Speaker
Description
Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) consist of materials with enriched radioactive elements found in the environment namely uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon. NORM occurs in geological formations and enhanced NORM can be created by industrial activity. In Malaysia, examples of industries that may be of concern include amang industry, petroleum industries, rare earth processing facility and titanium dioxide production. One of the world’s largest rare earths processing facility outside China commenced operations in Pahang, Malaysia in the year 2012. Operation rare earths processing facility soon gained national public interest since the processing facility refined rare earth element from lanthanide concentrate which originate from outside Malaysia and producing NORM residues or very low-level radioactive residues named as Water Leaching Purification (WLP). In the year 2011, the Malaysian Government received International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) review mission as an international independent expert review on radiation safety aspects of this rare earth refining plant. Again, a second IAEA review mission had been carried out during year 2014. In the year 2020, the Malaysia Government request the rare earth processing facilities to build a permanent disposal facility (PDF) for the disposal of WLP as one of the license conditions for renew operation license. In year the 2022, the rare earth processing facilities successfully gain license and start to construct the PDF for WLP disposal. This paper presents detail study on the holistic regulator control on the disposal of NORM residues from rare earth industry into the PDF for safety and environmental sustainability as well as the challenges experiences during construction.
