Academic literature on the topic 'Aquifers Victoria Latrobe Valley'

Derived from a larger scale project, which studied geomechanical issues associated with coal seam gas (CSG) production, this paper investigates a hypothetical case study based on the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Basin, Victoria. The paper focuses on examining aquifer water management associated with CSG production-related water extraction. As such, the paper limits itself to determining the volume of water production from a hypothetical case study area in the Latrobe Valley. A simplistic property model and methane production strategy has been used. The impact of extraction of this water on the hydraulic head in aquifers underlying the produced seams is quantified. The Latrobe Valley Depression contains 129,000 million tonnes of coal resources and is one of the world’s largest, and lowest cost, energy sources. Most of Victoria’s electricity is generated using coal from the Loy Yang, Morwell and Yallourn mines. In addition to these massive operations, significant additional coal resources are available and unallocated at this time. Opportunities exist for the continued usage of these resources for electricity production, gasification, liquefaction and other coal conversion processes, as well as solid fuel for industrial, domestic and other uses. The existence of data from the Victorian Department of Primary Industries 2003 coal resource model was the main reason for the selection of the case study, and their data was used to form a model of the stratigraphy of the Latrobe Valley. Aquifer models were simulated in MODFLOW, based on extraction figures modelled in the CSG simulator COMET3.

Within Australia, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture, utilisation and storage will play a significant role as part of an ‘all of the above’ approach to managing greenhouse gas emissions. Two CCS projects are currently operating: Gorgon and the Otway CCS project. The Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields contain approximately 14% carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 is brought to shore at Barrow Island and injected into the Dupuy Formation saline aquifer at a depth of 2500 m. While the project has experienced delays with start-up and operational issues, to July 2021 nearly 5 MMt of CO2 had been injected. The Otway CCS Project is a research facility used to study subsurface CO2 storage and behaviour within saline aquifers and depleted reservoirs. Since the start of the project in 2007 a total of 95 000 t of CO2 has been stored. Final Investment Decision was taken for the Moomba CCS project on 1 November 2021 and for the Leigh Creek Urea project in March 2021. In addition, feasibility studies are being carried out across multiple projects within Australia including the South West and Mid-West Projects in the Perth Basin, CarbonNet in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and Gippsland Basin and the Moonie oil field EOR, Integrated Surat Basin Project and the ATP 2062-P Buckland Basalt projects in the Bowen-Surat Basin. A CCS hub at Bayu-Undan is being assessed as a possible option to reduce the carbon footprint of the Barossa, Caldita and Evans Shoals projects, and feasibility studies are underway into large-scale multi-user CCS hubs near both Darwin and Karratha.

In terms of generation capacity, Victoria has about 12,500 MW, out of a National Electricity Market (NEM) total of over 46,000 MW. A bit over half of Victoria’s capacity is made up of the brown coal generators in the Latrobe Valley (Loy Yang, Hazelwood, Yallourn). Gas-fired generation (mainly large open-cycle peaking plants, designed to operate only in times of high demand) and hydro plants (mainly parts of the Snowy scheme) add about 20% each, with wind currently making up the balance of around 9% of installed capacity in Victoria. In terms of wind farm location across the NEM, installed capacity is predominantly located in Victoria and South Australia, and to a lesser extent in Tasmania, with very small amounts in New South Wales and Queensland. This distribution is almost entirely due to the quality of the wind resource across the country.

In Australia, industrial relations research has focused almost exclusively on the major industrial relations institutions and their role in the determination of the rules of the workplace. Local workplace industrial relations and the interaction between worker and representatives and enterprise management has been a neglected area of research. This study attempts to rectify this situation. By focusing attention on the workplace a number of important questions are raised that have not been systematically addressed in Australian industrial relations research. In particular, what, if any, is the role of shop stewards in a centralised system dominated by unions, employers and tribunals organised on a state and national basis? If there is a role for shop stewards, how does this role manifest itself in terms of the stewards’ relationships with members, fellow shop stewards, union officials and management? Finally, what factors explain variations in role perceptions, and how does the adoption of a particular role affect the behaviour of shop stewards? (For complete abstract open the document)

This thesis presents work completed for the Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE). My first placement was at the Communicable Disease Prevention Unit at the Tasmanian Department of Health, where I completed my first three projects. My second placement was at the Environmental Health Group, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, where I completed my final project. I evaluated the Tasmanian adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance system, using the framework described in the Center for Disease Control's Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems. This project comprised both qualitative elements, namely interviewing of identified stakeholders, and also quantitative data analysis of the surveillance system dataset. I demonstrated that the Tasmanian AEFI surveillance system requires low resources, is stable, simple, fairly flexible, and with evidence of geographically and demographically representative data. However, several limitations were identified, including poor data quality, low awareness of the system in AEFI reporters, evidence of underreporting and low sensitivity, poor timeliness, limited usefulness, and some missed opportunities to engage in dialogue with consumers and vaccine providers about vaccine safety. I made several recommendations for improvements to the system. For my major epidemiological study, I evaluated the first five months of the Tasmanian Meningococcal W Vaccination Program in schools. This program was rapidly rolled out in July 2018 in response to the emergence of meningococcal serogroup W disease in Tasmania, targeting all Tasmanians aged 15-19 years and primarily using school-based delivery. A major component of the evaluation was a process evaluation assessing council and school perspectives of the program, using focus groups and an online survey respectively. The evaluation identified several strengths and challenges, informing some modifications to the program. Additionally, it gave valuable insight into barriers to immunisation in the school setting in Tasmania, which has wider relevance to ongoing meningococcal and other routine school-based immunisation programs. For my acute public health problem investigation, I led a case-case study to investigate a cluster of Salmonella Typhimurium cases in Tasmania, using notified Salmonella Mississippi cases as the comparison group. This study unfortunately was limited by fluctuating case numbers and did not include a large enough sample to identify the source of the cluster, and importantly was unable to support or refute the hypothesis that fresh chicken was the source. Nevertheless, lessons learned from this project, including on case-case methodology and appropriate selection of cases, were useful both to myself and the Communicable Disease Prevention Unit. My fourth project was the analysis of a dataset collected as part of the Hazelwood Health Study Latrobe Early Life Follow-up Cohort Study. This study aims to understand the impact of the February 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire in the Latrobe valley, Victoria, on the health of children exposed to coal mine fire smoke in utero or in early childhood. I analysed baseline survey data and monthly health diaries collected between June 2016 and October 2018 for a subset of children enrolled in the cohort study, to evaluate the association of coal mine fire smoke exposure (both in utero and in early childhood) on parent-reported respiratory and atopic health outcomes. This analysis forms part of a new body of evidence describing the health impact of the coal mine fire and has important implications for both the Latrobe valley community, and for the future public health management of similar severe smoke events.

Abstract In 2014, an open-cut coal mine fire burned for 45 days in the small single-industry town of Hazelwood in Victoria (Australia) spreading smoke and ash across the adjacent community of Morwell. This chapter examines the extent to which the mine fire acted as a catalyst for demographic and socio-economic change and considers how, if at all, it impacted Morwell’s resilience to disasters. We report on a range of secondary data analyses augmented with qualitative insights captured in government reports (namely, the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry reports), as well as from related research papers and media articles. We suggest that a succession of structural and demographic changes meant that the town and its residents were accustomed and resilient to relatively large shocks. In this sense, the Morwell and broader Latrobe Valley population banded together around various community-led initiatives to fight for a better future for their community.