SPM...Apabila 'A" bukanlah yang terbaik

Assalamualaikum

Pertama diucapkan tahniah buat adik2 yang dah dapat keputusan SPM. "Lesen" SPM nie besar nilainya, sampai ke tua berguna tau. Daripada nak masuk IPT hinggalah nak cari kerja, sijil SPM nie mesti nak tunjuk. Kalo keputusan tu bagus (ye la dah semua A++) siap boleh frame lagi tau, tunjuk kat orang kampung. Ha, kat sini saja2 lah nak share fakta menarik tentang SPM:

1. Jumlah calon 467 970 orang. (mak ai, ramai betoi, sorang bagi aku singgit nie dh kayo dh nie)
2. Gred A saja ada 3 peringkat, A+, A dan A-.
3. Ada 363 calon dapat semua subjek A+ dan 9 239 orang dapat A semua subjek (A+, A & A-).
4. Seramai 2773 orang calon gagal dalam SPM.
5. 68 114 orang calon mendapat sekurang-kurangnya C bagi setiap subjek.

Ok lah, tahun ni keputusan SPM memang lebih baik, cuma realiti daripada SPM ini apabila difikirkan sangat menyedihkan. Contohnya;

• Setelah dicampur segala tempat ke IPT termasuk matrikulasi, Politeknik, belajar tajaan luar negara, etc hanya menyediakan tempat kira-kira 300 000 orang sahaja. Bagaimana pula dengan nasib lagi 100 000 lepasan SPM. Jika mereka bekerja, dengan kelulusan SPM, kerja yang bagaimanakah boleh mereka lakukan? Jika menjadi buruh tanpa kemahiran, bagaimana mereka mahu bersaing dengan pekerja asing?
• Terlalu ramai yang mendapat A dalam semua subjek menimbulkan persoalan sejauh manakah keberkesanan sistem peperiksaan kita. Memetik kata-kata seorang Professor, "Sekiranya dalam 100 pelajar ada seorang mendapat semua A, maka dia adalah pelajar cemerlang. Namun jika daripada 100 pelajar, 70 orang mendapat semua A, bolehkah kita katakan mereka ini cemerlang?" Semasa saya bersekolah dahulu, kebanyakkan rakan-rakan hanya mendapat C untuk subjek Biologi, dalam peperiksaan percubaan. Banyak juga soalan yang tidak dijawab. Namun ketika SPM, dengan mutu jawapan yang sama ramai sungguh yang mendapat A. Adik saya ketika menjelang SPM sungguh risau kerana dia tidak pernah mendapat keputusan elok untuk Biologi, rata2 mesti C. Saya katakan, InsyaALLAH kamu akan dapat A dalam SPM, ye terbukti benar dia mendapat A2 untuk Biologi dan itu jugalah satu2nya subjek yang dia mendapat A2 kerana subjek yang lain semuanya A1.
• Para pelajar "cemerlang" ini yang mendapat semua A, kompetitif ke mereka di IPT nanti? SPM hanya menilai dari segi akademik, bagaimana pula dari aspek kekuatan emosi dan jatidiri. Pengalaman saya, ramai rakan2 yang cemerlang SPM "hanyut" di IPT. Selain itu, saya mendapati asas matematik para pelajar IPT sangat lemah dimana saya rasa berpunca daripada sekolah.

Oleh itu, buat adik2, jadikan SPM (sama ada anda berjaya atau gagal) sebagai batu loncatan untuk berjaya dalam hidup. Yakinlah, hidup seperti lari Marathon, selagi anda tidak berhenti berlari InsyaALLAH anda akan sampai ke garisan penamat. Walaupun anda tewas di 100meter yang pertama.

Tenaga Nuklear, Ya atau Tidak

Assalamualaikum,

Ketika saya menulis untuk entry ini, seluruh negara dikejutkan dengan kes video seks seorang figura politik. Tiba2 teringat kat Dr. Chua. Apa2 pun banyak lagi isu yang lebih penting dan perlu difikirkan berbanding isu2 yan tak sudah2 seperti kes video ini. Ketika ini Jepun masih terbelit dengan krisis bencana. Libya diserang oleh tentera bersekutu. Harga ayam dari RM6 dah jadi RM8 sekilo serta komen pak2 menteri yang menyakitkan hati dan tak menyelesaikan masalah. Negara2 Arab dilanda revolusi tak sudah2. Pahang bakal dilanda bencana radioaktif jika isu "rare earth metal" tidak ditadbir urus dengan amanah dan berintegriti. Ha kan banyak tu. Esok keputusan SPM keluar, etc.

Apa2 pun saya sekadar berkongsi disini tentang tenaga nuklear. Perlukah kita menceburi bidang ini?? Berapa besarkah loji nuklear itu nanti. Adakah bakal memecah rekod sebagai loji nuklear paling besar di dunia. Jika berlaku bencana, bersediakah kita menghadapinya? Bagaiman dengan pilihan tenaga alternatif seperti solar. Sudahkah kita menerokai sepenuhnya sumber "tanpa batasan" ini. Apa saja pilihan kita, perlu dingat 2 perkara. Pertama, kebergantungan kepada tenaga fossil seperti minyak+gas+arang batu adalah seperti membiarkan anak kita bermain di tebing curam. Sangat berisiko. Kedua, kita sudah sekian lama "seronok" dengan bil elektrik yang murah hingga seronok untuk dibazirkan, bersediakah kita untuk membayar bil elektrik yang tinggi. Bagaimana pula dengan kompetitif industri kita sekiranya kita sudah tidak mampu menjana elektrik dengan kos yang rendah? Kita perlu sedar "selling point" negara kita kepada para pelabur asing hanyalah 2 iaitu kestabilan politik (dimana sekarang nie mcm dah tak sangat) dan kedua kos operasi rendah disumbang oleh gaji pekerja yang rendah dan bil elektrik yang murah.

