling lies again.... (see evidence below)...."
http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/430735_221206784679946_1924075553_n.jpg
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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Quote Davin Tan: "......those radioactive waste, is a common sense it is harmful, even Australia are not willing to accept it." Unquote.
Comment:
It is illogical to say that Australia refused to accept those so-called "waste" because it is harmful.
THE AUSTRALIANS REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE.
FOR INSTANCE, MALAYSIA HAS A LOT OF OIL PALM FACTORIES AND PLANTATIONS IN INDONESIA.
IF INDONESIA WERE TO INSIST THAT THE WASTES FROM ALL MALAYSIAN OIL PALM FACTORIES AS WELL AS ALL THE WASTES FROM THE PLANTANTIONS MUST BE SENT BACK TO MALAYSIA,
WOULD MALAYSIA BE STUPID ENOUGH TO AGREE TO SUCH A DEMAND ?
MOREOVER, WE HAVE A LOT OF STUDENTS AND TOURISTS IN AUSTRALIA.
IF AUSTRALIA WERE STUPID ENOUGH TO INSIST THAT THE POO AND URINE OF ALL THESE STUDENTS AND TOURISTS (please note: poo and urine are radioactive because of the high potassium content) MUST BE SENT BACK TO MALAYSIA BEFORE WE ARE ALLOWED TO SEND OUR STUDENTS AND TOURISTS THERE,
WOULD THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT AGREE ?
SO DO NOT BE SO UNREASONABLE AND EXPECT AUSTRALIA TO TAKE BACK THE "WASTES" FROM PLANTS THAT HAS EXPORTED THEIR JOBS TO OTHER COUNTRIES .... THEY ARE ALREADY FEELING VERY SORE ABOUT THESE "UNPATRIOTIC" COMPANIES.
Dato' Dr Looi,
*
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/kb-council-won-t-let-hair-down-on-enforcement-1.178328
http://aliran.com/archives/monthly/2002/6e.html
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BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST THE SLIMY, SNEAKY, SLEAZY ANTI-LYNAS RED GUARDS!
SEE HOW THE ANTI-LYNAS RED GUARDS TRY TO MISLEAD THE NAIVE PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA BY SAYING THAT THE LEAD-21O AND POLONIUM-210 IN TOBACCO FROM Thorium-232 causes cancer.
LEAD-210 AND POLONIUM-210 are from the URANIUM-238 DECAY SERIES AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THORIUM-232 OR THORIUM-228 ! ! !
I repeat:
Lead-210, Polonium-210, Thorium-230, Radium-226 and Radon-222 are from the URANIUM-238 DECAY SERIES AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THORIUM-232 OR THORIUM-228.
THORIUM-232 PRODUCES ONLY POLONIUM-216 WITH A HALF LIFE OF ONLY 0.14 SECONDS AND POLONIUM 212 WITH A HALF LIFE OF ONLY 30 MICROSECONDS.
The Thorium-232 decay series also include Lead-212 (half-life of 10.6 hrs) and the stable, "non-radioactive" Lead-208 with a half life of 19 million billion years.
SO THE WELL WRITTEN ARTICLE BY THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY HAS ABSOLUTELY NO RELEVANCE AND DOES NOT APPLY TO THORIUM-232 WHICH IS FOUND IN SMALL QUANTITIES IN THE LYNAS ORE AND SO-CALLED "WASTE".
And yet the Anti-Lynas Red Guards try to make use of an irrelevant scientific article to try to mislead the naive people.
HOW SNEAKY AND SLEAZY CAN THEY BE ?
Quote Chon Yan:
"看看这是美国人经过吸烟，吸收了辐射剂量而患癌的年度报告，而这辐射粒子就是稀土废料里的“钍232”所释放出来的辐射元素。
2012， American Cancer Society, Inc., Surveillance Research
How does radioactive material get into a cigarette?
The tobacco leaves used in making cigarettes contain radioactive material, particularly lead-210 and polonium-210. The radionuclide content of tobacco leaves depends heavily on soil conditions and fertilizer use.
Soils that contain elevated radium lead to high radon gas emanations rising into the growing tobacco crop. Radon rapidly decays into a series of solid, highly radioactive metals (radon decay products). These metals cling to dust particles which in turn are collected by the sticky tobacco leaves.
The sticky compound that seeps from the trichomes is not water soluble, so the particles do not wash off in the rain. There they stay, through curing process, cutting, and manufacture into cigarettes
Lead-210 and Polonium-210 can be absorbed into tobacco leaves directly from the soil. But more importantly, fine, sticky hairs (called trichomes) on both sides of tobacco leaves grab airborne radioactive particles." Unquote.
