• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

Large-scale industrial boilers operating at high temperature and high pressure, have a large amount of water, and a large amount of energy is released at the time of explosion. Currently, most industrial boilers use gas fuel such as LNG and LPG, etc. and fuel exists in the same space as equipment, so there is a high possibility of secondary damage such as fire or explosion in the event of a boiler accident. Both special care and management are required to operate the very dangerous equipment that causes casualty 2.51 per accident. For boilers of a certain size or more, the Korea Energy Agency conducts inspections in accordance with the Energy Usage Rationalization Act, KS, and public notice of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources. In this research, based on the results of the inspection, the hazard factorss are configured, and a questionnaire is conducted to the inspector, the equipment manager, the maintenance person, and the person in charge of the manufacturer. We analyzed the results by using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process). As a result of analysis, generally recognized hazard factorss are not good management, measurement failure, specification failure, water leak, leak analysis, but connection, welding, scale, and corrosion, etc. are relatively less important. It is judged that the adverse factors that are recognized to be highly important among all groups and careers are already well managed, but less important and adverse factors should be well managed to ensure that the safe usage of the boiler.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.203-212
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• 2019

Objective: A total of five students at same middle school were reported to be diagnosed with pediatric leukemia (n=2), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL, n=1) and aplastic anemia (n=2) between 2016 and 2017. The aims of this study are to assess exposure to environmental hazardous agents known to be associated with the risk of leukemia and to examine whether the environment of school is associated with the risk leukemia. Method: A total of 11 environmental agents causing childhood leukemia were monitored using international certified method in schools where patients had ever attended. Radon & Thoron detector was used to monitor real-time airborne radon and thoron level ($Bq/m^3$). Clinician interviewed two among nine patients who agreed to participate in this study in order to examine the association of demographic and genetic factors by individually. Leukemia, NHL, and aplastic anemia were grouped into lymphohematopoietic disorder (LHP). Results: Except for airborne radon level, no environmental agents in school and household where patients may be exposed were found to higher than recommended airborne level. Clinical investigation found no individual factors that may be associated with the risk of LHP. Higher airborne radon level than Korea EPA's airborne radon criteria ($148Bq/m^3$) was monitored at most of several after-class room of one elementary school, where two leukemia patients graduated. Significant radon level was not monitored at class-room. Significant exposure to radon of patients was not estimated based on time-activity pattern. Conclusions: Our results have concluded that there have been no environmental factors in school and household environment that may be associated the risk of LHP.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.285-294
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• 2019

Objectives: For suitable risk management of the domestic aquatic environment, it is necessary to conduct toxicity tests using species native to Korea. In the present study, we performed toxicity ring tests using endemic freshwater arthropoda Neocaridina denticulata and evaluated its validity and reproducibility as an international standard test species. Methods: To evaluate the sensitivity levels of N. denticulata to hazardous chemicals, toxicity values for several chemicals were compared with other standard test species. Intra- and inter-laboratory acute toxicity tests were performed both within a single laboratory and among four laboratories respectively using 3,4-Dichloroaniline, which is generally used as a reference test substance in fish toxicity tests. In addition, intra- and inter-laboratory coefficient of variations (CVs) were calculated to evaluate reproducibility based on the estimated toxicity values. Results: The sensitivity of N. denticulata to several chemicals was found to be similar with D. manga, indicating that the species is valid as a test species. The CVs of the intra- and inter-laboratory tests were 22.946% with four qualified runs and 8.828% among the four laboratories, respectively. Conclusions: N. denticulata serves in an important role in the food chain of Korean aquatic ecosystems and also inhabits several other Asian countries. Since the validity and reproducibility of the species were confirmed as a toxicity test species in this study, further efforts are needed to establish N. denticulata as the international standard test species for the appropriate risk assessment of aquatic ecosystems at home and abroad.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.136-143
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• 2018

