• Title/Summary/Keyword: Emission limit

Search Result 363, Processing Time 0.022 seconds

Selective Nitrate Removal Performance Analysis of Ion Exchange Resin in Shipboard Waste Washwater by Air Pollution Prevention Facility (선박용 대기오염장치 폐세정수 내 질산염의 선택적 제거를 위한 이온교환수지 공정 성능 평가)

  • Kim, Bong-Chul;Yeo, In-Seol;Park, Chan-Gyu
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
    • /
    • v.41 no.4
    • /
    • pp.399-404
    • /
    • 2021
  • From 1 January 2020, the limit for Sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships operating outside designated emission control areas will be reduced to 0.5 %. This regulation by international maritime organization (IMO) is able to significantly reduce the amount of Sulphur oxides (SOx) discharging from ships and should have environmental advantages and health for all over the world. To meet the regulation, in these days, wet scrubber system is being actively developed. However, this process leads to make washing wastewater. In this study, we evaluated ion exchange resin system in accordance with scrubber wastewater discharge regulation by IMO. Theoretical wastewater used as feed solution of lab scale water treatment systems. The results revealed that nitrate ion was removed selectively in spite of high TDS wash wastewater solution depending on ion exchange resin property. Moreover, it was possible to improve efficiency of the system by optimizing operating conditions.

A Study on the Safety Distance of the Fuelling Facilities by the Radiation Heat in the Fire at the Gas Station (주유소 내 부대시설 화재발생시 복사열에 따른 주유설비 안전거리에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Kisung;Lee, Sangwon;Song, Dongwoo
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
    • /
    • v.25 no.6
    • /
    • pp.7-13
    • /
    • 2021
  • Various research has been done on fires and explosions at gas stations at home and abroad. However, only studies of off-site damage in the event of fire at the gas station were conducted, and research on fire at the auxiliary facilities in the gas station was insufficient. The gas station is a place where anyone can easily access dangerous goods. As the risk of fire increases due to the recent increase of auxiliary facilities such as convenience stores and car repair shops in gas stations, it is important to detect the effects of fire on the main oil refinery in case of fire and to verify the validity of existing regulations. In this thesis, we conducted a study to find out the effect of radiation heat on the separation between fixed and fixed oil reactors in the event of fire at an auxiliary facility. Simulation was modelled using FDS 5.5.3 Version, and the size of the fire source was configured with 13 fire assessment devices and the heat emission rate per unit area was entered. Simulation shows that the separation distance of 2 m does not secure the safety of the gas pump in the event of fire at the auxiliary facilities, and radiation heat does not damage at the separation distance of at least 4 m. Accordingly, facilities that can block radiant heat in the event of fire at auxiliary facilities, and measures to limit the use of auxiliary facilities or to re-impose the separation between buildings and fixtures will be needed.

Distribution Characteristics of Environmental Contaminant at Soil in an Industrial Complex Area (공단지역 토양 중 환경오염물질 농도 분포 특성)

  • Jung, Jong-Hyeon;Cho, Sang-Won;Lim, Hyun-Sul
    • Clean Technology
    • /
    • v.18 no.2
    • /
    • pp.200-208
    • /
    • 2012
  • This study was performed to prevent the health damage of environmental contaminants in Industrial Complex Area. And, this study aimed to identify the concentration levels and distribution characteristics of environmental contaminants and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) at soil in Industrial Complex Area and control area. The concentration of the soil pollution standard such as the heavy metals in the soil, VOCs, PAHs, and PCB were measured and analyzed using the soil specimens in the Industrial Complex Area and control area. Soil specimens from the Industrial Complex Area (the direct exposure area) and the control area were surveyed. Songdo-dong, Haedo-dong and Jechul-dong, which are in the direct exposure area and near the emission source, showed relatively high concentrations of contaminant materials when compared with Jangki-myeon, which is far off and in the control area. The concentration of zinc was 20.8-58.9% of the level of concern (300 mg/kg) in the 1st region, which is a relatively high concentration. The concentration of fluoride was under the standard in every region, but it was about 74% of the level of concern (400 mg/kg) in the 1st region. It is recommended that controlling fluoride emissions is necessary. Levels of organic phosphate, phenol, and VOCs like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene were under the detection limit of the analysis instruments. The concentration of TPH was high in Songdo-dong. The concentration of contaminants in Jechul-dong was high. In addition, it was observed that the level of soil contamination changed depending on the distance from the emission source. The concentration of PAH compounds in the soil was 18.71-1744.59 ng/g, and the concentration of six potential cancer-causing PAH materials was 6.54-695.94 ng/g. The highest concentration was in Songdo-dong. The PAH concentration in the direct exposure area near the complex was relatively high compared to the indirect exposure area.

