• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 2016

When a riser is damaged, the oil spills to sea. Oil spills cause huge economic losses as well as a destruction of the marine environment. To reduce losses, it is needed to predict spilled oil volume from risers and the excursion of the oil. The present paper simulated the oil spill for a damaged riser using open source libraries, called Open-FOAM. To verify numerical methods, jet flow and Rayleigh-Taylor instability were simulated. The oil spill was simulated for various damaged leak size, spilled oil volume rates, damaged vertical locations of a riser, and current speeds. From results, the maximum excursion of the spilled oil at the certain time was predicted, and a forecasting model for various parameters was suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.467-475
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• 2013

In order to seize quantitative materials as part of studies on measures for oil pollution prevention and control, the statistics of oil pollution incidents in Korean coastal waters for 10 years from 2003 to 2012 were analyzed with relation to the number of oil spills and the volume of oil spilt according to causes, sources and sea areas of spills. Total number and total volume of oil spills for 10 years were found to be 2,833 cases and 17,877 kL, respectively. 50.4 %(1,429 cases) of total number of oil spills were caused by negligence, although oil spillage due to negligence was 294 kL(1.7 %). While oil spillage caused by marine accidents was 17,400 kL(97.3 %), marine accidents accounted for 27.9 %(790 cases) of total number of oil spills. While negligence had a great influence on the number of oil spills, marine accidents had a huge impact on the amount of oil spilt. Fishing boats accounted for 42.7 %(1,210 cases) of the number of oil spills, and although oil tankers accounted for 9.2 %(261 cases) of the number of oil spills, oil spillage from oil tankers was 15,488kL(86.7 %). It means that oil tankers such as VLCC or ULCC may be the main sources of major oil spills and a few very large spills are responsible for a high percentage of the amount of oil spilt. While the number of oil spill incidents was closely related to the accidents of fishing boats, the volume of oil spilt was greatly affected by the major oil spill incidents of oil tankers such as M/T Hebei Spirit. The number and volume of oil spills were shown to be 1,613 cases(56.9 %) and 3,804 kL(21.3 %) in South Sea, 700 cases(24.7 %) and 13,501 kL(75.5 %) in West Sea, and 520 cases(18.2 %) and 572 kL(3.2 %) in East Sea of Korea, respectively. The highest number of oil spills was found in South Sea and the most volume of oil spilt was shown in West Sea of Korea for 10 years.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.177-181
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• 2008

In this study, the authors analyzed the limit of IOPC Fund system, such as limit of compensation, amount of FC, long period of assessment by IOPC Fund, issue of non verification by poor claimant or small business, issue of poor claimant subsistence in early stage of accidents, and comparatively analyzed how the three countries resolved these limits by enacting special laws and government policy. Until recently most governments have carried out prevention policy for maritime safety, oil spill response, investigation of maritime accidents, and restoration of marine environment when oil spill accidents happened. However, governments have not actively participated in the oil spill compensation process because it is a matter of private sectors between the polluter and claimant. The governments have only limited their role in ratifying Civil Liability Convention and Fund Convention and enacted relevant domestic laws. However, the governments of France, Spain, and Korea have actively participated in the compensation process of oil pollution incidents of M/T Erika, M/T Prestige, and M/T Hebei Spirit. This is because they had experiences of unsuccessful compensation in M/T Amoco Cadiz, M/T Agean Sea, and M/T Sea Prince.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.94-94
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• 2001

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.345-354
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• 2008

Objectives : Our objective is to review and summarize the previous studies on the health effects of exposure to oil spills in order to make suggestions for mid- and long-term study plans regarding the health effects of the Hebei Spirit oil spill occured in Korea. Methods : We searched PubMed to systemically retrieve reports on the human health effects related to oil spill accidents. The papers' reference lists and reviews on the topic were searched as well. Results : We found 24 articles that examined seven oil spill accidents worldwide over the period from 1989 to August 2008, including the Exxon Valdes, Braer, Sea Empress, Erika, Nakhodka, Prestige and Tasman Spirit oil spills. Most of the studies applied cross-sectional and short-term follow-up study designs. The exposure level was measured by assessing the place of residence, using a questionnaire and environmental and personal monitoring. Studies on the acute or immediate health effects mainly focused on the subjective physical symptoms related to clean-up work or residential exposure. Late or mid-term follow-up studies were performed to investigate a range of health effects such as pulmonary function and endocrine, immunologic and genetic toxicity. The economic and social impact of the accidents resulted in the socio-psychological exposure and the psychosocial health effects. Conclusions : Studies of the health effects of exposure to oil spills should consider a range of health outcomes, including the physical and psychological effects, and the studies should be extended for a considerable period of time to study the long-term chronic health effects.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2010.05b
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• pp.910-914
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• 2010