Cellular automata have been applied to simulations in many fields such as astrophysics, social phenomena, fire spread, and evacuation. Using cellular automata, this study develops a model for consequence analysis of the dispersion of hazardous chemicals, which is required for risk assessments of and emergency responses for frequent chemical accidents. Unlike in cases of detailed plant safety design, real-time accident responses require fast and iterative calculations to reduce the uncertainty of the distribution of damage within the affected area. EPA ALOHA and KORA of National Institute of Chemical Safety have been popular choices for these analyses. However, this study proposes an initiative to supplement the model and code continuously and is different in its development of free software, specialized for small and medium enterprises. Compared to the full-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which requires large amounts of computation time, the relative accuracy loss is compromised, and the convenience of the general user is improved. Using Python open-source libraries as well as meteorological information linkage, it is made possible to expand and update the functions continuously. Users can easily obtain the results by simply inputting the layout of the plant and the materials used. Accuracy is verified against full-scale CFD simulations, and it will be distributed as open source software, supporting GPU-accelerated computing for fast computation.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.97-105
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• 2018

Recently, people's interest in particulate matter (PM) has been increasing, due to its hazardous health effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concentrations and as well as the inhaled weight of PM, correlated with person's heart rate in subway, bus, vehicle and bicycle in the major public transportation (Sadang - Jamsil and Nowon - Dongdaemun) in Seoul. The concentration of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ were measured from each of transportation means and calculated the average concentrations which were 87.2 and $57.8{\mu}g/m^3$ for subway, 62.8 and $42.5{\mu}g/m^3$ for vehicle, 61.5 and $36.8{\mu}g/m^3$ for bus and 53.0 and $29.4{\mu}g/m^3$ for bicycle in $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ respectively. Inhalation dose for $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ were estimated at 248.1 and $139.4{\mu}g$ for bicycle, 56.7 and $39.3{\mu}g$ for vehicle, 49.4 and $29.9{\mu}g$ for bus and 44.3 and $29.1{\mu}g$ for subway, respectively. Even though subway had the highest concentration, the highest inhalation dose was the bicycle. It was due to the long travel time-exposure and breathing rate which leads to maximum of $PM_{10}$ 5.6 and $PM_{2.5}$ with 4.8 times inhalation dose comparing with other modes of transportation. With regards to future studies, the amount of inhalation in each transportation means should be considered in risk assessments of PM.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

Extreme climate phenomena are occurring around the world caused by global climate change. The heavy rains exceeds the previous record of highest rainfall. In particular, as flash floods generate heavy rainfall on the mountains over a relatively a short period of time, the likelihood of landslides increases. Gangwon region is especially suffered by landslide damages, because the most of the part is mountainous, steep, and having shallow soil. Therefore, in this study, is to predict the risk of disasters by applying topographic classification techniques and landslide risk prediction techniques to mountain watersheds. Classify the hazardous area by calculating the topographic position index (TPI) as a topographic classification technique. The SINMAP method, one of the earth rock predictors, was used to predict possible areas of a landslide. Using the SINMAP method, we predicted the area where the mountainous disaster can occur. As a result, the topographic classification technique classified more than 63% of the total watershed into open slope and upper slope. In the SINMAP analysis, about 58% of the total watershed was analyzed as a hazard area. Due to recent developments, measures to reduce mountain disasters are urgently needed. Stability measures should be established for hazard zone.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.548-555
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• 2018

Objectives: We conducted ecological risk assessment for cadmium, a heavy metal and carcinogen, to identify safety standards by environmental media and to determine its impact on ecosystems by estimating and evaluating exposure levels. Methods: Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) were generated using ECOTOX DB. A hazardous concentration of 5% (HC5) protective of most species (95%) in the environment was estimated. Using this estimate, predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) were calculated for aquatic organisms. Based on the calculated PNECs for aquatic organisms, PNEC values for soil and sediment were calculated using the partition coefficient. Predicted exposure concentrations (PECs) were also calculated from environmental monitoring data with hazard quotients (HQs) calculated using PNECs for environmental media. Results: Chronic toxicity data were categorized into four groups and 11 species. In species sensitivity distribution (SSD) analysis, HC5 was $0.340{\mu}g/L$. Based on this value, the PNEC value for aquatic organisms was calculated as $0.113{\mu}g/L$. PNEC values for soil and sediments using a partition coefficient were calculated as 15.02 mg/kg and 90.61 mg/kg, respectively. In an analysis of environmental monitoring data, PEC values were calculated as $0.017{\mu}g/L$ for water, 1.01 mg/kg for soil, and 0.521 mg/kg for sediment. Conclusions: HQs were 0.150, 0.067 and 0.006 for water, soil and sediment, respectively. HQs of secondary toxicity were 0.365 for birds and 0.024 for mammals. In principle, it is judged that an HQ above 1 indicates a high level of risk concern while an HQ less than 1 indicates an extremely low level of risk concern. Therefore, with HQs of cadmium in the environment being <1, its risk levels can be considered low for each media.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2019

