MINT to carry out radioactive pollution study in Sabah, Sarawak waters

KUANTAN June 29 - The Malaysian Institute of Nuclear Technology (MINT) will carry out a Marine Sampling Expedition to assess the level of radioactive pollution in Sabah and Sarawak waters.

The 35-day expedition starting July 2 is to be carried out together with the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and the Malaysian Fisheries Department using the department's vessel, KL PAUS.

It will involve 34 representatives from the three agencies.

MINT Deputy Director-General Dr Nahrul Khair Alang Md Rashid said the study would be carried out because Malaysia had yet to have a comprehensive marine radioactivity data.

Some information on radioactive pollution in Malaysian waters was collected previously by MINT, but it was not comprehensive and had concentrated on specific areas, he said at the briefing about the expedition at the Kuantan Port Authority, here Tuesday.

He said results of the current study, carried out under the Malaysian Marine Radioactivity Database Development Project, would be used as a database in assessing the level of radioactive pollution in Malaysia in the future.

The database development project would cost RM3.5 million and would involve countries in the region such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Australia, he added.

It would be part of Malaysia's involvement in the data dan information exchange under the International Atomic Energy Agency and results of the study would be part of the Asia-Pasific Marine Radioactivity Database which was established five years ago.

"The database is important as a reference because with it, we have the proof if pollution were to happen especially if it causes an increase in the level radioactive exposure to human being and marine life," Dr Nahrul said.

He said Malaysia was surrounded with water and the Straits of Melaka, for example, was known as the busiest strait in the world and were used by merchant vessels as well as nuclear-powered battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines, he said.

"The South China Sea, meanwhile, is near to East Asia countries like China, Japan and Korea which have many nuclear-generated energy plants.

"So, they expose the country's waters to radioactive pollution and our concern is not without foundation as there are facts which show that an abuse of the material has been happening in the past," he said. - Bernama