Risk Assessment Aluminum Levels of Circulating Agricultural Products in Korea (국내 다소비 농산물의 알루미늄 농도 모니터링 및 농산물 섭취로 인한 위해도 평가)

  • An, Jae-Min;Hong, Kyong-Suk;Kim, Sung-Youn;Kim, Ji-Hye;Yu, Kyong-Eun;Kim, Hyo-Young;Park, Hyoung-Dal;Lee, Jae-Hwon;Kim, Dong-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
    • /
    • v.34 no.4
    • /
    • pp.336-344
    • /
    • 2015
  • BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to collect occurrence data on aluminum in 12 type agricultural products and assess dietary exposure risk to the Korean population health for aluminum concentration in agricultural products.METHODS AND RESULTS: Aluminum analysis samples were performed using microwave device and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer. The LOD(Limit of Detection) for aluminum was 0.851 μg/kg, while the LOQ(Limit of Quantitation) was 2.838 μg/kg and recovery was 97.6% for aluminum. The average levels of aluminum in mg/kg were 0.526 for rice, 0.546 for Korean cabbage, 1.316 for corn, 6.207 for soybean, 0.549 for sweet potato, 0.257 for potato, 6.963 for spinach, 1.213 for carrot, 0.524 for garlic, 0.950 for radish, 1.015 for leek, and 3.511 for Welsh onion. The dietary exposures of aluminum through usual intake were polished rice 89.31 μg/day, Korean cabbage 33.14 μg/day, corn 0.66 μg/day, soybean 3.72 μg/day, sweet potato 6.86 μg/day, potato 4.96 μg/day, spinach 45.96 μg/day, carrot 6.79 μg/day, garlic 2.36 μ g/day, radish 7.32 μg/day, leek 2.23 μg/day and Welsh onion 43.89 μg/day, taking 0.57%, 0.21%, 0.00%, 0.02%, 0.04%, 0.03%, 0.04%, 0.04%, 0.02%, 0.05%, 0.01% and 0.28% of PTWI(2 mg/kg b.w./week), respectively.CONCLUSION: The levels of overall dietary exposure to aluminum for Korean population through intake of agricultural product was far below the recommended JECFA level, indicating of least possibility of risk.

A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.8 no.3
    • /
    • pp.17-26
    • /
    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

  • PDF

Development of Supplemental Equipment to Reduce Movement During Fusion Image Acquisition (융합영상(Fusion image)에서 움직임을 줄이기 위한 보정기구의 개발)

  • Cho, Yong Gwi;Pyo, Sung Jae;Kim, Bong Su;Shin, Chae Ho;Cho, Jin Woo;Kim, Chang Ho
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
    • /
    • v.17 no.2
    • /
    • pp.84-89
    • /
    • 2013
  • Purpose: Patients' movement during long image acquisition time for the fusion image of PET-CT (Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography) results in unconformity, and greatly affects the quality of the image and diagnosis. The arm support fixtures provided by medical device companies are not manufactured considering the convenience and safety of the patients; the arm and head movements (horizontal and vertical) during PET/CT scan cause defects in the brain fundus images and often require retaking. Therefore, this study aims to develop patient-compensation device that would minimize the head and arm movements during PET/CT scan, providing comfort and safety, and to reduce retaking. Materials and Methods: From June to July 2012, 20 patients who had no movement-related problems and another 20 patients who had difficulties in raising arms due to shoulder pain were recruited among the ones who visited nuclear medicine department for PET Torso scan. By using Patient Holding System (PHS), different range of motion (ROM) in the arm ($25^{\circ}$, $27^{\circ}$, $29^{\circ}$, $31^{\circ}$, $33^{\circ}$, $35^{\circ}$) was applied to find the most comfortable angle and posture. The manufacturing company was investigated for the permeability of the support material, and the comfort level of applying bands (velcro type) to fix the patient's head and arms was evaluated. To find out the retake frequency due to movements, the amount of retake cases pre/post patient-compensation were analyzed using the PET Torso scan data collected between January to December 2012. Results: Among the patients without movement disorder, 18 answered that PHS and $29^{\circ}$ arm ROM were the most comfortable, and 2 answered $27^{\circ}$ and $31^{\circ}$, respectively. Among the patients with shoulder pain, 15 picked $31^{\circ}$ as the most comfortable angle, 2 picked $33^{\circ}$, and 3 picked $35^{\circ}$. For this study, the handle was manufactured to be adjustable for vertical movements. The material permeability of the patient-compensation device has been verified, and PHS and the compensation device were band-fixed (velcro type) to prevent device movements. A furrow was cut for head fixation to minimize the head and neck movements, fixing bands were attached for the head, wrist, forearm, and upper arm to limit movements. The retake frequency of PET Torso scan due to patient movements was 11.06% (191 cases/1,808 patients) before using the movement control device, and 2.65% (48 cases/1,732 patients) after using the device; 8.41% of the frequency was reduced. Conclusion: Recent change and innovation in the medical environment are making expensive medical image scans, and providing differentiated services for the customers is essential. To secure patient comfort and safety during PET/CT scans, ergonomic patient-compensation devices need to be provided. Therefore, this study manufactured a patientcompensation device with vertically adjustable ergonomic ROM according to the patient's body shape and condition during PET Torso scan. The defects in the basal ganglia images due to arm movements were reduced, and retaking was decreased.

