• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.11-15
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• 2006

Attempts were made to increase an efficiency of soil contamination investigation systems (SCISs) including Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites in Korea. In order to increase low efficiencies resulting from inappropriate SCISs, possible policy suggestions are driven based on the results from problem findings of Korean policy and comparisons of policies on industrialized countries including United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. First, functions of Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA) on liability should be updated and reinforced to initiate a soil contamination investigation process for stakeholders including an owner(s) or a responsible party(ies) of the potentially soil contamination sites positively. Second, appropriate SCISs should be emerged for implementing the Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites properly. Stakeholders for the potentially contaminated sites should easily access and raise the soil contamination issues, and soil contamination investigation implemented by liable and profit environment (consulting) companies should be encouraged. Third, the soil contamination reporting system of SECA needs to change legally responsible. Further more, public announcement system showing soil quality of a site which exceeds a certain scale would be considerable. Fourth, liable environment (consulting) companies should legally execute Soil Environment Assessment of SECA.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.467-476
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of the exchange of saline used in surgical procedures on surgical site infections. Method: Patients with stomach cancer were assigned to the experimental group or to the control group by random sampling, respectively. The experimental group received an exchange of saline during the operation right after the excision of the stomach in a gastrectomy but the control group did not. Data were collected from the medical charts of 34 patients from Dec. 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003. Result: The surgical site infection rate of the experimental group was 5.9% while surgical site infection rate of the control group was 17.6%. In total, the surgical site infection rate was 11.8%. The experimental group maintained a normal level of WBC on post operative day 3; however, the control group, showed an increase of WBC on post operative day 3. Conclusion: The exchange of saline used in an operation immediately after the excision of the stomach in a gastrectomy decreases the contamination level of saline used in the operation, and can prevent surgical patients from a surgical site infection.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2013

It is well known that uncertainty associated with soil sampling is bigger than that with analysis. In this research, uncertainties for soil sampling when assessing TPH and BTEX concentration in soils were quantified based on actual field data. It is almost impossible to assess exact contamination of the site regardless how carefully devised for sampling. Uncertainties associated with sample reduction for further chemical analysis were quantified approximately 10 times larger than those associated with core sampling on site. Bigger uncertainties occur when contamination level is low, sample quantity is small, and soil particle is coarse. To minimize the uncertainties on field, homogenization of soil sample is necessary and its procedures are proposed in this research as well.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2008

For a given soil-contaminated site, a level of soil contamination is characterized and decisions on risk may be made from the risk assessment. The study evaluated critical design factors for the determination of sample size in the sampling design plan and the assessment of soil contaminant- leaching to groundwater. Two variables, the minimum relative detectable difference (T) and coefficient of variation (CV) were evaluated for the sample size determination. The minimum number of samples can be appropriately determined by CV under a T value greater than or equal to 0.2. Soil-contaminant leaching to groundwater was evaluated by using the Soil Screening Level equation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Risk Based Screening Level equation of American Society for Testing and Materials, with the same input parameters. The groundwater concentrations estimated from soil contaminant concentrations were significantly affected by the Darcy velocity of groundwater and the organic content of soil.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.115-124
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• 2004

To utilize a closed municipal solid waste landfill site in environmentally secure conditions, it is necessary to verify the stabilization level of landfill leachate. To assess leachate stabilization of an open-dumping municipal solid waste landfill (Noeun Landfill) which is located at the upper drainage basin of Namhan River which flows into Lake Paldang utilized for Seoul Metropolitan water supplies, the surrounding characteristics of the landfill site was surveyed. After then, leachate, groundwater and soil samples from this landfill were chemically analyzed, and the analysis results were evaluated by "The Criteria of Landfill Waste Stabilization(CLWS)", "Discharge Criteria of Landfill Leachate", "The Criteria of Domestic Use in Groundwater Quality", and "Soil Contamination Criteria" promulgated by Korean Ministry of Environment. The closed open-dumping landfill was equipped with the final soil cover, 3 groundwater monitoring wells and poor landfill gas extraction devices for the post-closure management of the landfill. BOD/CODcr ratios in leachate were less than or slightly higher than 1/10. This results seemed to imply that the leachate stabilization level of this landfill based on the CLWS was almost completed. Qualities of groundwater sampled from monitoring wells located at outside of landfill were adequate for "The Criteria of Domestic Use in Groundwater Quality". Finally, concentrations of soil contaminants that were likely to be influenced by this landfill site were adequate to "Soil Contamination Criteria".