Dr Looi
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/11/26/nation/12370820&sec=nation
http://aliran.com/archives/monthly/2002/6e.html
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LYNAS MUST REMOVE ALL WASTE FROM MALAYSIA, SAY 4 CABINET MINISTERS.
Comment:
It does not make any sense to say that the waste must be exported... BECAUSE THERE IS NO WASTE !
HOW DO YOU EXPECT LYNAS TO EXPORT "NOTHING" FROM THE COUNTRY?
IT SOUNDS SILLY TO DEMAND THAT A RESPECTABLE INTERNATIONAL COMPANY (JUST TO MASSAGE THE INFLATED EGO OF THE ANTI-LYNAS IGNORAMUS), SHOULD EXPORT "NOTHING".
AND I WONDER WHO IN THIS WORLD WOULD LIKE TO IMPORT OUR "NOTHING".
A "waste" is by definition something that is unwanted and needs to be removed as a rubbish.
The residue from the Lynas operation is not unwanted for it can be easily converted into the 3 types of useful, profitable gypsum products.
The operation of the plant will result in the generation of three major residue streams, namely the
1. WLP .. Water Leach Purification Residue (WLP) from the cracking and separation process,
2. FGD .. the Flue Gas Desulphurisation Residue (FGD) from the waste gas treatment system (scrubber) and the
3. NUF .. Neutralisation Underflow Solids from the wastewater treatment process (NUF).
ORE FOR LYNAS PLANT ~ 1,600 ppm (parts per million)
TWO MOST VOLUMINOUS LYNAS "WASTE" = 12 ppm
3rd RESIDUE STREAM = 1,500 ppm of Thorium
AVERAGE MALAYSIAN SOIL = 20 ppm OF THORIUM
The first two are classified as non-radioactive as its radioactivity is only half that of Malaysian soil and is much much less radioactive than the SAND THAT YOUR CHILDREN PLAY WITH in our beaches.
Lynas will recycle them as synthetic gypsum for plaster board, magnesium rich synthetic gypsum as fertilizer and synthetic aggregate as clinker for road and other construction projects.
Gypsum is nothing more than just hydrated Calcium Sulphate (CaSO4.2(H2O) and comes probably from the neutralization of SO2 and Sulphuric acid vapour by our own Limestone (CaCO3) or Calcium Oxide in the scrubber.
The 3 types of Gypsum products are:
1. Iron Phospho Gypsum from the WLP with a very low NORM and radioactivity and after dilution according to international standard, can be used as clinker for road and in the construction industry.
2. Synthetic Gypsum with a radioactivity only 1/2 of Malaysian Soil.
3. Magnesium Rich Gypsum also with a radioactivity only 1/2 of Malaysian Soil and is a valuable fertilizer.
SO THE MAJOR PART OF THE RECYCLED RESIDUE PRODUCT ACTUALLY CONSISTS OF THE CALCIUM, SULPHATE AND WATER WHICH WERE BORN AND BRED IN MALAYSIA FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS.
THE MAJOR PART OF THE SO-CALLED RECYCLED "WASTE" IS ACTUALLY NATIVE TO MALAYSIA AND IN FACT HAS MORE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN MALAYSIA THAN THE ANTI-LYNAS NINCOMPOOPS !
The global market for synthetic gypsum is approximately 150 million tonnes per annum.
At the current rates of production, supplies of synthetic gypsum co-products are beginning to outstrip natural gypsum, thus providing valuable new alternative materials and preserving the planet's natural resources.
If we insist that these valuable by-products are not allowed to be used locally and must be exported even though they are much less radioactive than our soil, then our sanity and intelligence will be questionable AND MAKE OURSELVES THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD.
THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL BUYER OF THESE PRODUCTS WILL BE COUNTRIES LIKE SINGAPORE WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE "kiasu" BUT HAS AN INTACT BRAIN, WHILE PEOPLE IN MALAYSIA ARE NOT "KIASU" BUT HAS NO GUTS AND "KIASI".
IT IS RATHER IRONIC THAT WE REFUSED TO SELL TO SINGAPORE SAND WHICH IS A CARCINOGEN AND HAS TWICE THE RADIOACTIVITY OF THE GYPSUM PRODUCTS and yet we want to send the gypsum products to them cheap!
DON'T YOU THINK THAT WE LOOK STUPID !
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK) MRCP(London)
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http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/kb-council-won-t-let-hair-down-on-enforcement-1.178328
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Quote Kah Yau 14.12.12: "http://www.freemalaysiakini2.com/?p=28400." Unquote.
Quote: " Article in freemalaysiakini
China expert: Lynas’ waste recycle proposal outdated
Chun-Hua Yan, who is Cheung Kong professor of the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, part of Peking University, said that recycling radioactive waste from a rare earth plant into gypsum, fertiliser and material for road construction, was the method adopted by China rare-earth plants in the early days and commented that it is an outdated method abandoned by China.