  • PDF

Improvement of analytical methods for arsenic in soil using ICP-AES (ICP-AES를 이용한 토양 시료 중 비소 분석 방법 개선)

  • Lee, Hong-gil;Kim, Ji In;Kim, Rog-young;Ko, Hyungwook;Kim, Tae Seung;Yoon, Jeong Ki
    • Analytical Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.28 no.6
    • /
    • pp.409-416
    • /
    • 2015
  • ICP-AES has been used in many laboratories due to the advantages of wide calibration range and multi-element analysis, but it may give erroneous results and suffer from spectral interference due to the large number of emission lines associated with each element. In this study, certified reference materials (CRMs) and field samples were analyzed by ICP-AES and HG-AAS according to the official Korean testing method for soil pollution to investigate analytical problems. The applicability of HG-ICP-AES was also tested as an alternative method. HG-AAS showed good accuracies (90.8~106.3%) in all CRMs, while ICP-AES deviated from the desired range in CRMs with low arsenic and high Fe/Al. The accuracy in CRM030 was estimated as below 39% at the wavelength of 193.696 nm by ICP-AES. Significant partial overlaps and sloping background interferences were observed near to 193.696 nm with the presence of 50 mg/L Fe and Al. Most CRMs were quantified with few or no interferences of Fe and Al at 188.980 nm. ICP-AES properly assessed low and high level arsenic for field samples, at 188.980 nm and 193.696 nm, respectively. The importance of the choice of measurement wavelengths corresponding to relative arsenic level should be noted. Because interferences were affected by the sample matrix, operation conditions and instrument figures, the analysts were required to consider spectral interferences and compare the analytical performance of the recommended wavelengths. HG-ICP-AES was evaluated as a suitable alternative method for ICP-AES due to improvement of the detection limit, wide calibration ranges, and reduced spectral interferences by HG.

Evaluation of Airborne Pb Sources in an Industrialized City by Applying Pb Isotope Ratios and Concentrations in PM10 (PM10 내 납의 동위원소와 농도를 활용한 산업도시지역 대기 중 납 오염원 평가)

  • Jo, Wan-Kuen;Lee, Heon-Chul;Kim, Mo-Keun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
    • /
    • v.33 no.3
    • /
    • pp.174-182
    • /
    • 2011
  • The present study evaluated the major lead sources in a steel metallurgy industrialized city by measuring lead isotopes/lead concentrations of ambient air and potential sources in an industrial area and residential areas according to relative distance. The quality control program obtained during the measurement procedure for lead isotopes and concentrations exhibited $0.5ng/m^3$ for method detection limit, more than 90% for recoveries of standard particulate matters, and lower than 0.2% for reproducibility errors of four lead isotopes ($^{204}Pb$, $^{206}Pb$, $^{207}Pb$, $^{208}Pb$). For all three lead isotope ratios ($^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb$, $^{207}Pb/^{206}Pb$, $^{208}Pb/^{206}Pb$), the ratios were obtained in the industrial area were closer to nearby residential area than those of a residential area far away from the industrial area, thereby suggesting that lead sources were more similar each other in the industrial and nearby residential area. Furthermore, for both summer and winter seasons ambient lead concentrations were more than four times higher in the industrial area than in the residential areas and in turn, they were higher in the nearby residential area compared with the far-away residential area. As a result, it was suggested that lead emitted from the industrial area would influence more the ambient lead in the nearby residential area than the far-away residential area. Both slag and traffic emissions are likely to be major lead sources in the industrial and nearby residential areas, since their three lead isotope ratios ($^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb$, $^{207}Pb/^{206}Pb$, $^{208}Pb/^{206}Pb$) were similar to the ratios obtained from ambient air of these two areas. In addition, the lead isotope ratios revealed different pattern between seasons, and the ambient lead concentrations were higher for winter than for summer.

