: Continuing the process of restructuring the mining sector in Romania, more specifically coal mining (and as a result of aligning national energy policies with the common policy of the European Union), means closing in the near perspective of 2 more mining units from Jiu Valley, namely Lupeni M.E. and Lonea M.E. With the cessation of the productive activity of Lupeni M.E., the problem of ecological rehabilitation of the mining perimeter is posed and, among the objectives that are compulsory of this process, is the ecological reconstruction of the waste dump. As at the present moment the sterile rocks are deposited only in the B body of branch 3 (branches 1, 2 and A body of branch 3 being spontaneously covered with grass and revegetated in proportions between 60 and 90%), the present paper presents the stages and the necessary works to achieve the proposed objective (ecological reconstruction) in the shortest period of time. Considering the location of the dump and the aspect of the surrounding areas, from the possible ecological reconstruction options, the naturalistic one was chosen, which will ensure the integration of the dump body into the zonal landscape, and which also involves the least volume of works and implicitly the lowest costs. The optimal alternative of ecological reconstruction was considered the one established using a methodology proposed and published in the literature. This methodology makes it possible to identify the optimal alternative of ecological reconstruction (and to eliminate inopportune ones) by following three phases, in a logical sequence, in which a number of factors and indicators characterizing both the site area (the climate of the region, the morphology, the environmental risks etc.) as well as the degraded land (the waste dump), especially in terms of fertility of the stored material. In this way the risk of making an erroneous decision (on the ecological reconstruction option) that does not meet the proposed objective and at the same time may cause unjustified expenses is minimized.

M.E. Lupeni, waste dump, ecological reconstruction, surrounding landscape, stability

environmental engineering

Presentation: oral