Banyak negara industri yang menggunakan tenaga nuklear seperti Perancis (70%), Jepun, Korea, etc. Mungkin kita boleh menggunakan teknologi Korea yang telah sekian lama menggunakan "low scale nuclear power plant". Lebih kecil, lebih rendah risiko dan mudah di urus. Mungkin juga kita boleh menggunakan Thorium sebagai alternatif kepada Uranium. Disini saya kongsikan artikel daripada Daily Telegraph.

*************************************************************************************

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 9:30PM GMT 20 Mar 2011

This passed unnoticed –except by a small of band of thorium enthusiasts – but it may mark the passage of strategic leadership in energy policy from an inert and status-quo West to a rising technological power willing to break the mould.

If China’s dash for thorium power succeeds, it will vastly alter the global energy landscape and may avert a calamitous conflict over resources as Asia’s industrial revolutions clash head-on with the West’s entrenched consumption.

China’s Academy of Sciences said it had chosen a “thorium-based molten salt reactor system”. The liquid fuel idea was pioneered by US physicists at Oak Ridge National Lab in the 1960s, but the US has long since dropped the ball. Further evidence of Barack `Obama’s “Sputnik moment”, you could say.

“If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan. There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” he said.

“They operate at atmospheric pressure so you don’t have the sort of hydrogen explosions we’ve seen in Japan. One of these reactors would have come through the tsunami just fine. There would have been no radiation release.”

Thorium is a silvery metal named after the Norse god of thunder. The metal has its own “issues” but no thorium reactor could easily spin out of control in the manner of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or now Fukushima.

Professor Robert Cywinksi from Huddersfield University said thorium must be bombarded with neutrons to drive the fission process. “There is no chain reaction. Fission dies the moment you switch off the photon beam. There are not enough neutrons for it continue of its own accord,” he said.

Dr Cywinski, who anchors a UK-wide thorium team, said the residual heat left behind in a crisis would be “orders of magnitude less” than in a uranium reactor.

The earth’s crust holds 80 years of uranium at expected usage rates, he said. Thorium is as common as lead. America has buried tons as a by-product of rare earth metals mining. Norway has so much that Oslo is planning a post-oil era where thorium might drive the country’s next great phase of wealth. Even Britain has seams in Wales and in the granite cliffs of Cornwall. Almost all the mineral is usable as fuel, compared to 0.7pc of uranium. There is enough to power civilization for thousands of years.

I write before knowing the outcome of the Fukushima drama, but as yet none of 15,000 deaths are linked to nuclear failure. Indeed, there has never been a verified death from nuclear power in the West in half a century. Perspective is in order.

We cannot avoid the fact that two to three billion extra people now expect – and will obtain – a western lifestyle. China alone plans to produce 100m cars and buses every year by 2020.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the world currently has 442 nuclear reactors. They generate 372 gigawatts of power, providing 14pc of global electricity. Nuclear output must double over twenty years just to keep pace with the rise of the China and India.

If a string of countries cancel or cut back future reactors, let alone follow Germany’s Angela Merkel in shutting some down, they shift the strain onto gas, oil, and coal. Since the West is also cutting solar subsidies, they can hardly expect the solar industry to plug the gap.

BP’s disaster at Macondo should teach us not to expect too much from oil reserves deep below the oceans, beneath layers of blinding salt. Meanwhile, we rely uneasily on Wahabi repression to crush dissent in the Gulf and keep Arabian crude flowing our way. So where can we turn, unless we revert to coal and give up on the ice caps altogether? That would be courting fate.

US physicists in the late 1940s explored thorium fuel for power. It has a higher neutron yield than uranium, a better fission rating, longer fuel cycles, and does not require the extra cost of isotope separation.

The plans were shelved because thorium does not produce plutonium for bombs. As a happy bonus, it can burn up plutonium and toxic waste from old reactors, reducing radio-toxicity and acting as an eco-cleaner.

Dr Cywinski is developing an accelerator driven sub-critical reactor for thorium, a cutting-edge project worldwide. It needs to £300m of public money for the next phase, and £1.5bn of commercial investment to produce the first working plant. Thereafter, economies of scale kick in fast. The idea is to make pint-size 600MW reactors.

Yet any hope of state support seems to have died with the Coalition budget cuts, and with it hopes that Britain could take a lead in the energy revolution. It is understandable, of course. Funds are scarce. The UK has already put its efforts into the next generation of uranium reactors. Yet critics say vested interests with sunk costs in uranium technology succeeded in chilling enthusiasm.

The same happened a decade ago to a parallel project by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). France’s nuclear industry killed proposals for funding from Brussels, though a French group is now working on thorium in Grenoble.

Norway’s Aker Solution has bought Professor Rubbia’s patent. It had hoped to build the first sub-critical reactor in the UK, but seems to be giving up on Britain and locking up a deal to build it in China instead, where minds and wallets are more open.

So the Chinese will soon lead on this thorium technology as well as molten-salts. Good luck to them. They are doing Mankind a favour. We may get through the century without tearing each other apart over scarce energy and wrecking the planet.

This is my last column for a while. I am withdrawing to the Mayan uplands.

Skala Richter

Assalamualaikum,

Sejak kejadian gempa di Jepun nie, ramai sungguh yang "bertambah pengetahuan". Ye la, dulu xkisah sangat pasal gempa dan nuklear, selepas kejadian ni semakin ramai yang prihatin tentang isu2 bencana alam ni. Ok sekadar berkongsi, ini adalah kisah tentang skala richter, bukan apa nanti tak lah kalo kawan2 oversea cter gempa 4 skala richter korang dah bayang macam teruk la sangat.

