• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental problems

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Mineralogical and Physico-chemical Properties of Sludge Produced During Artificial Sand Processing (국내 화강암류를 이용한 일부 인공쇄석사 제조과정에서 발생되는 슬러지의 광물.물리화학적 특성)

  • Yoo, Jang-Han;Kim, Yong-Ug
    • Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.303-311
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    • 2007
  • The consumption of artificially crushed sands exceeds more than 30 percent of the domestic sand supply in South Korea, and its rate is still increasing. For the manufacture of crushed sand granites and granitic gneisses are preferred, fine fractions (i.e. sludge, particles finer than 63 microns) are removed by use of flocculation agents, and its amount occupy about 15 wt%. The sludges consist of quartz, feldspars, micas, chlorite/vermiculite, kaolinites, smectites and occasionally calcite. Among the clay minerals micas are usually predominant, and $14{\AA}$ minerals, kaolinites and smectites are rather scarce. Jurassic granites usually contain more kaolinites and smectites than those of Cretaceous to Tertiary granites, probably due to longer geologic ages. On the other hand, sludge from Precambrian gneiss does not contain kaolinites and smectites. Chemical analyses for the granites and their sludges show rather clear differences in most of major chemical components. Except for $SiO_2,\;Na_2O\;and\;K_2O$, all other components represent rather clear increase. Decrease of $SiO_2$ content is attributed to the relative decrease of quartz in the sludges. And the $Na_2O decrease is caused by a relatively stronger weathering property of albite compared to Ca plagioclase. The $K_2O$ content shows rather small differences throughout the whole samples. The increases of $Al_2O_3$ and other major components resulted from weathering processes and most of colored components are also concentrated in the sludges. Particle size analyses reveal that the sludges are categorized as sandy loams in a sand-silt-clay triangular diagram. The sludge is now classified as industrial waste because of its impermeability, and this result was also confirmed by rather higher hydraulic conductivities. For the environmental problems, and accomplishing effective sand manufacture, more fresh rocks with little weathering products must be chosen.

A Study on Fall Accident (1개 종합병원 환자의 낙상에 관한 조사)

  • Lee, Hyeon-Suk;Kim, Mae-Ja
    • The Korean Nurse
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    • v.36 no.5
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    • pp.45-62
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    • 1998
  • The study was conducted from November 1995 to May 1996 at the one general hospital in Seoul. The total subjects of this study were 412 patients who have the experience of fall accident, among them 31 was who have fallen during hospitalization and 381 was who visited emergency room and out patient clinic. The purposes of this study were to determine the characteristics, risk factors and results of fall accident and to suggest the nursing strategies for prevention of fall. Data were collected by reviewing the medical records and interviewing with the fallers and their family members. For data analysis, spss/pc+ program was utilized for descriptive statistics, adjusted standardized $X^2$-test. The results of this study were as follows: 1) Total subjects were 412 fallers, of which 245(59.5%) were men and 167(40.5%) were women. Age were 0-14 years 79(19.2%), 15-44 years 125(30.4%), 45-64 years 104(25.2%), over 65 years 104(25.2%). 2) There was significant association between age and the sexes ($X^2$=39.17, P=0.00). 3) There was significant association between age and history of falls ($X^2$=44.41. P= .00). And history of falls in the elderly was significantly associated with falls. 4) There was significant association with age and medical diagnosis ($X^2$=140.66, P= .00), chief medical diagnosis were hypertension(34), diabetis mellitus(22), arthritis(11), stroke(8), fracture(7), pulmonary tuberculosis(6), dementia(5) and cataract(5), 5) There was significant association between age and intrinsic factors: cognitive impairment, mobility impairment, insomnia, emotional problems, urinary difficulty, visual impairments, hearing impairments, use of drugs (sedatives , antihypertensive drugs, diuretics, antidepressants) (P < 0.05). But there was no significant association between age and dizziness ($X^2$=2.87, P=.41). 6) 15.3% of total fallers were drunken state when they were fallen. 7) Environmental factors of fall accident were unusual posture (50.9%), slips(35.2%), trips (9.5%) and collision(4.4%). 8) Most of falls occurred during the day time, peak frequencies of falls occurred from 1pm to 6pm and 7am to 12am. 9) The places of fall accident were roads(22.6%), house-stairs 06.7%), rooms, floors, kitchen (11.2%), the roof-top, veranda, windows(10.9%), hospital(7.5%), ice or snowy ways(5.8%), bathroom(4.9%), playground, park(4.9%), subway-stairs(4.4%) and public-bathrooms (2.2%). 10) Activities at the time of fall accident were walking(37.6%), turning around or reaching for something(20.9%), going up or down stairs09.2%), exereise, working07.4%), up or down from a bed(2.7%), using wheelchair or walking aids, standing up or down from a chair(2.2%) and standing still(2.2%). 11) Anatomical locations of injuries by falls were head, face, neck(31.3%), lower extremities (29.9%). upper extremities(20.6%), spine, thorax, abdomen or pelvic contents(l1.4%) and unspecified(2.9%). 12) Types of injures were fracture(47.6%), bruises03.8%), laceration (13.3%), sprains(9.0%), headache(6.6%), abrasions(2.9%), intracranial hemorrage(2.4%) and burns(0.5%). 13) 41.5% of the fallers were hospitalized and average of hospitalization was 22.3 days. 14) The six fallers(1.46%) died from fall injuries. The two fallers died from intracranial hemorrage and the four fallers died of secondary infection; pneumonia(2), sepsis(1) and cell lulitis(1). It is suggested that 1) Further study is needed with larger sample size to identify the fall risk factors. 2) After the fall accident, comprehensive nursing care and regular physical exercise should be emphasized for the elderly person. 3) Safety education and safety facilities of the public place and home is necessary for fall prevention.