I'M NOT AN EXPERT IN THIS FIELD but I believe that was the road travelled by China before but not now,” he told the media after attending an international symposium on rare earth today in Kuala Lumpur
Yan claimed that radioactive leakage is not the hazardous risk of a rare earth plant because if the operator is willing to inject huge funds to bury the waste far from habitation and seismic areas, as well as isolated from groundwater and sealed, it would not be a problem." Unquote
Generally the most pressing problem for a rare earth plant, said Yan, is to deal with the fluorine gas produced during the fusion process.
Comment:
As is so clearly stated, the good Professor admitted that HE NOT AN EXPERT IN THIS FIELD.
He also said that radioactive leakage is not the hazardous risk of a rare earth plant!
SO IF RADIOACTIVITY IS NOT A HAZARDOUS RISK, WHY DO THE ANTI-LYNAS NINCOMPOOPS KEEP ON HARPING ABOUT RADIATION AND FUKUSHIMA FROM DAY 1 OF THE COMICAL ANTI-LYNAS DEBACLE?
Quote Nick Tsurikov: "RADIATION FROM THE PLANT WILL BE UNDETECTABLE OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES and
THORIUM IN OTHER WASTE IS INSOLUBLE AND CANNOT "POISON" ANY PLANTS, ANIMALS OR THE ENVIRONMENT - EVEN IN THEORY ".Unquote.
According to Prof. Chun-Hua Yan, THE MAIN HAZARD IS THE fluorine gas produced during the fusion process. He did not specify in which part of the process fluoride is used.
As far as I can remember getting rare-earth metals requires a multiple-step process.
First rare-earth oxides, like cerium, praseodymium and neodymium oxide powders are exposed to hydrogen fluoride gas.
This turns the oxide powder into a crystalline fluoride, such as the green praesodymium fluoride crystal.
A reduction reaction and further processing turns the rare-earth fluorides into their final, pure metal forms.
I AM NOT SURE WHETHER LYNAS SELLS THE REE IN THE OXIDE FORM OR FURTHER REFINE THEM INTO THE PURE REE METALS.
Molycorp is selling Cerium and Lanthanum as the oxides.
IF LYNAS SELLS ONLY RARE EARTH OXIDE OR CHLORIDE, NO HYDROGEN FLUORIDE IS NEEDED IN THE PROCESS.
BUT WHATEVER LYNAS DOES, THE CHEMICAL PROCESS HAS BEEN REFINED AND PERFECTED BY THE REE PLANT IN LA ROCHELLE, FRANCE.
THIS SAME PROCESS IS NOW BEING USED IN THE ULTRA-MODERN, STATE OF ART, SUPER SOPHISTICATED LYNAS REE PLANT (unlike the primitive refineries in China).
AND THE LA ROCHELLE PLANT HAS BEEN PRODUCING RARE EARTHS SAFELY AND WITHOUT CAUSING ANY PROBLEM TO THE SEASIDE TOURIST CITY OF LA ROCHELLE FOR OVER 40 YEARS !
Dato' Dr Looi
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/kb-council-won-t-let-hair-down-on-enforcement-1.178328
http://aliran.com/archives/monthly/2002/6e.html
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DILUTING A NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) BY BLENDING IS AN INTERNATIONALLY LEGITIMATE AND ACCEPTED WAY FOR REDUCING ANY RADIONUCLIDE'S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.
In the Lynas plant, the blending of tailings follows the basic safety principle of World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation and seven more UN and other reputable international organisation.
The operation of the plant will result in the generation of three major residue streams, namely the
1. WLP .. Water Leach Purification Residue (WLP) from the cracking and separation process. This is the only slightly radioactive residue at ~ 6 Bq/gm or about 5.7 Bq/g of Thorium-232.
2. FGD .. the Flue Gas Desulphurisation Residue (FGD) from the waste gas treatment system (scrubber) ~ 12 ppm,
3. NUF .. Neutralisation Underflow Solids from the wastewater treatment process (NUF) ~ 7 ppm of Thorium-232.
Water Leach Purification Residue (WLP) ~ 1,500 ppm of Thorium (6 Bq/g)
AVERAGE MALAYSIAN SOIL ~ 20 ppm OF THORIUM (0.08 Bq/g)
FOR EXAMPLE:
Blending 6 grams of Malaysian soil (total of 0.48 Bq) with 1 gram of WLP (6 Bq) = 6.48 Bq in 7 grams of mixture = 0.93 Bq per gram.
0.93 Bq/g of Thorium-232 in the mixture is below the threshold of 1 Bq/g in the AELB regulation and can be handled as any normal material.
