PRESS STATEMENT

Date : 26 Sept 2008

I am appalled to note that the Malaysian Defence Ministry had been complacent about the radioactive leak by the US nuclear-powered submarine USS Houston, which was berthed at Westport, Klang from September 16th to September 21st, 2006.

This has implications for health, environment and quality of life of my constituents in Klang.

I call upon Prime Minister and newly minted Minister of Defence Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to investigate the radioactive leak and take the necessary action to overcome any problems that could have developed since two years ago

On 8 August 2008, the Ministry’s Director of Public Relations Col Fadzlette Osman Merican said investigation was not carried out because no report of the leak was received.

But according to a CNN news report dated 7 August 2008, the US navy acknowledged the submarine leaked radiation since 2006 and had informed the Malaysian and Singapore governments that the submarine made port calls while leaking the radioactive water.

While the Singaporean Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean had to answer questions relating to the leak in Parliament last month, our authorities adapted the classic response of complacency.

The Singaporean government had requested the US navy to provide more information related to the leak and undertook an Integrated Environment Monitoring System (IEMS) at Changi Naval Base which could analyze air and water quality and detect abnormal levels of radiation.

Likewise the ports in Japan were on alert when the submarine was docked there early August this year. The Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said that a 24-hour radiation monitoring was conducted by the government during the Houston’s port call in Japan.

The Malaysian government did nothing. Maybe they were swayed by the rosy picture painted by the US navy, which indicated that the cumulative amount of radioactivity that could have leaked was less that the amount found in a common smoke detector.

Basically there is no such thing as negligible radioactive leak. The submarine was carrying nuclear warheads and is therefore prone to using highly radioactive substances.

There is also no absolute protection against radioactive leak. Although I am aware that some shielding like lead would have been used, the Malaysian government must pressurize the US navy to disclose and be transparent about the procedure used to measure cumulative exposure.

This is imminent as the cumulative exposure is never seen in a matter of days but manifests itself in years to come. As such, the US navy’s account of one soldier being contaminated by the leak and yet uninjured cannot be taken into account.

I urge the new Defence Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seriously form a team of experts to investigate if the radioactive spill complies with or exceeds the standards set by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and International Commission on Radiological Protection.

The government should impose stringent conditions before the permission to dock is given to nuclear-powered vehicles. It must also put in place an independent monitoring system to take readings of air quality, water and sea-bed samples to determine the normal background environmental radiation level. This reading could be used to, in turn, evaluate any abnormal level of radiation.

Failure to do so would only go to show that Abdullah and the government are not serious about the potential health hazards caused by the radioactive leak to public health, marine life and the environment.

It would also fail to instil confidence in Malaysia’s plan to go nuclear by 2023.

Yours sincerely,

CHARLES SANTIAGO

Member of Parliament Klang