Skala Richter nie hanya sampai sepuluh je. Setakat nie paling tinggi berlaku kat Chile pada 1960 iaitu 9.5. Kat Jepun hari tu 8.9 dan berlaku kat laut, sebab itulah ada tsunami. Ok inilah skalanya:

<2.0 = Kecik sangat, xrasa pun

2-2.9 = Rasa sikit2 tapi bolehlah dikesan oleh seismograph

3-3.9 = Bolehlah bagi barang atas meja goyang2 dan kemudian jatuh.

4-4.9 = Ada rasa brg2 dalam rumah bergegar.

5-5.9 = Kalo bangunan tu tak direka untuk tahan gempa, comfirm boleh rosak.

6-6.9 = Ni dah kategori kuat nie.

7-7.9 = Ha, nie boleh merosakkan bangunan dengan sangat teruk.

8-8.9 = Nie kes serius ni, boleh menyebabkan kerosakan pada kawasan yang lebih luas.

9-9.9 = Nie kire pasukan penyelamat datang bwk "bulldozer" je lah.

10++ = Xde sape pernah rekod lagi.

Jadi, kepada sesape yang nak tahu dengan lebih jelas, silalah google sendiri ye.

Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga

Assalamualaikum,

Sekali lagi ucapan takziah buat warga Jepun. Selepas dilanda tsunami yang sangat dahsyat, kini mereka dilanda ancaman pencemaran radioaktif daripada loji tenaga nuklear Fukushima. Sehingga entry ini ditulis, pihak Jepun hanya mempunyai masa kira2 48 Jam untuk mengawal keadaan sebelum reaktor nuklear meletup dan menyaksikan berulangnya kembali tragedi letupan nuklear di Chernobyl pada tahun 1986. Daripada website Howstufworks saya memperoleh artikel berkenaan tragedi nuklear di Jepun. Panjang sangat, saya tak mampu nak terjemah ke bahasa Melayu, jadi selamat membaca dalam bahasa Inggeris

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Japan's Nuclear Crisis Works

by Marshall Brain

Introduction to How Japan's Nuclear Crisis Works

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Image

Photo by DigitalGlobe via Getty ImagesThe Fukushima II Dai Ni nuclear power plant after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. See more pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

Different people have different opinions of the nuclear power industry. Some see nuclear power as an important green technology that emits no carbon dioxide while producing huge amounts of reliable electricity. They point to an admirable safety record that spans more than two decades.

Others see nuclear power as an inherently dangerous technology that poses a threat to any community located near a nuclear power plant. They point to accidents like the Three Mile Island incident and the Chernobyl explosion as proof of how badly things can go wrong.

In either case, commercial nuclear reactors are a fact of life in many parts of the developed world. Because they do make use of a radioactive fuel source, these reactors are designed and built to the highest standards of the engineering profession, with the perceived ability to handle nearly anything that nature or mankind can dish out. Earthquakes? No problem. Hurricanes? No problem. Direct strikes by jumbo jets? No problem. Terrorist attacks? No problem. Strength is built in, and layers of redundancy are meant to handle any operational abnormality.

Shortly after an earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011, however, those perceptions of safety began rapidly changing. Explosions rocked several different reactors in Japan, even though initial reports indicated that there were no problems from the quake itself. Fires broke out at the Onagawa plant, and there were explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

So what went wrong? How can such well-designed, highly redundant systems fail so catastrophically? Let's take a look.

Understanding a Nuclear Reactor

© 2011 HowStuffWorks.com
This diagram shows all the parts of a nuclear reactor.

If you have read How Nuclear Reactors Work, you are familiar with the basic idea behind a nuclear power plant. At a high level, these plants are quite simple. Nuclear fuel, which in modern commercial nuclear power plants comes in the form of enriched uranium, naturally produces heat as uranium atoms split (see the Nuclear Fission section of How Nuclear Bombs Work for details). The heat is used to boil water and produce steam. The steam drives a steam turbine, which spins a generator to create electricity. These plants are large and generally able to produce something on the order of a gigawatt of electricity at full power.

In order for the output of a nuclear power plant to be adjustable, the uranium fuel is formed into pellets approximately the size of a Tootsie Roll. These pellets are stacked end-on-end in long metal tubes called fuel rods. The rods are arranged into bundles, and bundles are arranged in the core of the reactor. Control rods fit between the fuel rods and are able to absorb neutrons. If the control rods are fully inserted into the core, the reactor is said to be shut down. The uranium will produce the lowest amount of heat possible (but will still produce heat). If the control rods are pulled out of the core as far as possible, the core produces its maximum heat. Think about the heat produced by a 100-watt incandescent light bulb. These bulbs get quite hot -- hot enough to bake a cupcake in an Easy Bake oven. Now imagine a 1,000,000,000-watt light bulb. That is the kind of heat coming out of a reactor core at full power.

The reactors that failed in Japan are Mark 1 boiling water reactors designed by General Electric in the 1960s. This is one of the earlier reactor designs, in which the uranium fuel boils water that directly drives the steam turbine. This design was later replaced by pressurized water reactors because of safety concerns surrounding the Mark 1 design. As we have seen, those safety concerns turned into safety failures in Japan. Let's take a look at the fatal flaw that led to disaster.

The Fatal Flaw in Boiling Water Nuclear Reactors

A boiling water reactor has an Achilles heel -- a fatal flaw -- that is invisible under normal operating conditions and most failure scenarios. The flaw has to do with the cooling system.

A boiling water reactor boils water: That's obvious and simple enough. It's a technology that goes back more than a century to the earliest steam engines. As the water boils, it creates a huge amount of pressure -- the pressure that will be used to spin the steam turbine. The boiling water also keeps the reactor core at a safe temperature. When it exits the steam turbine, the steam is cooled and condensed to be reused over and over again in a closed loop. The water is recirculated through the system with electric pumps.