(Note: The threshold for transport purpose in Australia and other advanced countries are much higher i.e. 10 Bq/g)
DILUTING A SUBSTANCE WILL NOT MAKE IT GO AWAY, BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS AN INTERNATIONALLY LEGITIMATE AND ACCEPTED WAY FOR REDUCING ANY RADIONUCLIDE'S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.
For instance, STRYCHNINE IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS POISON AND YET WHEN PROPERLY DILUTED IT HAS BEEN USED FOR DECADES AS A TONIC !
CHORINE WHICH IS ALSO AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS POISON,
WHEN WELL DILUTED IN WATER, IT IS PERFECTLY SAFE AND IS DRUNK BY ALL THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS IN THE FORM OF TAP WATER !
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK) MRCP(London)
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http://richerramblings.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/problems-with-zero-numberphile/
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FACTS
A tiny piece of Malaysian Land 165 meters by 165 meters and 165 meters deep
CONTAINS 98.8 TONNES OF THORIUM-232
AND THAT IS MORE THAN THE THORIUM-232 IN ALL THE LYNAS "WASTE" ACCUMULATED IN 1 YEAR ! ! !
*
AVERAGE MALAYSIAN SOIL = 20 ppm OF THORIUM
SG of MALAYSIAN SOIL = 1.1 to 1.7
165X165X165 = 4,492,125 cubic meters
Even if we take the SG at it's lowest i.e. 1.1
Mass of the soil = 4,941,375 tonnes
Mass of Thorium-232 = 98.8 tonnes
(4,941,375 X 0.00002)
Lynas is expected to produce about 824,400 cubic meters of WLP in the 1st 10 years of operation or 82,440 cubic meters of WLP per year (in terms of dry weight only 32,000 tonnes in year 1 and this dry WLP has a SG of 0.7).
If the average volume of the yearly production given by Lynas of 82,440 cubic meters of WLP refers to the dry volume of the WLP residue, then the dry weight of WLP will be = 0.7 X 82,440 = 57,709 tonnes of dry WLP per year.
This will produce only 57,709 tonnes X 0.00165 = about 95 tonnes of Thorium-232 per year
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK) MRCP(London)
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Gender Segregation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/11/23/nation/12361334&sec=nation
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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:-)
UNSCEAR ADMITS THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO IMPLY THAT THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF RADIATION ! :-) :-) :-)
There IS a safe level and that is,
RADIATION DOSES LESS THAN ABOUT 10 rem (100 mSv ) per year ARE SAFE.
(Note: 100 mSv = 5,OO0,000 % Lynas worst case scenario)
*
Have a look at this article recommended by Nick Tsurikov, the International Radiation Safety Expert and Co-author of the IAEA Radiation Safety Report.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/01/11/like-weve-been-saying-radiation-is-not-a-big-deal/
Excerpts of Article in Forbes:
"UNSCEAR (THE UNITED NATIONS SCENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON THE EFFECTS OF ATOMIC RADIATION) HAS FINALLY ADMITTED THAT WE CAN'T USE THE LNT HYPOTHESIS TO PREDICT CANCER FROM LOW DOSES OF RADIATION.
Now the Japanese people can start eating their own food again and stop being as afraid. Source: United Nations
A very big report came out last month with very little fanfare.
IT CONCLUDED WHAT WE IN NUCLEAR SCIENCE HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR DECADES -
RADIATION DOSES LESS THAN ABOUT 10 rem ( 0.1 Sv ) ARE NO BIG DEAL.
(Note: 0.1 Sv = 100 mSv or 50,000 times Lynas worst case scenario)
The linear no-threshold dose hypothesis (LNT) does not apply to doses less than 10 rem (0.1 Sv), which is the region encompassing background levels around the world, and is the region of most importance to nuclear energy, most medical procedures and most areas affected by accidents like Fukushima.
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) (UNSCEAR 2012) submitted the report that, among other things, states that uncertainties at low doses are such that UNSCEAR “does not recommend multiplying low doses by large numbers of individuals to estimate numbers of radiation-induced health effects within a population exposed to incremental doses at levels equivalent to or below natural background levels.”
You know, like everyone’s been doing since Chernobyl. Like everyone’s still doing with Fukushima.
Finally, the world may come to its senses and not waste time on the things that aren’t hurting us and spend time on the things that are.
And on the people that are in real need. Like the infrastructure and economic destruction wrought by the tsunami, like cleaning up the actual hot spots around Fukushima, like caring for the tens of thousands of Japanese living in fear of radiation levels so low that the fear itself is the only thing that is hurting them, like seriously preparing to restart their nuclear fleet and listening to the IAEA and the U.S. when we suggest improvements.
The advice on radiation in this report will clarify what can, and cannot, be said about low dose radiation health effects on individuals and large populations.
