This comes after the Malaysian Nuclear Agency said it had come up with the idea of extracting thorium.

The Pakatan Harapan MP said it contradicts an earlier statement by science, technology and innovation minister Chang Lih Kang that the proposal came from Lynas itself.

“We don’t want Lynas to say in a few years that it was not their intention but (they were just following) a directive by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency. We need an explanation to know what actually happened,” DAP’s Kota Melaka MP, Khoo Poay Tiong, said at a press conference in Parliament today.

Also present was Raub MP Chow Yu Hui, from DAP, who questioned the government’s decision to renew Lynas’s licence despite the company having already produced 1.2 million tonnes of radioactive waste.

“We have rejected imported plastic waste, so why are we now allowing Lynas’s radioactive waste to remain in our country, potentially posing a threat to the environment and the health of the local population?” he said.

In October, the government announced that Lynas’s operating licence had been renewed, allowing the company to continue importing and processing rare earths until March 2026.

The extension allowed the continuation of the Australian rare earths producer’s cracking and leaching activities in Malaysia. However, it was contingent on Lynas ensuring the radioactive content in water leach purification (WLP) residue is below 1 becquerel (Bq) per gramme.

Items below 1Bq/g are not considered radioactive waste by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and thus do not come under the purview of the Atomic Energy Licensing Act.

On Saturday, Malaysian Nuclear Agency deputy director-general Rawi Zin told a forum the agency realised that there was a market for thorium, a radioactive metal, as fuel for nuclear power plants to produce heat to power turbines.