The design's vulnerability comes into play if the electric pumps lose power. Without a fresh supply of water in the boiler, the water continues boiling off, and the water level starts falling. If enough water boils off, the fuel rods are exposed and they overheat. At some point, even with the control rods fully inserted, there is enough heat to melt the nuclear fuel. This is where the term meltdown comes from. Tons of melting uranium flows to the bottom of the pressure vessel. At that point, it's catastrophic. In the worst case, the molten fuel penetrates the pressure vessel gets released into the environment.

Because of this known vulnerability, there is huge redundancy around the pumps and their supply of electricity. There are several sets of redundant pumps, and there are redundant power supplies. Power can come from the power grid. If that fails, there are several layers of backup diesel generators. If they fail, there is a backup battery system. With all of this redundancy, it seems like the vulnerability is completely covered. There is no way for the fatal flaw to ever be exposed.

Unfortunately, shortly after the earthquake, the worst-case scenario unfolded.

The Worst-case Scenario in Japan's Nuclear Crisis The worst-case scenario in Japan's nuclear crisis would be a meltdown and a massive release of nuclear radiation into the environment.

The nuclear power plants in Japan weathered the earthquake itself without difficulty. The four plants nearest the quake's epicenter shut down automatically, meaning that the control rods were fully inserted into their reactor cores and the plants stopped producing power. This is normal operating procedure for these plants, but it meant that the first source of electricity for the cooling pumps was gone. That isn't a problem because the plant could get power from the power grid to run the pumps.

However, the power grid became unstable and it shut down as well. The second source of electricity for the cooling pumps was gone. That brought the backup diesel generators into play. Diesel generators are a robust and time-tested way to generate electricity, so there were no worries.

But then the tsunami hit. And unfortunately, the tsunami was far larger than anyone had planned for. If the backup diesel generators had been higher off the ground, designed to run while submerged in water or protected from deep water in some way, the crisis could have been averted. Unfortunately, the unexpected water levels from the tsunami caused the generators to fail.

This left the last layer of redundancy -- batteries -- to operate the pumps. The batteries performed as expected, but they were sized to last for only a few hours. The assumption, apparently, was that electricity would become available from another source fairly quickly.

Although operators did truck in new generators, they could not be hooked up in time, and the coolant pumps ran out of electricity. The fatal flaw in the boiling water design -- thought to be impossible to uncover through so many layers of redundancy -- had nonetheless become exposed. With it exposed, the next step in the process led to catastrophe.

Explosions at Japan's Nuclear Power Plants

With the batteries dead, the coolant pumps failed. With no fresh coolant flowing into the reactor core, the water that kept it cool began boiling off. As the water boiled away, the tops of the fuel rods were exposed, and the metal tubes holding the uranium fuel pellets overheated and cracked. The cracks allowed water to enter the tubes and get to the fuel pellets, where it began generating hydrogen gas. The process is called thermolysis -- if you get water hot enough, it breaks down into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

Hydrogen is a highly explosive gas -- recall the Hindenburg explosion, in which the Hindenburg was full of hydrogen gas. In Japan's nuclear plants, pressure from the hydrogen built up, and the gas had to be vented. Unfortunately, so much hydrogen vented so quickly that it exploded inside the reactor building. This same chain of events unfolded in several different reactors.

The explosions did not rupture the pressure vessels holding the nuclear cores, nor did they release any significant amounts of radiation. These were simple hydrogen explosions, not nuclear explosions. The explosions damaged the concrete and steel buildings surrounding the pressure vessels.

The explosions also indicated that things had gotten out of control. If water were to continue boiling off, a meltdown would be almost assured.

So operators decided to flood the reactors with seawater. This is a last-ditch effort to control the situation, since seawater completely ruins a reactor, but it's better than a meltdown. In addition, the seawater was mixed with boron to act something like a liquid version of the control rods. Boron absorbs neutrons and is one of the main constituents in the control rods.

Next Steps in Japan's Nuclear Crisis

The nuclear incidents in Japan are described as Level 6 INES events (International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale). Three Mile Island was a Level 5 event. Chernobyl was a Level 7 event, and that is the top of the event scale [source: Reuters]. Obviously, it's a serious situation.

Japan has lost a significant portion of its electrical generating capacity. Approximately a third of Japan's electricity comes from nuclear power plants, and about half of that capacity has been lost (approximately 20 percent of total generating capacity) [source: Izzo]. That capacity will need to be replaced in some way.

At 40 years old, these reactors are nearing the end of their design lifespans anyway. One alternative is to simply rebuild the plants. The two problems with this approach are that it will be a very lengthy process -- possibly taking a decade or more -- and the general public in Japan may have no appetite for new nuclear reactors. It is still too early to tell.

There are a number of Mark 1 reactors in the United States. It is certain that they will be decommissioned or altered to take advantage of the lessons learned in Japan. Other reactors may also be altered as needed.

The nuclear industry was hoping for a renaissance of nuclear power in the United States now that more than three decades have elapsed since the Three Mile Island incident shut down new nuclear plant construction in the United States. The events in Japan may stop this renaissance. Or they may spur research in other, possibly safer, nuclear technologies.

Rare Earth Metals, WHY Here...???

Assalamualaikum,

On Thursday, March 10 2011, after meeting with my Boss, I went to library to read newspaper. As I turn page by page reading the news, I've been shock to read that Malaysia goverment had allowed the Australian company, Lynas Corp. to operate processing plant for rare earth metal at Gebeng, Kuantan Pahang. To be honest, I also do not know what is "Rare Earth Metal" is. However, as I read further than I know that this is material that been widely used in high tech product, from LCD TV to Iphone and smart guided bomb. To make it simple, this is main recipe to make high tech product. To further understanding, please do read article below taken from AsiaOne News:

Plans to open Australian rare earth plant in Malaysia criticised

AN AUSTRALIAN mining company said yesterday it plans to finish building a huge rare earths processing plant in Malaysia late this year, in a possible challenge to China's stranglehold on the metals.