Background doses going from 250 mrem (2.5 mSv) to 350 mrem (3.5 mSv) will not raise cancer rates or have any discernable effects on public health.
Likewise, background doses going from 250 mrem (2.5 mSv) to 100 mrem (1 mSv) will not decrease cancer rates or effect any other public health issue.
Note – although most discussions are for acute doses (all at once) the same amount as a chronic dose (metered out over a longer time period like a year) is even less effecting. So 10 rem (0.1 Sv) per year, either as acute or chronic, has no effect, while 10 rem per month would.
UNSCEAR also found no observable health effects from last year’s nuclear accident in Fukushima. No effects.
The Japanese people can start eating their own food again, and moving back into areas only lightly contaminated with radiation levels that are similar to background in many areas of the world like Colorado and Brazil."
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/01/11/like-weve-been-saying-radiation-is-not-a-big-deal/
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SOMETHING DIFFERENT !
NOTHING CAN TRAVEL FASTER THAN LIGHT IN AN ABSOLUTE VACUUM BUT:
PLEASE READ ON
sqrt = square root
10 = 3.1623^2
i = imaginary number = sqrt (-1)
i ^ 4 = +1
*****
E = mc ^2 {(1-v^2/c^2)}^(-1/2)
If an imaginary particle is travelling at 3.1623 x C,
E = mc ^2 [{(1-(3.1623c)^2)} / c^2]^(-1/2)
E = mc ^2 {(1-10)} ^ (-1/2)
.... = mc ^2 / square root (- 9)
.... = mc ^2 / 3i
If we raise E to the power of 4,
E^4 = (mc ^2)^4 / 81i^4
Since i^4 = +1,
E = 1/3 x mc^2 when an imaginary particle is travelling 3.1623 times the speed of light in a vacuum ! ! !
THIS APPEARS TO MAKE NO SENSE.
IS THERE ANY GOOD MATHEMATICIAN OUT THERE WHO COULD GIVE A DECENT EXPLANATION ?
OR TO PUT IT IN ANOTHER WAY, IF A PARTICLE MOVES FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, IT'S ENERGY DECREASES AND IF IT'S SPEED REACHES INFINITY, IT'S ENERGY AND HENCE IT'S MASS BECOMES ZERO !........ unless it's energy is compensated by it's increase in it's Newtonian Kinetic Energy (which may not work either as the mass becomes zero, the Newtonian kinetic energy will also become zero);
E = mc^2 + 1/2 x mv^2,
The only time when matter moves faster than light is during the period of inflation at the time of the Big Bang.
At this time the total energy and mass of the universe may be small (and not infinitely large) but as the inflation decreases towards the speed of light C, the total energy and hence the total mass may be at it's maximum at C.
From then on decreases exponentially to the total energy and mass of today i.e. at rest of E = mc^2.
Dato' Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London).
http://richerramblings.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/problems-with-zero-numberphile/
SAFETY OF THORIUM-232
It is safer and cleaner than uranium because its radioactivity is significantly lower:
Quote Richard Martin, famous journalist with extensive experience in Thorium
"A CHUNK OF THORIUM IS NO MORE HARMFUL THAN A BAR OF SOAP".
You can safely hold metallic Thorium-232 in your hands as it is an alpha emitter and alpha particles cannot penetrate even a piece of paper.
#####
2. Thorium-232 is strongly adsorbed to clay. There is no natural way it can get into body. Even the plants and fruits do not contain any Thorium in places with high Thorium in soil.
The amount of Th-232 in the human body is tiny (estimated to be only 30 micrograms per body i.e. to get 30 gm of Th-232, you need 1 million bodies!
NICK TSURIKOV, INTERNATIONAL RADIATION SAFETY SPECIALIST
THORIUM IN "WASTE" IS INSOLUBLE AND CANNOT POISON ANY PLANTS, ANIMALS OR THE ENVIRONMENT - EVEN IN THEORY.
RADIATION FROM THE PLANT WILL BE UNDETECTABLE OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES (of the plant)."
#####
3. QUOTE NICK TSURIKOV, INTERNATIONAL RADIATION SAFETY EXPERT WHO IS THE CO-AUTHOR OF IAEA RADIATION SAFETY REPORT:
"On dust particles - THERE IS NO WAY WHATSOEVER FOR
DUSTPARTICLES OF AROUND 10 MICRONS TO GET INTO
THE LUNGS -
THE STUFF THAT GETS THERE IS 5 MICRONS OR LESS,..
The vast majority of the (Lynas) concentrate is either 10 MICRONS or above, SO THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY ISSUE HERE."
#####
4. BECAUSE OF THE EXTREME LOW SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF TH-232, THE AMOUNT OF DECAY PRODUCT IS MINUSCULE e.g.
