Dream Singapore!: The Malaysian Town Still Haunted By Radioactive Pollution 30 Years After Rare Earths Refinery Shut

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

The Malaysian Town Still Haunted By Radioactive Pollution 30 Years After Rare Earths Refinery Shut

A rare earths processing plant run by Mitsubishi Chemicals in Bukit Merah, Malaysia was blamed for birth defects and leukaemia cases in the local community. The plant, which was shut down in 1994, had no long-term waste facility which resulted in radioactive waste leakage.

00:00 Why the fight over rare earths?

00:44 Bukit Merah: What happened in brief

01:56 Mitsubishi Chemicals’ former rare earth processing plant site

03:18 How radioactive waste was handled

04:07 Effects of radioactive waste pollution

06:51 A permanent radioactive waste dumpsite

Mitsubishi Chemicals spent US$100 million on the clean-up and donated to the local community in an out-of-court settlement. The radioactive contamination took years to clean up.

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