• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-32
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• 2024

The emissions trading system stands as a pivotal climate policy in Korea, incentivizing abatement equivalent to 87% of total emissions (as of 2021). As the system likely has a far-reaching impact, it is crucial to understand how the real economic activity, energy sector, as well as environment would be influenced by its implementation. Employing a macroeconometric model, this paper is the first study analyzing the effects of the Korean emissions trading policy. It interconnects the Korean Standard Industrial Classification (Economy), Energy Balance (Energy), and National Inventory Report (Environment), enhancing its real-world explanatory power. We find that a 50% increase in emission permit price over four years results in a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions (-0.043%) and downward shifts in key macroeconomic variables, including real GDP (-0.058%), private consumption (-0.003%), and investment (-0.301%). The price increase in emission permit is deemed crucial for achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets. To mitigate transition risk associated with price shocks, revenue recycling using auction could ensure the sustainability of the economy. This study confirms the comparative advantage of expanded current transfers expenditure over corporate tax reduction, particularly from an economic growth perspective.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.194-200
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• 2000

The amount of swine wastewater reaches about $197,000m^3$ per day at live-stock houses in the whole country. A half of the swine wastewater resources are too small to be restricted legally. This untreated wastewater causes the eutrophication in the water bodies. In case of swine wastewater treatment, the solid-liquid separation must be performed because feces(solid phase) and urine(liquid phase) have large differences in nitrogen and phosphorus concentration. It is necessary to assess exactly the concentration of the pollutants in swine wastewater for planning the wastewater treatment facilities. A full-scale operation was carried out in K city and the plant is consists of conventional plant, the supplementary flocculation basin of chemical treatment process and $anaerobic{\cdot}aerobic$ basin for nitrogen removal. The improved full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant removed the $1,500{\sim}3,000mg/l$ of total-nitrogen(T-N) to 120mg/l of T-N and $131{\sim}156mg/l$ of total-phosphorus(T-P) to $0.15{\sim}1.00mg/l$ of T-N. Accordingly, as a results of operational improvement, the removal efficiencies of T-N and T-P were over $92{\sim}96%$, 99%, respectively. The continuous supply of organic carbon sources and the state of pH played important roles for the harmonious metabolism in anaerobic basin and the pH value of anaerobic basin maintained at about 9.0 for the period of the study.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.179-188
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• 2007

In this work $^{14}C\;and\;^3H$ distribution characteristics of spent resins from nuclear power plants(NPPs), pressurized water reactors(PWRs), was investigated. It was found that the recovery percent of $^{14}C$ by the wet oxidation-acid stripping was $81%{\sim}100%$ for the added activity range of $^{14}C,\;0.72\;Bq{\sim}460\;Bq$, and it was not affected by the kinds of stripping acids, 3N-HCl, $3\;N-HNO_3\;and\;3\;N-H_2SO_4$. And the recovery percent of $^3H$ by distillation using the same apparatus was $81%{\sim}101%$ for the added activity range of $^3H,\;0.60\;Bq{\sim}435\;Bq$. Among the tested stripping acids, 3\;N-HCl, $3\;N-HNO_3\;and\;3\;N-H_2SO_4$, only the trapped $^3H$ solution by distillation in $3\;N-H_2SO_4$ was compatible with the 3H scintillator, Ultimagold XR. Neither of the $^{14}C\;and\;^3H$ trapping solutions from the spent ion exchange resin samples by the wet oxidation-3 $N-H_2SO_4$ stripping contained gamma nuclides. However, some gamma nuclides, $^{60}Co,\;^{134}Cs,\;^{137}Cs\;and\;^{54}Mn$, were found in the trapped $^3H$ solutions of the spent resins by the wet oxidation-3 N-HCl stripping. It was the same for the $^3H$ trapping solutions of the spent resins by Sample Oxidizer(PACKARD MODEL 307). Meanwhile only two nuclides, $^{134}Cs,\;and\;^{134}Cs$, were found in the $^{14}C$ trapping solutions of the spent resins by Sample Oxidizer(PACKARD MODEL 307). It was found that most of the $^{14}C$ in the spent resins existed as inorganic carbon form, more than about 70% of the total $^{14}C$ content. Among the analyzed 30 spent ion exchange resin samples, the average concentration of $^{14}C$ and $^3C$ for the high radioactive samples, 8 samples, was $19000\;Bq/g{\pm}41000\;Bq/g,\;670\;Bq/g{\pm}460\;Bq/g$ and that for the low radioactive samples, 22 samples, was $4.2\;Bq/g{\pm}4.3\;Bq/g,\;6.0\;Bq/g{\pm}5.3\;Bq/g$, respectively. And the average $^{14}C/^3H$ ratio for the high radioactive samples, was higher, 28, than that of low radioactive samples, 0.70. Some linear relationship trend was found between the activity concentrations of $^{14}C\;and\;^3H$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1087-1093
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• 2010