Thorium-232 produced from the WLP per year is only about 95 tonnes and as such a 1 year accumulation of Th-232 produces only 0.5098 MICROGRAMS OF RADON-220/HR OR 0.00005172 ML (CC)/HR of Thoron gas at STP.
At secular equilibrium, the amount of daughter Radon-220 is only 167 femtograms per ton of Lynas WLP i.e.
0.000000000000167 grams.
THIS AMOUNT IS NOT ENOUGH TO TICKLE THE BACKSIDE OF A NEWBORN PIGMY BABY CATERPILLAR !
#####
5. THE longer the half-life of a substance, the less its radioactivity.
As an analogy, if it takes 14 billion years for half of a house to be burnt, there is no chance of anybody getting hurt. But if it takes only 14 minutes for half of the house to be burnt down, many will be injured or killed.
Thorium-232, which is found in the Lynas waste, has an incredibly long half-life of 14 billion years and as such is much less radioactive than the potassium-40 whose half-life is only 1.25 billion years
#####
6. LEAD-208 WHICH IS USED IN YOUR CAR BATTERIES HAVE AN EVEN LONGER HALF LIFE OF 19 MILLION BILLION YEARS AND AS SUCH IS REGARDED AS NON-RADIOACTIVE...i.e. it decays extremely slowly and therefore the radioactivity is incredible low!
So it's silly and illogical to say that thorium long half life means that it is dangerous.. It means that is very only very weakly radioactive and can even be held in your hands!
#####
7. KEROSENE GAS MANTLES USED IN HAWKER'S LAMPS
THESE GAS MANTLES ARE MADE OF FABRIC SOAKED IN THORIUM-232 AND AFTER THE INITIAL "FIRING" BECOMES ALMOST PURE THORIUM DIOXIDE.
MILLIONS HAD HELD THESE "DANGEROUS, RADIOACTIVE" THORIUM GAS MANTLES IN THEIR HANDS.
REMEMBER THORIUM DIOXIDE HAS A SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF 3,585 Bq/g ! THE "WASTE" FROM LYNAS IS ONLY 6 Bq/g.
WHY FRIGHTEN OF 6 Bq/g FROM WASTE AND NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE 3,585 Bq/g FROM THEIR KEROSENE LAMP ?
#####
8. THE ANNUAL DOSE RATE EXPOSURE
1. FROM MALAYSIAN CLAY BRICK HOUSE = 0.43 mSv/year
(215 x Lynas Worst Case Scenario)
2. SLEEPING 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
CONT.
CONT.
9.
1. WASTE FROM MALAYSIAN AMANG INDUSTRY > 100 Bq/g
2. WASTE "SCALE AND SLUDGE" IN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
________ LIKE IN PETRONAS = 1,000 Bq/g
3. and ___Lynas WLP only = 6 Bq/g !
SO WHY NO GREENIES PROTESTS AT THE MORE THAN 10 AMANG
( TIN TAILING ) PLANTS AND AT PETRONAS ?
#####
10 Nick Tsurikov, Radiation Safety Expert " THE MAJORITY OF THIS LYNAS "WASTE" WILL HAVE ONLY HALF THE THORIUM THAN IN NORMAL MALAYSIAN SOIL.
Lynas residues are half as radioactive as the sand the kids all over Malaysia play in the kindergartens
If you do look through the Lynas RIA together with UN (not IAEA) reports -
you will clearly see that two most 'voluminous' residues from LAMP will have less than 12 parts per million of thorium -
and the average MALAYSIAN SOIL - 20 ppm OF THORIUM.
#####
11. IN MOST OF THE ADVANCED COUNTRIES LIKE THE USA, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA WHERE THERE ARE NO HALF BAKED SELF STYLED SCIENTISTS, ANY MATERIAL THAT HAS AN ACTIVITY OF LESS THAN 10 Bq/g is regarded as non-radioactive for transport and do not require any special permission.
LYNAS ORE = ONLY 6 Bq/g AND THEREFORE REQUIRES NO SPECIAL PERMISSION IN MOST OF THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES.
#####
12. THE MOST BIOLOGICALLY DAMAGING FORMS OF GAMMA RAYS OCCUR IN THE GAMMA RAY WINDOW OF BETWEEN 3 MeV AND 10 MeV.
Those below 3.0 MeV are NOT very harmful. They have poor penetrating power and do not deposit much energy.
Those higher energy gamma rays of greater than 10 MeV are
NOT very harmful because the body is relatively transparent to them.
THE AVERAGE ENERGY OF THE MOST ABUNDANT EMISSION OF Th-232 IS ONLY 0.059 MeV.
#####
13. UNSCEAR ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO IMPLY THAT THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF RADIATION !
There IS a safe level !