The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Kuantan is scheduled to begin producing rare earths, which are indispensable in making many high-tech products, in the third quarter of 2011, a Lynas spokeswoman in Sydney told AFP.

"The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant is scheduled to come online in the third quarter of 2011," she said.

The facility which will refine raw material from Mount Weld in Western Australia is described by the giant firm as "the largest of its kind" and set to provide the first new source of supply of rare earths outside China.

The firm was two to four years ahead of any other producers outside China because rare earths projects take several years to develop, Matthew James, vice president of corporate and business development at Lynas, told AFP in October. He said the project, which had been eight years in the making, had about 1.4 million tonnes of the elements at Mount Weld. The company plans to double output from the Malaysian plant to 22,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2012.

Rare earths such as super-magnet dysprosium and red-glowing europium are vital components in hard-drives and computer screens, while the metals are also pivotal in making laser missile systems, wind turbines and solar panels.

The project has however drawn criticism from Malaysian environmental groups, which said they were "appalled" the government had approved it, after a similar plant in another Malaysian state was forced to halt in 1992 due to protests.

"We do not want a repeat of what happened in Bukit Merah where the impacts are still felt until today," S M Mohamed Idris, president of Friends of the Earth Malaysia said in a statement.

The Bukit Merah rare earths plant, which was opened in the 1980s, ceased operations in 1992 after an uproar from local residents who blamed it for a number of birth defects. Mohamed Idris warned that the new refinery will produce huge quantities of radioactive waste, and urged the government to engage with environmental groups before going ahead with the project.

Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, the head of Malaysia's Atomic Energy Licensing Board, said Malaysia has only approved the construction of the Kuantan plant and has not yet given the green light for it to begin operations. He said the board, one of the government agencies tasked with looking into the safety aspects of the project, will need to be satisfied that it will not lead to a major impact on the public and environment.

World attention has shifted to Australia's nascent rare earths industry after China, which dominates global production, began restricting exports, sending shudders through major consumers Japan, Europe and the United States.

Even though the Malaysia Atomic Energy Licencing Board ( AELB ) already promised that the Bukit Merah incident in 1992 won't repeat again, I am very doubtful about it. First, from article above it is very clear that the dangerous of this material is not the product, but it waste that make us worry. This waste contains radioactive elements like thorium. The question here, what will happens to the waste? Is it ship back to Aussie (unlikely) or any other country ( will increase the production cost ) or will remains in this country (very likely will happens). Second, why Gebeng? The location itself near to Sungai Kuantan which already polluted by waste from Gebeng Industrial Park. How about the risk of pollution to the underground water? As I read the article below, AELB do not say clearly how the waste will be treat (Quote from the Star, March 12 2011).

Lynas must meet M’sian AELB standards

PETALING JAYA: Australia's Lynas Corp has to meet strict standards set by the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) to secure a licence to operate its rare earth ore processing plant that is under construction in Gebeng in Kuantan.

To get the licence, Lynas has submitted an application for pre-operations.

“It is still incomplete but they are beginning to provide documents,'' said AELB director general Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan.

The licence will only be issued after and “inter-agency assessment is done.''

But before it begins operations, a pre-operating licence will be issued for Lynas to show proof of its claims that its raw materials are “safe, non-toxic and are non-hazardous.''

“The board will have to verify and decide but of utmost (concern) to us is the safety and security of the workers, the community and the environment.

“If they (Lynas) do not meet the conditions set by the government, then there is little we can do to help,'' Raja Aziz told StarBizWeek yesterday.

The Gebeng plant was thrust into the limelight after a New York Timesreport said the “long term storage of thorium waste was still unresolved. The ore to be imported for processing in Malaysia will have 3% to 5% of the thorium per tonne found in the tin mine tailings that Mitsubishi had processed.''

This raised alarm bells and the critics are unconvinced - to them, the risks of radioactive pollution is very real because refining rare earth minerals usually leaves thousands of tonnes of low level radioactive waste behind.

The stringent rules and layers of monitoring imposed by Malaysia is vital as it cannot afford a second tragedy after the contamination caused by the Mitsubishi Chemicals plant near Ipoh.

The plant - Bukit Merah Asian Rare Earth - was shut down aftera protest in 1992 and now the cleanup is complete. Raja Aziz said the site had been handed over the local authorities.

Lynas promises that it will set a “precedent for leadership in environment performance.”

“We are dedicated to zero harm and care and well-being of our people and the communities in which we operate is at our core.

“We have agreed to place funds with the Malaysian government to ensure safe management of any remaining residue as required by the AELB,'' Lynas vice president of corporate and business development Dr Mattew James said in an email.

He added that the raw materials from Mount Weld has naturally low levels of thorium and according to Nuclear Malaysia, it is 50 times lower than the different raw materials used at Bukit Merah.

How dangerous is this waste?

“This is not radioactive waste. It is under the category of industrial waste which contains normal radio active elements and they are just the same as your granite walls in your house and the water in the ground. We are very careful as a precedent has been set in Perak,'' Raja said.

Lynas, based in Sydney, is investing US$230mil to build the world's biggest rare earth ore processing plant in Gebeng. This plant will provide materials critical for the manufacture of high tech goods. This is the first such facility to be built out of China for decades.

The aim of the plant is to reduce China's monopoly on the global supply of 17 rare earth metals essential for making products like flatscreen TVs, mobile phones, hybrid cars and even weaponry.

The raw material for processing will have to come from Western Australia.

Lynas got MIDA's approval to set up the plant here three years ago and it will enjoy a 12-year tax holiday.

The report said about 2,500 workers are rushing to complete the construction so that operations can begin this year.

Asked how Lynas will clean up the waste from the plant, Raja Aziz said: “We have been monitoring and taking environmental samples (from the onset).