Autotrophic denitrification is known as an effective and economical alternative for heterotrophic denitrification using external carbon sources such as methanol. In this study, we evaluated design and operation parameters for a sulfur denitrification reactor (SDR) treating high strength nitrogen wastewater. The SDR was filled with spherical sulfur media in connected to a pilot-scale nutrient removal process (daily flow rate, $Q=18\;m^3/d$) using moving spongy media. Total nitrogen (TN) concentration of the final effluent was below the 7.0 mg TN/L because nitrate was additionally removed through autotrophic denitrificationin without adding alkalinity (initial alkalinity was $169.4{\pm}20.8\;mg$ $CaCO_3$/L). During the test period, 60~80% of nitrogen in the influent was removed even in low temperature (below $15^{\circ}C$). The alkalinity consumption for nitrate removal in SDR was $4.09{\pm}1.29$ g $CaCO_3/g$ ${NO_3}^-$-N, and the residual alkalinity of influent of SDR was higher than that of theoretical requirements for full conversion of nitrate. The consumption of sulfur was 943.8 g S/d and it was 2.4 times higher than theoretical value (400.1 g S/d) due to abrasion and loss of sulfur media in backwash, etc.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.124-141
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• 1998

The objectives of this study are to investigate the trace (minor) elemental and isotopic compositions of calcitic skeletons, such as barnacle, echinoid, branching and encrusting calcareous algae and oyster, from the eastern coast of Korean peninsula and Cheju Island, and to compare their variations with latitude, that is, the temperature of ambient seawater at which the skeletons grew. Articulated and encrusting red algae are composed of high-Mg calcite (7-21 mol% $MgCO_3$). Echinoids are also composed of high-Mg calcite (7-15 mol% $MgCO_3$). Whereas barnacles are composed of low-Mg calcite (1-5 mol% $MgCO_3$). The Mg compositions of articulated red algae, barnacle and oyster tend to increase with increasing water temperature, whereas those of encrusting red algae and echinoid do not show any trend. Sr compositions of articulated red algae, echinoid and barnacle tend to decrease with increasing water temperature, whereas those of encrusting red algae and oyster do not show any trend. Mn compositions of articulated red algae and encrusting red algae decrease with an increase of water temperature, whereas those of echinoid and barnacle do not show any trend. Fe compositions of articulated red algae tend to decrease with increasing water temperature, whereas those of encrusting red algae and oyster increase. Fe compositions of echinoid and barnacle do not show any trend with water temperature variations. Ba compositions of echinoid and low-magnesium calcitic skeletons do not show any trend with water temperature variations. Ba compositions of articulated red algae tend to decrease with increasing water temperature, whereas those of encrusting red algae increase. Cd and Pb compositions of all the skeletons tend to increase with increasing water temperature. Cu compositions of encrusting red algae increase with increasing water temperature, whereas articulated red algae, echinoid, barnacle and oyster do not show any trend. Zn compositions of high-magnesium calcitic skeletons and low-magnesium calcitic skeletons do not show any trend. Estimated water temperatures from oxygen isotopic data of all the skeletons except for the barnacle arc higher than the range of temperature of the shallow seawater of the East Sea and around Cheju Island. The oxygen isotopic compositions of oyster and echinoid are well clustered, and they do not show any trend with increasing water temperature. Therefore, this could reflect that the organisms have not secreted their shells in oxygen isotopic equilibrium with ambient seawater due to vital effect. Thus, the oxygen isotopic composition of barnacle can potentially be utilized for paleotemperature estimate whereas those of other organisms in this study may not be useful.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 1987

