On Aug 15, 2019, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), an agency under then energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin, announced new and significant conditions for Lynas' operating licence.
Among others, the conditions required Lynas to shift its cracking and leaching facility back to Australia within four years.
It was the same process that had led to a build-up of radioactive waste at Lynas' rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan.
The AELB also instructed Lynas to terminate its ambitions to commercialise the waste, which the firm argued is low in radiation, into fertiliser dubbed "Condisoil".
Lynas also had to build a permanent deposit facility (PDF) to store the waste that had already been produced since 2012 and will continue to produce until 2023, when the cracking and leaching process is finally moved to Australia.
All this happened on a Thursday. By the following Wednesday when the cabinet meeting convened, Mahathir wanted to sack Yeo.