“We will make sure there is subsequent monitoring of the operations if (their application) is approved as it must not have an impact on the environment. That is our guarantee.

“We are not promoters but concerned for the public. We monitor the situation all the time and its impact on the workers, the public and the environment.

“If there is an impact, we have provisions to suspend the licence (if it is approved),'' Raja said.

He said even before the construction began, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Radiological Impact Assessment reports had been undertaken.

“It is a performance-based EIA, not prescriptive. This means we, and some other government agencies, have to monitor and measure the levels of radioactivity (all the time).

“There were no concerns in the EIA as (Lynas) is convinced that the radioactive levels will be below the (permissible) levels, but we will have to check it for ourselves,'' Raja Aziz said.

According to The Malaysian Insider, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh will lobbying PM Najib to make sure Lynas take back all the waste back to Australia. As I am wondering, during MIDA sign the deal with Lynas, did they discuss about the treatment for the waste. I'm worry this project will become as "dumpsite" for radioactive waste by foreign company. They make tons of profit, do not pay tax for 12 years and we Malaysians suffer chronic disease due to the waste and can't use the land due to the contamination as had happens before.

Lawmakers in KL, Aussie to contest rare earth plant

by The Malaysian Insider

04:46 AM Mar 11, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR - As Australian mining giant Lynas Corp readies to fire up its rare earths refinery in Gebeng, near Kuantan, lawmakers in Kuala Lumpur and Australia are joining hands to halt its progress and prevent a potential environmental and health disaster.

The facility will be the first rare earths refinery built outside China in nearly three decades. Rare earth metals, of which China has a 95 per cent control on global supply, are crucial to high technology products such as Apple's iPhone and Toyota's Prius hybrid car.

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh said on Wednesday that she is working together with her counterparts in Australia's Green Party to pressure their respective governments to look deeper into the environmental and health risks posed by the US$230 million (S$292 million) project and set up safeguards before Lynas starts operations at the Kuantan facility.

The opposition MP explained that she is lobbying the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak to compel Lynas to take back its waste to Australia for disposal.

One of the biggest worries, she said, was Lynas' waste management plans.

"There have been no clear procedures how they are going to remove the radioactive by-products," Ms Fuziah said.

"No EIA either," she added, referring to the environmental impact assessment that is required by law before a project is approved by the authorities.

She also noted that Terengganu - which was Lynas' first choice - had rejected the Australian company's proposal in 2007, bowing to pressure from green groups which had the same concerns.

The refinery - which will produce metals with an estimated value exceeding RM5 billion (S$2.1 billion) a year - comes nearly two decades after protests forced Mitsubishi Chemicals to close down a rare earth plant near Ipoh in 1992 due to environmental damage that it is still trying to clean up today.

On positive side, this project can generate billions of income and it might attract FDI in high tech industry in Malaysia. However, we must realized we already had bad experience with this project in Perak before and yet we still doing it and do not have any details procedure regarding the waste from this project. "

A LOT of money doesn't make one project better."

So, as concerns citizen, I am waiting eagerly feedback from our present goverment about this issues. Means what you say, say what you means. "Rakyat didahulukan Pencapaian Diutamakan".

BENCANA ALAM, bagaimanakah kita bertindak

Assalamualaikum,

Pertama, saya mengucapkan takziah buat warga Jepun yang dilanda bencana gempa bumi disusuli dengan kejadian tsunami pada hari jumaat yang lalu. Begitu dahsyat gegaran pada 8.9 Skala Richter mengakibatkan tsunami setinggi 10metre melanda perairan timur Jepun. Sehingga hari ini, saya difahamkan gegaran susulan pada 6 skala Richter masih dirasai dan sebuah loji janakuasa nuklear meletup menimbulkan ancaman radiasi hingga memaksa Kerajaan Jepun mengisytiharkan darurat di kawasan terbabit. Kematian setakat ini sudah lebih 1000 orang dan dijangka lebih lagi kematian akan ditemui berikutan dianggar 10,000 orang masih lagi hilang.

Gambar di atas adalah kontena-kontena yang berselerak

akibat hentaman tsunami. Kelihatan seperti LEGO

Kereta dihanyut tsunami tersangkut atas bumbung rumah.

Pandangan dari udara kawasan dilanda tsunami.

Walau bagaimanapun, saya berasa kagum dengan orang Jepun mengenai persediaan mereka menghadapi bencana dan bagaimana mereka bertindak menghadapinya. Kita melihat apabila amaran tsunami dikeluarkan, semua orang bertindak pergi ke tempat "selamat". Sesuatu yang berbeza di negara seperti Indonesia, dimana gunung berapi dah meletup masih enggan berpindah. Selain itu, setelah bencana, rakyat dan pihak berkuasa tahu apa yang perlu dilakukan dan sangat profesional dalam mendahulukan mangsa bencana daripada ahli keluarga. Semasa bencana tsunami melanda negara dulu, didapati ada penghulu kampung yang menyimpan barang2 sumbangan seperti tilam, selimut, etc untuk ahli keluarga sendiri walaupun ahli keluarga terbabit tak terlibat pun dengan bencana tsunami.

Bot memadam kebakaran selepas gempa.

Pasukan Penyelamat menyelamatkan mangsa tsunami.

Bencana melanda tanpa diduga. Negara kita aman dan damai menjadikan kita kurang kesedaran untuk membuat pelan tindakan apabila berlaku bencana seperti banjir dan kebakaran. Maka biasalah kita mendengar orang mati semasa kebakaran akibat terperangkap di dalam rumah. Teringat semasa duduk di Serdang, saya pernah menjadi mangsa banjir kilat. Habis barangan didalam rumah. Mujurlah kereta sempat dialihkan. Jiran saya, mungkin belajar daripada kejadian lalu telah meninggikan lantai rumah dan memasang bendul di pintu rumah setinggi setengah kaki. Maka pada hari kejadian, kawasan sekitar banjir dengan sangat teruk, dalam rumah beliau kering dan selamat.