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.18
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• pp.453-460
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to analyze their status of underground storage tank(UST) facilities and level of soil contamination, and to establish its management criteria. DB program was developed to analyze the correlation between specific characteristic of UST and level of soil contamination. For a suitable management of UST, leakage monitoring and inspection method of UST was investigated. Inspection period was established based on the leakage rate. The most dominant factor for leakage seemed to be caused by the corrosion. Therefore, main factor, construction method and installation year of UST, and corrosion protection system were suggested for optimal protection of UST. Considering the present management status of UST in Korea, inspection and management criteria of UST should be accomplished in term of contamination protection of leakage, and flexible regulation act should be introduced for each specific site.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.spc
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• pp.64-74
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• 2022

The conceptual site model (CSM) is used as a key tool to support decision making in risk based management of contaminated sites. In this work, CSM was applied in Jeonju Industrial Complex where site investigation for groundwater contamination was conducted. Site background information including facility types, physical conditions, contaminants spill history, receptor exposure, and ecological information were collected and cross-checked with tabulated checklist necessary for CSM application. The CSM for contaminants migration utilized DNAPL transport model and narrative CSMs were constructed for source to receptor pathway, ecological exposure route, and contaminants fate and transport in the form of a diagram or flowchart. The component and uncertainty of preliminary CSM were reviewed using the data gap analysis while taking into account the purpose of the survey and the site management stage at the time of the survey. Through this approach, the potential utility of CSM was demonstrated in the site management process, such as assessing site conditions and planning follow-up survey work.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.273-281
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• 2011

Objectives: Studies examining healthcare workers' exposure to antineoplastic drugs have focused on the drug preparation or drug administration areas. However, such an approach has probably underestimated the overall exposure risk as the drugs need to be delivered to the facility, transported internally and then disposed. The objective of this study is to determine whether drug contamination occurs throughout a facility and, simultaneously, to identify those job categories that are potentially exposed. Methods: This was a multi-site study based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Interviews were conducted to determine the departments where the drugs travel. Subsequent site observations were performed to ascertain those surfaces which frequently came into contact with antineoplastic drugs and to determine the job categories which are likely to contact these surfaces. Wipe samples were collected to quantify surface contamination. Results: Surface contamination was found in all six stages of the hospital medication system. Job categories consistently found to be at risk of exposure were nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy receivers. Up to 11 job categories per site may be at risk of exposure at some point during the hospital medication system. Conclusion: We found drug contamination on select surfaces at every stage of the medication system, which indicates the existence of an exposure potential throughout the facility. Our results suggest that a broader range of workers are potentially exposed than has been previously examined. These results will allow us to develop a more inclusive exposure assessment encompassing all healthcare workers that are at risk throughout the hospital medication system.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2000

Concentrations of cadmium, copper and zinc were determined in three molluscan species including Sacculosiphonaria japonica, Reishia clavigera and Crassostrea gigas to assess heavy metal contamination in the Onsan Bay. The range of cadmium concentrations were 3.83∼39.67 ㎍/g d.w. in S. japonica, 7.47∼103.47 ㎍/g d.w. in R. clavigera, 1.32∼92.17 ㎍/g d.w. in C. gigas. Concentration of cadmium at contaminated site in C. gigas was 70 folds higher than that of reference site. The range of copper concentrations were 22.92∼1287.56 ㎍/g d.w. in S. japonica, 37.53∼656.97 ㎍/g d.w. in R. clavigera, 161.50∼3208.52 ㎍/g d.w. in C. gigas. The concentration of copper at contaminated site in S. japonica was 56 folds higher than that of reference site. The range of zinc concentrations were 93.48∼377.40 ㎍/g d.w. in S. japonica, 423.65∼1075.57 ㎍/g w. in R. clavigera, 2018.13∼22275.00 ㎍/g d.w. in C. gigas. The difference of zinc concentrations between reference site and contaminated site was relatively small than those of cadmium and copper in all the species tested. The largest difference was 11 folds in C. gigas. In the present work, we confirmed that all of these species, S. japonica, R. clavigera and C. gigas, could be used as biological indicators to monitor heavy metal contamination.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.6.1-6.10
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• 2016

Objectives This study examined the spatial distribution and the extent of soil contamination by heavy metals resulting from primitive, unconventional informal electronic waste recycling in the Agbogbloshie e-waste processing site (AEPS) in Ghana. Methods A total of 132 samples were collected at 100 m intervals, with a handheld global position system used in taking the location data of the soil sample points. Observing all procedural and quality assurance measures, the samples were analyzed for barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), using X-ray fluorescence. Using environmental risk indices of contamination factor and degree of contamination ($C_{deg}$), we analyzed the individual contribution of each heavy metal contamination and the overall $C_{deg}$. We further used geostatistical techniques of spatial autocorrelation and variability to examine spatial distribution and extent of heavy metal contamination. Results Results from soil analysis showed that heavy metal concentrations were significantly higher than the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency and Dutch environmental standards. In an increasing order, Pb>Cd>Hg>Cu>Zn>Cr>Co>Ba>Ni contributed significantly to the overall $C_{deg}$. Contamination was highest in the main working areas of burning and dismantling sites, indicating the influence of recycling activities. Geostatistical analysis also revealed that heavy metal contamination spreads beyond the main working areas to residential, recreational, farming, and commercial areas. Conclusions Our results show that the studied heavy metals are ubiquitous within AEPS and the significantly high concentration of these metals reflect the contamination factor and $C_{deg}$, indicating soil contamination in AEPS with the nine heavy metals studied.