A collision between a barge and an oil tanker of Hebei Spirit caused the release of an estimated 12,547 tons of light crude oil into the Yellow Sea off the west coast of Taean-gun, Korea on December 7, 2007. This study was aimed to evaluate exposure conditions and acute health effects in soldiers participating in the Hebei Spirit oil spill cleanup activities and the association between these and the nature of the work and use of protection devices. The sample comprised 2,624 soldiers stratified by working area and number of working days. We divided working area into the coast of Taean-gun(highly polluted area) and other areas affected by Hebei Spirit oil spill. And we divided number of working days into 1-7 days, 8-14 days, 15-21 days and above 22 days. Data were obtained via a structured, self-administered questionnaire and included information on working area, type of working, number of working days, use of protective materials, and acute health effects. Acute health effects were classified into 5 groups: neurological, respiratory, dermatologic, ophthalmic and other symptoms. Data analysis was performed using unconditional logistic regression used to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. On logistic regression analysis, working on the coast of Taean-gun was significantly associated with increased risk of acute health problems: headache, dizziness, nausea, general fatigue, insomnia, flushed face, sore throat, dry throat, runny nose, cough, sputum, skin irritation, sore eyes, injection of conjunctiva, tear, and low back pain. Furthermore soldiers working more than 21 days were significantly associated with increased risk of acute health problems: insomnia, flushed face, sore throat, runny nose, cough, sputum, tear, low back pain and fever. Accordingly, the exposure to the oil and the subsequent cleanup efforts were suggested to inflict acute health problems on soldiers participating in the Hebei Spirit oil spill cleanup activities.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.53-56
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• 2010

Oil spills and red tide can be very damaging to the environment and fishery farming. These catastrophic accidents must be detected as quickly as possible. In this paper, we report the results of applying the wavelet transform to SAR or marine radar images for the detection of the boundaries of an oil spill or red tide. The application of the wavelet transform to these phenomena looks quite promising in detecting the boundaries of oil spills and red tide areas.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.166-173
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• 2010

Objectives: On December 7, 2007, the Hebei Spirit oil tanker spilled out 12,547 kl of crude oil on the Yellow Sea 10 km away from the cost of Taean Province, Korea. As the coastline has been contaminated, local residents have been exposed to crude oil. Because the residents were showing many symptoms, we investigated the acute health effects of this oil spill on them. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study consisting of the heavy and moderately oil soaked area in Taean and the lightly oil soaked area in Seocheon. Ten seashore villages were selected from each area, and 10 male and female adults were selected from each village. We interviewed the subjects using a structured questionnaire on the characteristics of residents, the cleanup activities, the perception of oil hazard, depression and anxiety, and the physical symptoms. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The logistic regression model was adjusted for age, gender, education, smoking, the perception of oil hazard and anxiousness. Results: The more highly contaminated the area, the more likely it was for residents to be engaged in cleanup activities and have a greater chance of exposure to oil. The indexes of anxiety and depression were higher in the heavy and moderately oil soaked areas. The increased risks of headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, tingling of limb, hot flushing, sore throat, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath, itchy skin, rash, and sore eyes were significant. Conclusions: The results suggest that exposure to crude oil is associated with various acute physical symptoms. Long-term investigation is required to monitor the residents' health.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2003

When oil is spilled at sea, the oil boom is commonly used to tackle the movement and spreading of oil in an early stage of oil spill combat. But the retaining capability of oil boom is affected by various factors, such as water velocity, viscosity and density of oil, water depth, oil volume and the length of boom draft. In this study, a computer modelling was peformed to investigate how these factors influence the oil retaining process. The Fluent, most popular one of many CFD(computational fluid dynamics) programs is chosen for modelling and modelling results were verified using the empirical data. It is expected that results of this study will be useful data for oil boom designer and oil spill response commander.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.171-178
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• 2003

When oil is spilled at sea, the oil boom is commonly used to tackle the movement and spreading of oil in an early stage of oil spill combat. But, the retaining capability of oil boom is affected by various factors, such as water velocity, viscosity, and density of oil, water depth, oil volume and the length of boom draft. In this study, computer modeling was peformed to investigate how these factors influence the oil retaining process. The Fluent, most popular one of many CFD(computational fluid dynamics) programs is chosen for modelling and modelling results were verified using the empirical data. It is expected that results of this study will be useful data for oil boom designer and oil spill response commander.