Oleh itu, belajarlah untuk merancang menghadapi bencana, terutama banjir dan kebakaran.

Apabila pengadil tak adil

Asslamualaikum,

Semasa kecil, saya selalu mengelak untuk makan di jamuan atau pun kenduri. Selalunya, apa bila ada jamuan atau kenduri di surau, saya akan memberi laluan pada orang lain. Setelah habis sekolah menengah saya membantu pak sedara meniaga di pesto konvo UiTM. Ketika itu, asala habis sahaja sesi konvo akan ada jamuan terbuka untuk yang hadir. Saya pun mengambil makanan juga kerana makananya banyak. Ketika itu say sedar bahawa keseronokkan ketika kenduri atau pun jamuan bukan terletak pada makanan tetapi pada keseronokkan aktiviti berebut. Ha3.

Apabila saya menjejakkan kaki ke menara gading, saya melihat masyarakat disekeliling saya masih suka berebut. Bukan sahaja dalam menaiki bas ke kuliah atau jamuan di kolej dan fakulti, bahkan dalam memegang amanah dan jawatan juga perlu direbut. Dari sekecil2 jawatan diperingkat kolej hinggalah ke Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar (MPP). Untuk berjaya mendapatkan apa yang direbut, penonjolan adalah satu kewajipan. Maka cara mudah untuk menonjolkan diri adalah melalui aktif dalam aktiviti sama ada di kolej, fakulti mahu pun persatuan diperingkat universiti.

Saya juga turut aktif ketika belajar dulu. Namun saya hanya mengfokuskan kepada aktiviti yang boleh memberi nilai tambah kepada saya. Oleh itu saya aktif sebagai fasilitator dalam program sekolah angkat dan orientasi pelajar baru. Di kolej saya memegang jawatan sebagai exco majlis tertinggi mahasiswa. Selain itu, saya juga terlibat dalam aktiviti rekreasi seperti berkayak keliling pulau pangkor dan memanjat gunung. 4 tahun dikampus sebenarnya jika dirancang banyak aktiviti yang boleh memajukan diri dan menjadikan kita kelihatan "hebat" apabila menulis resume apabila bergraduasi nanti. Walau bagaimana pun, kesal juga saya apabila melihat rakan2 yang "terlebih aktif" hingga terabai pelajaran. Habis semua aktiviti hendak disertai, dari dikir barat, pidato, nasyid, sukan, presiden kolej, exco fakulti habis semua di'bedal'. Akibatnya, kurang masa hendak belajar.

Ketika dikampus, saya paling "benci" apabila perlu berurusan dengan Bahagian Hal-Ehwal Mahasiswa (BHEM). Bukan kerana saya ada masalah dengan staf disana, cuma saya rasa terkilan dengan karenah birokrasi untuk mendapatkan kelulusan sesuatu aktiviti. Sebagai contoh, kami ingin membuat membuat "technical visit" dan kami memerlukan kebenaran dan juga bantuan pengangkutan iaitu bas. Kerana prosedur, maka kertas kerja perlu disediakan dan juga lampiran borang permohonan penggunaan bas. Jika aktiviti fakulti maka segala surat perlu melalui ketua jabatan, kemudian melalui timbalan dekan kemudian ke pejabat dekan. Barulah surat boleh dihantar ke pejabat TNC HEP aka BHEM. Bayangkan, setiap borang, surat dan kertas kerja perlu melalui ke semua "pit stop"untuk kelulusan. Masa sangatlah banyak terbuang kerana "melayan" karenah2 ini. Itu belum lagi kesengsaraan yang dilalui oleh rakan2 yang perlu menguruskan aktiviti tahunan seperti Jamuan Kolej. Kertas kerja lengkap dengan aturcara dan anggaran kos perlu disediakan. Lebih menggelikan hati, jika memohon bantuan kewangan, katakan RM2000, percayalah anda hanya akan dapat dalam RM200 ke RM 5oo. Itupun apabila tuntutan yang dibuat perlu disediakan dengan laporan lengkap beserta resit perbelanjaan yang original. Maka tidak hairanlah, rakan2 saya ramai yang sangat "tertekan" apabila perlu menjadi pengarah sesuatu aktiviti. Lagi memeningkan kepala apabila surat atau proposal yang telah sampai ke final pit stop di BHEM tiba2 didapati ada kesalahan typing error atau grammar error. Yeah print kembali semua dokumen tersebut dan silalah melalui kembali ke semua "pit stop" yang baru sahaja dilalui tadi.

Pintu kaca pejabat BHEM yang pecah berderai

Pada minggu lalu saya berjumpa dengan rakan yang masih menjadi pelajar di UPM. Secara automatik saya bertanyakan tentang kemelut yang berlaku di upm hingga pintu pecah berderai dan ada staf yang "diberitakan" cedera sangat teruk hingga perlu kepada laporan polis. Setelah diceritakan maka fahamlah saya akan kisah sebenarnya seperti kisah lama berulang kembali. Umpama dalam permainan bola sepak, apabila pengadil perlawanan sudah tidak adil maka pasukan yang dizalimi akan bertindak balas. Paling minima sudah pasti pengadil tersebut akan dirembat denga bola hingga "koma" seketika. Begitulah yang berlaku di UPM. Para pelajar yang bertanding pilihanraya, pengurus pilihanraya sibuk memberi label kepada pelajar yang bertanding. Pro universiti atau pun pro pembangkang dimana hingga kini saya tertanya2 berapa banyakkah wang yang dihulur parti pembangkang kepada pelajar2 ini. Namun yang menarik dalam isu ini apabila Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi membidas sikap pengurusan universiti dalam menangani isu ini. Sesuatu yang belum pernah berlaku sebelum ini dan ini sudah lebih dari cukup memberikan kemenangan moral kepada para pelajar yang dilabel pro pembangkang.

Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah

Apa-apa pun, siapalah saya dalam isu ini. Hanya sebagai alma mater yang ingin melihat UPM terus gah bukan sahaja di Malaysia bahkan keseluruh dunia. Mudahkanlah proses untuk para pelajar menjalankan aktiviti, terutama aktiviti berulang seperti jamuan kolej yang setiap tahun mesti diadakan. Suka juga sekiranya pihak BHEM dan para pelajar dapat bermuzakarah supaya aktiviti yang lebih berkualiti dan memberi nilai tambah kepada pelajar dapat diperbanyakkan dan aktiviti2 berulang seperti jamuan dan yang diadakan dalam waktu pejabat seperti Lawatan teknikal dapat dipermudahkan.

Rujukan:

1. The Star, 26 Februari 2011
2. http://promahasiswaupm.wordpress.com/

Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).....Part 1

Assalamualaikum,

Now we are in Feb 2011. Clock is ticking much louder alarming us we are only have 9 years 10 months to Vision 2020, where we as a nation becoming developed country. There are a lot of criteria indicating developed country. Some like to compare with other developed country such as UK, USA etc. However, one of the main indicator is Gross National Income,GNI per capita or in Bahasa Melayu we call it as “Pendapatan Negara Kasar” per capita. Currently our GNI per capita is RM 23 700 per annum which translate average income of Malaysian are almost RM2000 per month. Towards 2020, as developed nation we must double this income into RM48000 per annum. With current GNI is RM 661 Billion, by 2020 with projected growth 6% per annum, the GNI must be RM 1.7 trillion.

To achieve this mission, 12 new key economy area, NKEA was highlighted under Economic Transformation Programme, ETP. Initiate by our Prime Minister, and steward by Dato Idris Jala, former CEO and mastermind behind turnaround programme for MAS, this is the first time Malaysia Goverment reveal its master economic plan. I must say that this is really bold and brave move by our government. When the plan already reveal to the public, now people are watching very closely the “delivery” process of the plan. Any mismanagement will might cause “death penalty” for current administration in the next General Election.

Back to GNI story, to achieve at least 6% growth, CHANGE is a must. Currently, most of our GNI come from:

1. 1. Service sector
2. 2. Palm Oil Industry
3. 3. Oil & Gas

However, for the 1^st part of this article, I will like to write about Oil & Gas Industry. One of the biggest obstacle for this Oil & Gas Industry in our country, we do not have large oil reserves like OPEC country. Even though number of wells drilled for the last 5 years are 3 times more than 70s, number of O&G resources decrease by 1/3 compared to the same period time as shows in Figure 1 & 2 below.

Next, our second biggest obstacle is energy industry itself. One of the major attraction for FDI in Malaysia is cheap electricity. Currently, Petronas is supplying Gas and fuel to power provider at subsidized price. Then, the power provider can produce and sell the electricity at cheaper price. However this contribute inefficiency in electrical usage in Malaysia. Most of gas from national gas grid are goes to power provider. As the resources are limited and demand from other industry, Petronas already set the limit amount of gas supply to this power provider. This situation already jeopardizing our electricity reserves as if no action taken now, we will has serious electricity problem by 2021, not very good for the beginning era as developed country. Besides that, our petrol and diesel for transportation also are heavily subsidized by government. Due to bad public transportation system had resulted increase of personal vehicle ownership every year.

Instead of these obstacles, we should together focus on our strength to move forward. 3 steps, SUSTAIN, GROW & DIVERSIFY. To continue develop O&G production (upstream), recovery of marginal oil fields are likely becoming the next growth in this sector. The marginal oil fields are the already explored oil wells but being abandoned due to lack of economic of scale for big player (Shell, Exxon). However, this is the first time we develop this sector in Malaysia, therefore pros and cons of it nobody is sure.

Our energy industry are heavily depends on petroleum which its price is very volatile. Malaysia now wants to focus itself as hub for LNG storage where this LNG price is not volatile as Petroleum. Our “beloved” neighbor, Singapore already develops its LNG storage underwater which can hold up to 10million cubic. However, due to lack of space to further expand its storage, Malaysia can complement Singapore by offering huge storage facility at various strategic locations, such southern Johor. Besides that, due to strategic location and availability of space to expand, we should create a policy to increase presence of major international oil services players like Houston in USA and Aberdeen in UK. However, bear in mind, Indonesia also aiming the same segment and already dedicated Tanjong Periuk at Pulau Jawa as integrated O&G services hub. Again, failure to achieve this target will resulted “death penalty” in the next General Election.

Moving forward in energy industry, the key to success lies in two words, DIVERSIFY & EFFICIENT. There are a lot of things can be done to improve efficiency such as:

• 1. Changing habits in using electricity such as increase the air-conditioning to 1C can save up to 4,300GWh.
• 2. Using high efficient appliance, eg: 5 stars refrigerators or lamp can save up to 7,300GWh.
• 3. Building Insulation can save energy 1,700GWh.

Government also expanding option in energy resources besides Oil and Gas such as Nuclear power plant for electricity generator, biodiesel blend in diesel and petrol start with 5%, expanding capacity for coal power plant, and encourage solar power generated.

Finally, as we discuss about oil&gas industry, we must see the energy industry as a whole. Dependent to fossil fuel such as gas, oil and coal are perfect disaster due to volatility of their price (demand from energy hungry like China & India and politic and natural disaster which can disrupt the supply chain as happens to coal when Quenssland in Australia, the biggest supplier coal to world facing massive flood last month.) Currently, Malaysian are waiting for incentives and encouragement from government to use green product such solar panel and reward in use energy efficiency. But yet, till now, nothings happens.