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Prelaunch Study of Validation for the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) (정지궤도 해색탑재체(GOCI) 자료 검정을 위한 사전연구)

  • Ryu, Joo-Hyung;Moon, Jeong-Eon;Son, Young-Baek;Cho, Seong-Ick;Min, Jee-Eun;Yang, Chan-Su;Ahn, Yu-Hwan;Shim, Jae-Seol
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.251-262
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    • 2010
  • In order to provide quantitative control of the standard products of Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), on-board radiometric correction, atmospheric correction, and bio-optical algorithm are obtained continuously by comprehensive and consistent calibration and validation procedures. The calibration/validation for radiometric, atmospheric, and bio-optical data of GOCI uses temperature, salinity, ocean optics, fluorescence, and turbidity data sets from buoy and platform systems, and periodic oceanic environmental data. For calibration and validation of GOCI, we compared radiometric data between in-situ measurement and HyperSAS data installed in the Ieodo ocean research station, and between HyperSAS and SeaWiFS radiance. HyperSAS data were slightly different in in-situ radiance and irradiance, but they did not have spectral shift in absorption bands. Although all radiance bands measured between HyperSAS and SeaWiFS had an average 25% error, the 11% absolute error was relatively lower when atmospheric correction bands were omitted. This error is related to the SeaWiFS standard atmospheric correction process. We have to consider and improve this error rate for calibration and validation of GOCI. A reference target site around Dokdo Island was used for studying calibration and validation of GOCI. In-situ ocean- and bio-optical data were collected during August and October, 2009. Reflectance spectra around Dokdo Island showed optical characteristic of Case-1 Water. Absorption spectra of chlorophyll, suspended matter, and dissolved organic matter also showed their spectral characteristics. MODIS Aqua-derived chlorophyll-a concentration was well correlated with in-situ fluorometer value, which installed in Dokdo buoy. As we strive to solv the problems of radiometric, atmospheric, and bio-optical correction, it is important to be able to progress and improve the future quality of calibration and validation of GOCI.

Neutralization of Acidity and Ionic Composition of Rainwater in Taean (태안지역 강우의 산성도 중화 및 화학성 평가)

  • Lee, Jong-Sik;Kim, Min-Kyeong;Park, Seong-Jin;Choi, Chul-Mann;Jung, Tae-Woo;Jung, Im-Young
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.42 no.5
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    • pp.336-340
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    • 2009
  • The issue of acid precipitation and related environmental problems in East Asia has been emerging. To evaluate the acidity and chemical characteristics of rainwater in Korea, its chemical properties during cultivation season from April to October were investigated at Taean in 2007. Also, to estimate the contribution of ions on its acidity, ion composition characteristics and neutralization effects by cation ions were determined. The ion balance between cations and anions values showed high correlation. The mean values of pH and EC were 4.9 and $32.9{\mu}S\;cm^{-1}$, respectively. The EC of rainwater showed seasonal characteristic, which was $91.4{\mu}S\;cm^{-1}$ with relatively low rainfall compared with other monitoring periods. $Na^+$ was the main cation followed by $NH_4{^+}$ > $Ca^{2+}$ > $H^{+}$ > $Mg^{2+}$ > $K^+$. Among these ions, $Na^{+}$ and $NH_4{^+}$ covered over 70% of total cations. In the case of anion, the order was $SO_4{^{2-}}$ > $NO_3{^-}$ > $Cl^{-}$. The mean value of sulfate, which is main anion component in the samples was $152.1{\mu}eq\;L^{-1}$. Also, 90% of soluble sulfate in rainwater was $nss-SO_4{^{2-}}$(non-sea salt sulfate). With fractional acidity and theoretical acidity of rainwater samples, $NH_4{^+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$ contributed greatly in neutralizing the rain acidity.

