KUALA LUMPUR: A team of United Nations atomic energy experts began a week-long visit to Malaysia yesterday to review the safety of a proposed Australian rare earth plant which has drawn protests.

Following public concerns that radioactive waste from the plant could leak out and harm the environment, the government has put the project by Australian miner Lynas on hold, pending the independent panel's review.
A nine-member team, led by a senior official from the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived to review the plant, under construction near Kuantan, said an official from the International Trade and Industry Ministry.


The team would meet government officials as well as residents, and inspect the construction site for three days, he said.

They were expected to present their final findings by the end of next month, the official added.

The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant was scheduled to begin processing rare earth -- used in high-tech products from iPods to missiles -- in the third quarter of this year.


But activists and residents say they fear radioactive waste produced by the plant would not be disposed of properly and could endanger them and the environment.

Pending the panel's review, the government has said it will not issue a pre-operating licence to Lynas.

It has also barred imports of raw materials from Australia to be processed at the facility.


Lynas has insisted the plant poses no safety threat.

It has said any waste would be placed in safe and reliable engineered storage cells to avoid any leakage.

Lynas has described the facility as the largest of its kind in the world, set to be one of the few sources of rare earth, outside China. -- AFP