UNSCEAR (THE UNITED NATIONS SCENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON THE EFFECTS OF ATOMIC RADIATION) HAS FINALLY ADMITTED THAT RADIATION DOSES LESS THAN ABOUT 10 rem (100 mSv ) per year ARE SAFE.
(Note: 100 mSv = 5,000,000 % Lynas worst case scenario)
#####
14. RADIATION EXPOSURE OF 100 mSv/yr IS SAFE: Prof WADE ALLISON
Nick Tsurikov, International Radiation Safety Expert:
"EXPERTS INCLUDING Professor WADE ALLISON OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY ARGUE THAT THE DOSE LIMIT CAN SAFELY BE RAISED TO 100 mSv, based on current health statistics."
(100 mSv/yr = 50,000 times or 5,000,000% higher than Lynas worst case scenario)
#####
15. SLEEPING NEXT TO SOMEONE for 8 hrs/day
(e.g. your wife or husband) = 0.02 mSv (UNSCEAR)
(10x Lynas worst case)
SO DON'T SLEEP WITH YOUR WIFE OR HUSBAND since this is like sleeping next to 10 Lynas plants!
Dose in worst case scenario for Lynas plant = 0.002 mSv/yr
Malaysian Monazite Ore in Tin Tailings or Amang = 284 Bq/g or 69,608 ppm
Lynas ore and Lynas WLP "waste" ~ 6 Bq/g or < 1,600 ppm
#####
16. THE FINISHED PROCESSED RARE EARTH PRODUCT EMITS ONLY 0.156 mSv/yr ( A TARMAC ROAD EMITS 2.4 TO 2.6 mSv/yr ! ) - so a fraction of what people in everyday life naturally experience.
The radiation from a tarmac road comes from Thorium-232, Uranium-238, Potassium-40, Radium and other trace radionuclides in the Tar and the Granite stones.
#####
17. When the mother radionuclide has an extremely long half life and the daughters have very short half life, there is very little accumulation of the short half life daughters.
The concentration of the daughter radionuclides is negligible e.g. there is only 1 atom of Radium 224 for every 1.4 trillion atoms of Thorium-232 at equilibrium.
CONT.
18. As far as radon gas is concerned, it must be remembered that Radon-220 from the decay chain of Thorium-232 has a very short half life of only 55 seconds!
As such only a tiny amount of Radon-220 (a.k.a. Thoron) within a few centimetres of the surface of a huge pile of waste will be able to live long enough to escape from the pile and see the light of day!
#####
19. A lot of people have mistaken Radon-220 from Thorium-232 decay series with the more notorious Radon-222 which has a much longer half life of 3.8 days. Radon-222 comes from Uranium-238 decay series.
Because of its much longer half life, Radon-222 can and do accumulate in the cellars and poorly ventilated areas of domestic dwellings. Radon-222 is the gas that has been linked to lung cancers in especially non-smokers.
#####
20. Since the average absorbed Beta energy of K-40 decay is 499 keV and the average absorbed Gamma energy is 156 keV,
THE INTERNAL DOSAGE from K-40 ~ 0.24 mSv/yr:
(120x Lynas worst case scenario)
So why complain about radiation from Lynas when there is the equivalent of 120 Lynas plants producing radiation already inside your body in the form of Potassium-40 !
#####
21. AS STATED BY MORMAN FREDERICK MOORE, THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR MINES AND PETROLEUM, IF LYNAS HAVE CHOSEN TO OPERATE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, IT WOULD BE WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS !
1. Alkane has decided to build a multi-billion dollar rare earth plant in the outskirts of Sydney.
2. Arafura is building a huge Rare Earth Processing Plant costing over A$1 Billion in Whyalla in South Australia.
#####
22. Since the average absorbed Beta energy of K-40 decay is 499 keV and the average absorbed Gamma energy is 156 keV,
THE INTERNAL DOSAGE from K-40 ~ 0.24 mSv/yr:
(120x Lynas worst case scenario)
So why complain about radiation from Lynas when there is the equivalent of 120 Lynas plants producing radiation already inside your body in the form of Potassium-40 !
####
23. There is no natural way for Metallic Thorium or insoluble Thorium compounds or even soluble salts when adsorbed with clay, to enter the body in any significant amount and as Nick Tsurikov, International Radiation Safety Expert and Co-author of IAEA Radiation Safety Report says
"THORIUM IN 'WASTE' IS INSOLUBLE AND CANNOT POISON ANY PLANTS, ANIMALS OR THE ENVIRONMENT - EVEN IN THEORY." Unquote.
There has not been a single death or injury that has been definitely and conclusively proven beyond any scientific doubt from the accidental inhalation or ingestion of Thorium-232 !
Compare this with death caused by Water i.e. from drowning... 388,000 drowning deaths in 2004 alone (WHO).