Overview and Prospective of Satellite Chlorophyll-a Concentration Retrieval Algorithms Suitable for Coastal Turbid Sea Waters (연안 혼탁 해수에 적합한 위성 클로로필-a 농도 산출 알고리즘 개관과 전망)

  • Park, Ji-Eun;Park, Kyung-Ae;Lee, Ji-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.247-263
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    • 2021
  • Climate change has been accelerating in coastal waters recently; therefore, the importance of coastal environmental monitoring is also increasing. Chlorophyll-a concentration, an important marine variable, in the surface layer of the global ocean has been retrieved for decades through various ocean color satellites and utilized in various research fields. However, the commonly used chlorophyll-a concentration algorithm is only suitable for application in clear water and cannot be applied to turbid waters because significant errors are caused by differences in their distinct components and optical properties. In addition, designing a standard algorithm for coastal waters is difficult because of differences in various optical characteristics depending on the coastal area. To overcome this problem, various algorithms have been developed and used considering the components and the variations in the optical properties of coastal waters with high turbidity. Chlorophyll-a concentration retrieval algorithms can be categorized into empirical algorithms, semi-analytic algorithms, and machine learning algorithms. These algorithms mainly use the blue-green band ratio based on the reflective spectrum of sea water as the basic form. In constrast, algorithms developed for turbid water utilizes the green-red band ratio, the red-near-infrared band ratio, and the inherent optical properties to compensate for the effect of dissolved organisms and suspended sediments in coastal area. Reliable retrieval of satellite chlorophyll-a concentration from turbid waters is essential for monitoring the coastal environment and understanding changes in the marine ecosystem. Therefore, this study summarizes the pre-existing algorithms that have been utilized for monitoring turbid Case 2 water and presents the problems associated with the mornitoring and study of seas around the Korean Peninsula. We also summarize the prospective for future ocean color satellites, which can yield more accurate and diverse results regarding the ecological environment with the development of multi-spectral and hyperspectral sensors.

Development of Carbon Dioxide Emission Factor from Resource Recovery Facility (폐기물자원회수시설의 이산화탄소 배출계수 개발)

  • Kim, Seungjin;Im, Gikyo;Yi, Chi-Yeong;Lee, Seehyung;Sa, Jae-Hwan;Jeon, Eui-Chan
    • Journal of Climate Change Research
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.51-61
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    • 2013
  • To address the problems associated with climate change and energy shortage, Korea has been making efforts to turn waste materials into usable energy. Due to the ongoing efforts to convert waste materials into energy, waste incineration is expanding to utilize the heat generated, and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions from these waste material incineration are expected to increase. In this study, a municipal waste incineration plant that generates heat and electricity through heat recovery was selected as a subject facility. Methods for estimating the greenhouse gas emissions in the municipal waste incineration plant that was selected as a subject plant were sought, and the greenhouse gas emissions and emission factor were estimated. The $CO_2$ concentrations in discharge gas from the subject facility were on average 6.99%, and the result from calculating this into greenhouse gas emissions showed that the total amount of emissions was $254.60ton\;CO_2/day$. The net emissions, excluding the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from biomass incineration, was shown to be $110.59ton\;CO_2/day$. In addition, after estimating the emissions by separating the heat and electricity generated in the incineration facility, greenhouse gas emission factors were calculated using the greenhouse gas emissions produced per each unit of output. The estimated emission factor for heat was found to be $0.047ton\;CO_2/GJ$ and the emission factor for electricity was found to be $0.652ton\;CO_2/MWh$. The estimated emission factor was shown to be about 17% lower than the $0.783ton\;CO_2/MWh$ emission factor for thermal power plants that use fossil fuels. Waste material types and fossil carbon contents were evaluated as being the factors that have major effects on the greenhouse gas emissions and emission factor.