The present study was carried out to identify the distribution characteristics of heavy metals in ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng reduction of dietary exposure. Samples of ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng were collected from 14 and 5 regions across Korea, respectively. Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (Ar) were detected by ICP-MS after microwave digestion, whereas aluminum (Al) was determined using ICP. Cultivated ginseng peels were 16.2% of whole root, while the peels and fine roots amounted to 21.8% and 16.8% of whole wood-cultivated ginseng, respectively. Taking into account the weight and concentration of the heavy metals by root part, their distribution ratios were calculated and compared. The cultivated ginseng peels contained 40.3% Pb, 25.9% Cd, 47.6% As, and 89.9% Al. Meanwhile, heavy metals consisting of 27.2% Pb, 28.2% Cd, 48.3% As, and 56.8% Al were distributed in the peels of the wood-cultivated ginseng. There was no significant difference between the peels and fine roots of the wood-cultivated ginseng with respect to the distribution proportion of heavy metals, except for Al. These results indicate that the level of dietary exposure to heavy metals could be reduced by peeling ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng prior to consumption.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.333-340
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• 2019

This paper was described about the preparation of the multi-functional mask pack and its evaluation. Here, the multi-functional effects means the far-infrared emissivity effect due to polyphosphoric acid, the freckles treatment effect and peeling effects due to inclusion complexes, and the skin temperature decreasing effect due to Lavender-extraction compounds. The the hazardous chemicals, viscosity, and pH were determined blow 0.01%, 280 cP, and pH=6.92 in the prepared multi-functional mask pack solution, respectively. The multi-functional mask pack prepared with dipping method in the solution were showed the value of $0.882{\mu}m$ (Far-infrared emissivity) and $3.40{\times}10^2W/m$ at $37^{\circ}C$ (Far-infrared radiation energy), respectively. After taking multi-functional mask pack, the skin moisturizing rate was indicated 35.5%, and the skin temperature was showed in the range of $24{\sim}26^{\circ}C$. The skin stimulation test for the 30 volunteer was showed very strong stability.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2019

As candidates for accident-tolerant fuels, ceramic microcell fuels, which are distinguished by their peculiar microstructures, are being developed; these fuels have $UO_2$ grains surrounded by cell walls. They contribute to nuclear fuel safety by retention of fission products within the $UO_2$ pellet, reducing rod pressure and incidence of SCC failure. Cesium, a hazardous fission product in terms of amount and radioactivity, can be captured by chemical reactions with ceramic cell materials. The capture-ability of cesium therefore depends on the thermodynamics of the capturing reaction. Conversely, compositional design of cell materials should be based on thermodynamic predictions. This study proposes thermodynamic calculations to evaluate the cesium capture-ability of three ceramic microcell compositions: Si-Ti-O, Si-Cr-O and Si-Al-O. Prior to the calculations, the chemical and physical states of the cesium and the cell materials were defined. Then, the reactivity was evaluated by calculating the cesium potential (${\Delta}G_{Cs}$) and oxygen potential (${\Delta}G_{O_2}$) under simulated LWR circumstances of normal operation. Based on the results, cesium capture is expected to be spontaneous in all cell compositions, providing a basis for the compositional design of ceramic microcell fuels as well as a facile way for evaluating cesium capture.