####
24. Metallic Thorium or it's insoluble compounds are chemically innocuous and inert especially when adsorbed by clay.
Soluble form in the absence of clay absorption = 0.02 to 0.05%.
With clay, much much less.
Studies 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.
Even if we ignore the incredibly strong adsorption to clay, 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!
Even with 11.7 g of Th-232 given parenterally, no acute toxicity noted.
####
25. Thorium-232 is not a Carcinogen (cancer causing agent) if Inhaled or Ingested according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC.
Thorium-232 is considered to be a carcinogen only IF ADMINISTERED INTRAVENOUSLY AS A COLLOIDAL DISPERSION OF THORIUM-232 DIOXIDE.
Even this may not be true as the carcinogenic effects of the massive dose of Xray from those antique Xray machines (about 1,000 mSv per fluoroscopy and some of the 4 million patients may have had more than one fluoroscopy done in their lifetime) was not taken in consideration when IARC came to the conclusion that Th-232 given parenterally is a carcinogen.
*
Quote Ariel: "However much scientific data cannot erase the painful memories of the Bukit Merah incident." Unquote
COMMENT:
Pictures of a children with cerebral palsy, mental retardation as well as many other pictures with congenital defects and leukaemia from the Bukit Merah area has been used repeatedly to instil fear into the unsuspecting naive population of Malaysia in a very sick attempt to link Lynas to these terrible illnesses.
THE LINK BEWEEN CONGENITAL DEFECTS, CEREBRAL PALSY AND RADIATION IN BUKIT MERAH ARE MISINFORMATIONS MALICIOUSLY CREATED BY THE ANTI-LYNAS FOLKS !
In a unique study by scientists at the John Hopkins University, published in 1988 by American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers investigated the association of parental occupational exposure to low-level external whole-body penetrating ionizing radiation and risk of congenital malformations in their offspring.
THE UNIQUE FEATURE OF THIS STUDY WAS THE LINKING OF QUANTITATIVE INDIVIDUAL MEASUREMENTS OF EXTERNAL WHOLE-BODY PENETRATING IONIZING RADIATION EXPOSURE OF EMPLOYEES AT THE HANDFORD SITE IN WASHINGTON STATE, USING PERSONAL DOSIMETERS AND THE DISEASE OUTCOME i.e. CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS.
The study population included 672 malformation cases and 977 matched controls from births occurring from 1957 through 1980.
Twelve specific malformation types were analyzed for evidence of association with employment of the parents at Hanford and with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation.
Two defects, congenital dislocation of the hip and tracheoesophageal fistula, showed statistically significant associations with employment of the parents at Hanford, BUT NOT WITH PARENTAL RADIATION EXPOSURE.
Neural tube defects like spina bifida showed a slightly significant association with parental preconception exposure, but the number of cases is too small to be conclusive of a definite co-relation.
Eleven other defects, INCLUDING DOWN SYNDROME AND CEREBRAL PALSY showed no evidence of such an association.
When all malformations were analyzed as a group, there was no evidence of an association with employment of the parents at Hanford.
Given the number of statistical tests conducted, some or all of the observed positive correlations are likely to represent false positive findings.
In view of strong contradictory evidence in this well conducted study and the fact that there is NO CONGENITAL DEFECTS DEMONSTRATED IN STUDIES ON THE ATOMIC BOMB SURVIVORS IN HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI,
THE CONCLUSION IS THAT "IT IS UNLIKELY THAT LOW DOSE RADIATION CAN CAUSE CONGENITAL DEFECTS."
After analysing thousands of well conducted studies, even UNSCEAR has now admitted THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO IMPLY THAT THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF RADIATION !
There IS a safe level and that is,
RADIATION DOSES LESS THAN ABOUT 10 rem (100 mSv ) per year ARE SAFE.
(Note: 100 mSv = 5,OO0,000 % Lynas worst case scenario)
*
Have a look at this article recommended by Nick Tsurikov, the International Radiation Safety Expert and Co-author of the IAEA Radiation Safety Report.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/01/11/like-weve-been-saying-radiation-is-not-a-big-deal/
Excerpts of Article in Forbes:
"UNSCEAR (THE UNITED NATIONS SCENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON THE EFFECTS OF ATOMIC RADIATION) HAS FINALLY ADMITTED THAT WE CAN'T USE THE LNT HYPOTHESIS TO PREDICT CANCER FROM LOW DOSES OF RADIATION."
Dato’ Dr Looi Hoong Wah.
FAMM, MB., ChB(Manchester), MRCS(England), MRCP(UK), MRCP(London).
*
http://kickdefella.net/2012/04/17/lynas-negligible-radiation-but-only-toxic-chemical-waste/#more-5242
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