A Study on the Conditions of Natural Damage of Undesignated Cultural Heritages and the Plans to Reduce Damage through Vegetation Management - With Emphasis on Samcheonsaji Temple Site on Mt. Bukhansan - (비지정 문화유적의 훼손현황과 식생관리를 통한 저감방안 연구 -북한산 삼천사지를 사례로-)

  • Hong, Hee-taek;Kim, Hyeon-beom;Lee, Mun-haeng
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.46 no.3
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    • pp.114-133
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    • 2013
  • This study aims to identify the natural damage of the Samcheonsaji Temple Site in Bukhansan National Park and to suggest the plans to minimize damage for the remains. The types of natural damage are classified into direct vegetation damage, indirect topographical damage, and artificial damage. The most popular causes of damage to temple sites include the roots of trees as direct vegetation damage and the soil erosion by rain or stream as topographical damage. Direct vegetation damage includes burial remains damaged by the root of trees and vines, but it is often observed that some trees have contributed to protection against collapse. Indirect topographical changes have damaged the ruins by soil erosion caused by floods or typhoons. Vegetation changes due to topographical reasons have also caused damage. Artificial reasons of damage include forestry operations and compaction by hikers. Based on the analysis of the findings, the following could be suggested as plans to resolve these problems: 1. Natural damage occurs slowly due to negligence. Therefore, it could be reduced by forestry improvement, including forest density control through thinning, planting to prevent landslides, maintaining grasslands nearby. 2. Deciduous broadleaf trees can be planted to reduce soil erosion by rainfall. It is necessary to maintain the density of forests at around $0.02{\sim}0.18trees/m^2$. 3. It would be good to grow Quercus spp and Carpinus spp or weaken the community of Robinia pseudoacacia and Pueraria lobata which disturb the ecosystem. Samcheonsaji Temple Site is located in Mt. Bukhan National Park that is a publicly owned property. Therefore, it is constantly maintained for natural preservation and vegetation management could be considered for the preservation of historical remains.

Accuracy Analysis of Target Recognition according to EOC Conditions (Target Occlusion and Depression Angle) using MSTAR Data (MSTAR 자료를 이용한 EOC 조건(표적 폐색 및 촬영부각)에 따른 표적인식 정확도 분석)

  • Kim, Sang-Wan;Han, Ahrim;Cho, Keunhoo;Kim, Donghan;Park, Sang-Eun
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.457-470
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    • 2019
  • Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been attracted attention in the fields of surveillance, reconnaissance, and national security due to its advantage of all-weather and day-and-night imaging capabilities. However, there have been some difficulties in automatically identifying targets in real situation due to various observational and environmental conditions. In this paper, ATR problems in Extended Operating Conditions (EOC) were investigated. In particular, we considered partial occlusions of the target (10% to 50%) and differences in the depression angle between training ($17^{\circ}$) and test data ($30^{\circ}$ and $45^{\circ}$). To simulate various occlusion conditions, SARBake algorithm was applied to Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) images. The ATR accuracies were evaluated by using the template matching and Adaboost algorithms. Experimental results on the depression angle showed that the target identification rate of the two algorithms decreased by more than 30% from the depression angle of $45^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$. The accuracy of template matching was about 75.88% while Adaboost showed better results with an accuracy of about 86.80%. In the case of partial occlusion, the accuracy of template matching decreased significantly even in the slight occlusion (from 95.77% under no occlusion to 52.69% under 10% occlusion). The Adaboost algorithm showed better performance with an accuracy of 85.16% in no occlusion condition and 68.48% in 10% occlusion condition. Even in the 50% occlusion condition, the Adaboost provided an accuracy of 52.48%, which was much higher than the template matching (less than 30% under 50% occlusion).