A Study on Contact Dermatitis-Causing Substances Concentration in Commercial Oxidative Hair-Coloring Products (유통 산화형 염모제의 접촉성피부염 유발물질 함량 연구)

  • Na, Young Ran;Koo, Hee Soo;Lee, Seung Ju;Kang, Jung Mi;Jin, Seong Hyeon
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
    • /
    • v.40 no.2
    • /
    • pp.203-214
    • /
    • 2014
  • We measured the contact dermatitis-causing substances concentrations in 28 commercial oxidative hair-coloring products. This study was aimed to provide the fundamental data about oxidative hair-coloring products. We selected 10 oxidation dyes (p-phenylenediamine, toluene-2,5-diamine, m-phenylenediamine, nitro-p-phenylenediamine, p-aminophenol, m-aminophenol, o-aminophenol, p-methylaminophenol, N,N'-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-p-phenylenediamine sulfate, 2-methyl-5-hydroxyethylaminophenol) and 4 heavy metal (nikel; Ni, chromium; Cr, cobalt; Co, copper; Cu) as contact dermatitis-causing substances. To identify 10 oxidation dyes, hexane-2% sodium sulfite was used for the rapid and simple extraction and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) analysis was used for simultaneous analysis in 12 minutes. 10 oxidative dyes were detected as indicated on the product packaging and each concentration was lower than prescribed upper concentration limit by pharmaceutical manufacturing standards. And we analysed inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) for content search of heavy metal after microwave digestion. The heavy metal average concentration in oxidative hair-coloring products was 0.572 ${\mu}g/g$ for Ni, 3.161 ${\mu}g/g$ for Cr, 2.029 ${\mu}g/g$ for Co, 0.420 ${\mu}g/g$ for Cu, respectively. The average of concentration in powder type (henna) was higher than those of other foam and cream type oxidative hair-coloring products as follows; 1.800 ${\mu}g/g$ for Ni, 10.127 ${\mu}g/g$ for Cr, 7.082 ${\mu}g/g$ for Co, 1.451 ${\mu}g/g$ for Cu. Hair coloring products were classified into the six colors - black, dark brown, brown, dark brown, light brown, red brown and analyzed. Brown color had the highest average concentration of Co and the others had the highest average concentration of Cr.

Characteristics of Ammonia in Alkaline Stabilization Facility of Sludge from Sewage Treatment Plant (하수처리오니 알칼리 안정화 처리시설에서의 암모니아 발생특성)

  • Kim, Yong-Jun;Chung, David;Jeong, Mi-Jeong;Yoo, Hye-Young;Yoon, Cheol-Woo;Shin, Sun-Kyoung
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
    • /
    • v.24 no.3
    • /
    • pp.23-33
    • /
    • 2016
  • The characteristics of ammonia generated from alkaline stabilization facilities was investigated which are for organic sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants. The highest concentration of ammonia was found in mixing and curing process in alkaline stabilization facility and ammonia mainly showed a range of 87.78 ppm($66.62mg/m^3$) to 1,933 ppm($1,467.01mg/m^3$) by detection tube. This is presumed to occur because nitrogen oxides are converted into ammonia as the sewage sludge is mixed with lime. In some facilities, hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan were detected in relatively high concentrations, but odor materials except ammonia were not detected in most of the facilities. The concentration of ammonia caused by process was generally high in the order of "mixing > curing > output > storage > drying > input." It was found that odor compounds are removed by wet absorption using sulfuric acid and sodium hypochlorite in the 5 alkaline stabilization facilities currently in operation. Each facility was designed to meet the concentration of after-treatment emission in 1 ppm($0.76mg/m^3$), 50 ppm($37.95mg/m^3$) or 100 ppm($75.89mg/m^3$), but no facility satisfied the design standard for their emssion limit. In case of ammonia, some workplaces in alkaline stabilization facilities exceeded the exposure limits established by the Ministry of Labor. It appears that proper ventilation should be provided for the safety of workers in future. No odor compound including ammonia was found by detection tubes in the border of the facilities, but trace amounts of odor compounds are expected to exist, given the current operational status of facilities.