A green house experiment was conducted to find out the differences in the amount of biologically fixed nitrogen and kjeldahl nitrogen on the different soil texture, kinds and amounts of fertilizer nitrogen under light (photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation) and dark (heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation) condition in submerged paddy soil. The reults obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The amount of biologically fixed nitrogen per mg carbon from different organic matter was obtained as 0.13 mg in glucose, 0.09 mg in rice straw, and 0.07 mg in refused mushroom compost and barley straw under 60 days of incubation. 2. Nitrogen fixing activities were decreased with increase of fertilizer nitrogen and those tendency was pronounced more in sandy soil with application of urea than that of ammonium sulfate. 3. The application of ammonium sulfate in sandy soil under light condition was increased the photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation and the applied urea was remarkably reduced the heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation in sandy soil. The proportion of biologically fixed total nitrogen after experiment in sandy soil was obtained as 25% for dark(heterotrophic $N_2$-fixation) and 75% for light (photosynthetic $N_2$-fixation) condition. On the other hand, very similar biological $N_2$-fixing tendency was obtained between kinds of nitrogen fertilizer and two light condition in clayey soil. 4. The kjeldahl nitrogen was remarkably decreased after experiment under dark condition with application of urea than that of light condition with ammonium sulfate, and no remarkable decreasing tendency was obtained in clayey soil between two kinds of fertilizer nitrogen. 5. The high significant positive correlationship was obtained between calculated biological nitrogen fixation by acetylene reducing activity and kjeldahl nitrogen after experiment under light (y=0.8488X-5.9632, $r=0.9928^{**}$, n=21) and dark (y=0.8795X-7.1056, $r=0.9782^{**}$, n=21) condition. In this experiment condition, conversion factors of 6:1 was obtained from biological nitrogen fixation to soil nitrogen.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.465-474
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• 1999

RNase activity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 7754 was investigated to obtain strains with high ribonucleic acid (RNA) content. The yeast strain contained two RNase activities; an acidic RNase with a optima of pH $3{\sim}4$ and an alkaline RNase with a optima pH 9. The acidic RNase activity was inhibited by $0.08\;M\;HgCl_{2}$ most drastically. The alkaline RNase activity was inhibited by 2.0 M NaCl or KCl, while enhanced by addition of $0.05\;M\;CaCl_{2},\;0.02\;M\;ZnSO_{4},\;or\;0.008\;M\;HgCl_{2}$. Various mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 7754 were isolated by ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS) treatment or $\gamma$-ray/ultra violet irradiation. Among the mutants that were sensitive to high concentration of KCl which inhibits alkaline RNase, B24 was selected for high RNA content per culture volume. Growth characteristics of the mutant were comparable to those of the mother strain with optimum growth at pH $4.5{\sim}5.5$. The mutant accumulated higher content of RNA than the mother strain when glucose was used as the carbon source. However, both growth rate and total RNA content of the mutant were higher in molasses medium than in glucose medium. RNA content of the mutant increased rapidly during the early stage of growth, and then decreased gradually until the culture reached stationary phase by a fed-batch culture in a 5 L jar fermenter. Maximal cell harvest and the final RNA content using the mutant B24 were 69.6 g/L culture broth and 19.8 g/100 g of the dry cell while those using the mother strain were 68 g/L culture broth and 16.1 g/100 g of dry cell, respectively.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.409-416
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• 2013

Recently, the property damage has been increasing due to climate change in South Korea. While the general public has become more aware of the environmental issues, but the environmental education system has not been able to meet up with the demands of the public. The purpose of this study is to suggest preliminary data which is needed for developing a environmental textbook. A survey was conducted to meet the following requirements. Respondent's level of interest in problems or situations concerning the following eight themes: fundamental science, health and medicine, aerospace engineering, life science, electrical electronics, telecommunication, mineral and energy resources, environment. The data was collected from 139 students in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The results showed that health and medicine issues interest students the most (49.6%), followed by environment (46.8%). We asked the respondents who were very interested in each question for their reasons, and they answered that environmental issue is related to the improvement of their life quality (53.8%) than their curiosity (38.5%). Students were very interested in the other issues because of just curiosity. Most students (90.6%) said seasonal change was not same each year. 18.0% of respondents replied that they and their friends had experienced climate change. The majority of students (94.2%) thought that they will experience natural disaster blamed on climate change during their life. In other words, climate change is already the day-to-day events of their lives. The majority of their opinions, more then three than ten students(30.9%) said the South Korean government should conduct an energy saving campaign to climate change problems followed by expanding new renewable energy (24.5%), conducting adaptation policies of climate change(22.3 %), introducing of a system as like $CO_2$ emissions trading(20.9%) and so on. There are more Stu- dents (69.1%) who know of new renewable energy than students who don't know it; however, respondents who know the meaning very well were just 18.7% showing that most students dimly know the meaning of new renewable energy.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.271-296
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• 2021