Global Rice Production, Consumption and Trade: Trends and Future Directions

  • Bhandari, Humnath
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2019.09a
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    • pp.5-5
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    • 2019
  • The objectives of this paper are (i) to analyze past trends and future directions of rice production, consumption and trade across the world and (ii) to discuss emerging challenges and future directions in the global rice industry. Rice is a staple food of over half of the world's 7.7 billion people. It is an important economic, social, political, and cultural commodity in most Asian countries. Rice is the $1^{st}$ most widely consumed, $2^{nd}$ largely produced, and $3^{rd}$ most widely grown food crop in the world. It was cultivated by 144 million farms in over 100 countries with harvested area of over 163 million ha producing about 745 million tons paddy in 2018. About 90% of the total rice is produced in Asia. China and India, the biggest rice producers, account for over half of the world's rice production. Between 1960 and 2018, world rice production increased over threefold from 221 to 745 million tons (2.1% per year) due to area expansion from 120 to 163 million ha (0.5% per year) and paddy yield increase from 1.8 to 4.6 t/ha (1.6% per year). The Green Revolution led massive increase in rice production prevented famines, provided food for millions of people, reduced poverty and hunger, and improved livelihoods of millions of Asians. The future increase in rice production must come from yield increase as the scope for area expansion is limited. Rice is the most widely consumed food crop. The world's average per capita milled rice consumption is 64 kilograms providing 19% of daily calories. Asia accounted for 84% of global consumption followed by Africa (7%), South America (3%), and the Middle East (2%). Asia's per capita rice consumption is 100 kilograms per year providing 28% of daily calories. The global and Asian per capita consumption increased from the 1960s to the 1990s but stable afterward. The per capita rice consumption is expected to decline in Asia but increase outside Asia especially in Africa in the future. The total milled rice consumption was about 490 million tons in 2018 and projected to reach 550 million tons by 2030 and 590 million tons by 2040. Rice is thinly traded in international market because it is a highly protected commodity. Only about 9% of the total production is traded in global rice market. However, the volume of global rice trade has increased over six-fold from 7.5 to 46.5 million tons between the 1960s and 2018. A relatively small number of exporting countries interact with a large number of importing countries. The top five rice exporting countries are India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and China accounting for 74% of the global rice export. The top five rice importing countries are China, Philippines, Nigeria, European Union and Saudi Arabia accounting for 26% of the global rice import. Within rice varieties, Japonica rice accounts for the highest share of the global rice trade (about 12%) followed by Basmati rice (about 10%). The high concentration of exports to a few countries makes international rice market vulnerable to supply disruptions in exporting countries, leading to higher world prices of rice. The export price of Thai 5% broken rice increased from 198 US$/ton in 2000 to 421 US$/ton in 2018. The volumes of trade and rice prices in the global market are expected to increase in the future. The major future challenges of the rice industry are increasing demand due to population growth, rising demand in Africa, economic growth and diet diversification, competition for natural resources (land and water), labor scarcity, climate change and natural hazards, poverty and inequality, hunger and malnutrition, urbanization, low income in rice farming, yield saturation, aging of farmers, feminization of agriculture, health and environmental concerns, improving value chains, and shifting donor priorities away from agriculture. At the same time, new opportunities are available due to access to new technologies, increased investment by the private sector, and increased global partnership. More investment in rice research and development is needed to develop and disseminate innovative technologies and practices to overcome problems and ensure food and nutrition security of the future population.

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A Study on the Reinforcement Effect Analysis of Aging Reservoir using Grout Material recycled Power Plant Byproduct (발전부산물을 재활용한 그라우트재의 노후 저수지 보강효과 분석에 관한 연구)

  • Seo, Se-Gwan;An, Jong-Hwan;Cho, Dae-sung
    • Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.23-33
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    • 2021
  • In Korea, many reservoirs have been built for the purpose of solving the food shortage problem and supplying agricultural water. However, the current 75.6% of the reservoirs are in serious aged as more than 50 years have passed since the year of construction. In the case of such an aging reservoir, the stability due to scour and erosion inside the reservoir is very reduced, and if concentrated rainfall due to recent abnormal weather occurs, the aging reservoir may collapse, leading to a lot of damage to property and human life. Accordingly, each agency that manages aging reservoirs uses Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as an injection material and applies the grouting method. However, in the case of OPC, it may deteriorate over time and water leakage may occur again. And there are environmental problems such as consumption of natural resources and generation of greenhouse gases. So, there is a need to develop new materials and methods that can replace the OPC. In this study, an laboratory test and analysis were performed on the grout material developed to induce a curing reaction similar to that of OPC by recycling power plant byproduct. In addition, test in the field such as electric resistivity survey, Standard Penetration Test (SPT), and field permeability test were performed to analyzed to reinforcement effect and determine the possibility of using instead of OPC. As a results of the test, in the case of recycled power plant byproduct, the compressive strength was 2.9 to 3.2 times and the deformation modulus was 2.3 to 3.3 times higher, indicating that it is excellent in strength and can be used instead of OPC. And it was analyzed that the N value of the reservoir was increased by 1~2, and the coefficient of permeability (k) decreased to the level of 8.9~42.5%. showing sufficient reinforcing effect in terms of order.