Mining in a Sacred Landscape: Adivasis, Deities and Alliances in a Former Princely State in Odisha/India

The papers explores ideas of a sacred landscape inhabited by indigenous people as well as other communities, deities as well as other beings manifested in localities and ‘objects’ forming various relationships, alliances and a thick web of relationality in a former kingdom in central-eastern India. It introduces these historically evolved ties through the foundational narratives as well as contemporary rituals, while the area is undergoing major transformations after Indian independence and even more so in a phase of accelerated industrialisation, especially tied to a mining boom and sponge iron factories. The latter not only threatens to uproot an existing, though changing sacrificial polity around local deities, but it also has massive ecological consequences and leads to partially successful protests.

Investigation of the Internal Blowout Accident Involving Overpressured Reservoirs: Case of CI-11 Well, Southern Tunisia

Summary This study consists of an assessment of the ecological accident implicating the Continental Intercalaire-11 (CI-11) water well located in Jemna oasis, southern Tunisia. The CI-11 ecological accident manifested in 2014 with a local increase of the complex terminal (CT) shallow water table salinity and temperature. Then, this phenomenon started to spread over the region of Jemna, progressively implicating farther wells. The first investigation task consisted of logging the CI-11 well. The results revealed an impairment of the casing and cement of a huge part of the 9⅝ in. production casing. Historical production records show that the problems seem to have started in 1996 when a sudden production loss rate occurred. These deficiencies led to the CI mass-water flowing behind the casing from the CI to the CT aquifers. This ecological accident is technically called internal blowout, where water flows from the overpressurized CI groundwater to the shallower CT groundwater. Indeed, the upward CI hot-water flow dissolved salts from the encountered evaporite-rich formations of the Lower Senonian series, which complicated the ecological consequences of the accident. From the first signs of serious water degradation in 2014 through the end of 2018, several attempts have been made to regain control of annular upward water flow. However, the final CT groundwater parameters indicate that the problem is not properly fixed and communication between the two involved aquifers still persists. This accident is similar to the OKN-32 case that occurred in the Berkaoui oil field, southern Algeria, in 1986, and included the same CI and CT aquifers. Furthermore, many witnesses claim that other accidental communications are probably occurring in numerous deep-drilled wells in this region. Concludingly, Jemna CI-11, Berkaoui OKN-32, and probably many other similar accident cases could be developing regional ecological disasters by massive water resource losses. The actual situation is far from being under control and the water contamination risk remains very high. In both accidents, the cement bond failure and the choice of the casing point are the main causes of the internal blowout. Therefore, we recommend (1) a regional investigation and risk assessment plan that might offer better tools to predict and detect earlier wellbore isolation issues and (2) special attention to the cement bond settlement, evaluation, and preventative logging for existing wells to ensure effective sealing between the two vulnerable water table resources. Besides, in the CI-11 well accident, the recovery program was not efficient and there was no clear action plan. This increased the risk of action failure or time waste to regain control of the well. Consequently, we suggest preparing a clear and efficient action plan for such accidents to reduce the ecological consequences. This requires further technical detailed study of drilling operations and establishment of a suitable equipment/action plan to handle blowout and annular production accidents.

ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IN KHARKIV REGION

The article covers an event that has been hidden for fifty years, namely the failure of a nuclear explosion at Kharkiv region. The possible ecological consequences of the mentioned event are analyzed. Data from different sources are compared for further planning of researches of an ecological condition of district. The basis for creating a system for studying the environmental consequences of a nuclear explosion at the time of its implementation and at present is provided. The basics of standard calculations of probable exposure of the population, which had to be carried out immediately after the explosion, are provided, and systemic recommendations for further environmental control in the designated area are offered.