Since the thermal stratification in a reservoir inhibits the vertical mixing of the upper and lower layers and causes the formation of a hypoxia layer and the enhancement of nutrients release from the sediment, changes in the stratification structure of the reservoir according to future climate change are very important in terms of water quality and aquatic ecology management. This study was aimed to develop a data-driven inflow water temperature prediction model for Daecheong Reservoir (DR), and to predict future inflow water temperature and the stratification structure of DR considering future climate scenarios of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). The random forest (RF)regression model (NSE 0.97, RMSE 1.86℃, MAPE 9.45%) developed to predict the inflow temperature of DR adequately reproduced the statistics and variability of the observed water temperature. Future meteorological data for each RCP scenario predicted by the regional climate model (HadGEM3-RA) was input into RF model to predict the inflow water temperature, and a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (AEM3D) was used to predict the change in the future (2018~2037, 2038~2057, 2058~2077, 2078~2097) stratification structure of DR due to climate change. As a result, the rates of increase in air temperature and inflow water temperature was 0.14~0.48℃/10year and 0.21~0.41℃/10year,respectively. As a result of seasonal analysis, in all scenarios except spring and winter in the RCP 2.6, the increase in inflow water temperature was statistically significant, and the increase rate was higher as the carbon reduction effort was weaker. The increase rate of the surface water temperature of the reservoir was in the range of 0.04~0.38℃/10year, and the stratification period was gradually increased in all scenarios. In particular, when the RCP 8.5 scenario is applied, the number of stratification days is expected to increase by about 24 days. These results were consistent with the results of previous studies that climate change strengthens the stratification intensity of lakes and reservoirs and prolonged the stratification period, and suggested that prolonged water temperature stratification could cause changes in the aquatic ecosystem, such as spatial expansion of the low-oxygen layer, an increase in sediment nutrient release, and changed in the dominant species of algae in the water body.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.421-433
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• 2023

The final disposal of spent nuclear fuel(SNF) from nuclear power plants takes place in a deep geological repository. The metal canister encasing the SNF is made of cast iron and copper, and is engineered to effectively isolate radioactive isotopes for a long period of time. The SNF is further shielded by a multi-barrier disposal system comprising both engineering and natural barriers. The deep disposal environment gradually changes to an anaerobic reducing environment. In this environment, sulfide is one of the most probable substances to induce corrosion of copper canister. Stress-corrosion cracking(SCC) triggered by sulfide can carry substantial implications for the integrity of the copper canister, potentially posing a significant threat to the long-term safety of the deep disposal repository. Sulfate can exist in various forms within the deep disposal environment or be introduced from the geosphere. Sulfate has the potential to be transformed into sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria(SRB), and this converted sulfide can contribute to the corrosion of the copper canister. Bentonite, which is considered as a potential material for buffering and backfilling, contains oxidized sulfate minerals such as gypsum(CaSO4). If there is sufficient space for microorganisms to thrive in the deep disposal environment and if electron donors such as organic carbon are adequately supplied, sulfate can be converted to sulfide through microbial activity. However, the majority of the sulfides generated in the deep disposal system or introduced from the geosphere will be intercepted by the buffer, with only a small amount reaching the metal canister. Pyrite, one of the potential sulfide minerals present in the deep disposal environment, can generate sulfates during the dissolution process, thereby contributing to the corrosion of the copper canister. However, the quantity of oxidation byproducts from pyrite is anticipated to be minimal due to its extremely low solubility. Moreover, the migration of these oxidized byproducts to the metal canister will be restricted by the low hydraulic conductivity of saturated bentonite. We have comprehensively analyzed and summarized key research cases related to the presence of sulfates, reduction processes, and the formation and behavior characteristics of sulfides and pyrite in the deep disposal environment. Our objective was to gain an understanding of the impact of sulfates and sulfides on the long-term safety of high-level radioactive waste disposal repository.