• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.414-431
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• 2016

There are numerous closed and abandoned mines in Korea, from which diverse heavy metals (e.g., As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) are released into the surrounding soil, groundwater, surface water, and crops, potentially resulting in detrimental effects on the health of nearby residents. Therefore, we performed human risk assessments of two abandoned metal mines, Yanggok (YG) and Samsanjeil (SJ). The exposure parameters used in this assessment were specific to residents near mines and the included exposure pathways were relevant to areas around metal mines. The computed total excess carcinogenic risks for both areas exceeded the acceptable carcinogenic risk ($1{\times}10^{-6}$), indicating that these areas are likely unsafe due to a carcinogenic hazard. In contrast, the non-carcinogenic risks of the two areas differed among the studied receptors. The hazard indices were higher than the unit risk (=1.0) for male and female adults in YG and male adults in SJ, suggesting that there are non-carcinogenic risks for these groups in the study areas. However, the hazard indices for children in YG and female adults and children in SJ were lower than the unit risk. Consumption of groundwater and crops grown in the area were identified as major exposure pathways for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards in both areas. Finally, the dominant metals contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were As and As, Cu, and Pb, respectively. In addition, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of YG were evaluated to be 10 and 4 times higher than those of SJ, respectively, resulted from the relatively higher exposure concentration of As in groundwater within SJ area. Because of lacking of several exposure parameters, some of average daily dose (ADD) could not be computed in this study. Furthermore, it is likely that the ADDs of crop-intake pathway included some errors because they were calculated using soil exposure concentrations and bioconcentration factor (BCF) rather than using crop exposure concentrations.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2010

Although several studies have reported that Cr, Cu and As can leach from CCA-treated woods, few studies have been conducted on this topic in Korea. Therefore, this study was conducted to monitor Cr, Cu and As leaching from CCA-treated wood products and to develop a rapid identification method for CCA-treated wood products by using indicators such as PAN stain. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0-70 cm and wood samples were collected by thickness of wood layer. The soil and wood samples were then digested and analyzed for Cr, Cu and As concentrations using an atomic absorption spectrometer. The As and Cu concentrations decreased sharply with depth from 34.38 and 33.65 mg $kg^{-1}$ at 0-1 cm to 1.72 and 7.84 mg $kg^{-1}$ at 70 cm, respectively. In general, As was more mobile than Cr and Cu in the soil. For wood samples, the Cr, Cu and As concentrations were higher in the outer layer (0-0.5cm) than the inner layers (0.6-4.5cm). Evaluation of rapid identification methods revealed that 100% acetone with 0.1% PAN indicator was the best combination for detection of CCA-treated wood in the field.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.453-459
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• 2018

This study was performed to investigate the contamination levels of heavy metals (such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury) and aflatoxin (such as $B_1$, $B_2$, $G_1$ and $G_2$) in commercial herbs for food and medicine. The concentrations of the heavy metals were measured by the ICP-MS and a mercury analyzer. The aflatoxins were analyzed by a HPLC-florescence coupled with photochemical derivatization. The detection ranges of the lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury were found to be 0.006~4.088 mg/kg, 0.002~2.150 mg/kg, ND~0.610 mg/kg and ND~0.0139 mg/kg respectively. Among the total samples, the 3 samples (2.6%) were not suitable for the specification of cadmium by the MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). The 13 samples of the total 117 samples were aflatoxin positive (11.1%). The amount of aflatoxin $G_1$ was $0.7834{\mu}g/kg$ in the Puerariae Radix and aflatoxin $G_2$ were $0.3517{\mu}g/kg$, $0.4881{\mu}g/kg$ in two samples of the Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, respectively. The aflatoxins $B_2$ and $G_1$ were simultaneously detected in the 10 Angelicae Gigantis Radix. The detection ranges of aflatoxins $B_2$ and $G_1$ were $0.2324{\sim}1.0358{\mu}g/kg$ and $0.7552{\sim}1.6545{\mu}g/kg$ respectively in Angelicae Gigantis Radix. The results of the current study suggest that continuous monitoring is needed for the proactive management of commercial herbs for food and medicine safety.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.119-127
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• 2022

In recent years, the intensity of typhoons has increased due to climate change. It is presumed that the tailings and waste rock in the mining area harm the environment owing to flood damage. The Gangneung area has been affected by the largest typhoons in Korea, including No. 3,693 (1936), Rusa (2002), Maemi (2003), and Megi (2004). This study was based on a case in which high concentrations of arsenic were detected in the surroundings along a stream after floods caused by typhoons. Although the environmental damage-related law clarifies the responsibility of polluters, careful implementation is required in potential natural disaster areas. The pollutants from abandoned mines can be widely exposed due to typhoons as artificial causes may be mixed. To minimize the impact of natural disasters in these areas, it is necessary to improve and link relevant laws. This study is expected to help cope with mixed pollutants in downstream areas.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.21-33
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to review of environmental assessment of heavy metals derived from various metalliferous mines in Korea. As a results of national wide research for heavy metal contaminations in the vicinity of metalleferous mines, the main contaminants are mine waste materials including tailings. From the materials, toxic elements including As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn can be dispersed into downstream through wind and water. Thus, soils around the mines contain elevated levels of those elements, which are over the guide values for environmental regulation of soils in Korea. Arsenic is one of the most important elements contaminated by mining activities, to a less extent, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. In spite of remediation works for some metal mines by the government, there are still lots of abandoned mines which are necessary for reclamation of mining sites. This study also includes that metal concentrations in soils and tailings can be varied upon various decomposition methods including 0.1N HC1 and aqua regia and sequential extraction scheme, with differences in each element, too. This may be due to geochemical characteristics of the elements, such as solubility, mobility and chemical forms in the geochemical environment. Finally, it is suggested that a certain organization should be runned by Korean government for management of abandoned mines.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.133-142
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a laboratory test on arsenic removal effciency for ARD(Acid Rock Drain-age) using limestone and apatite, and on heavy metals removal efficiencies for AMD(Acid Mine Drainage) using apatite and fish bone. As a result of the laboratory test, pH, arsenic removal rate of limestone & apatite are inversely proportional to flow rates and apatite removes 100% of arsenic while limestone removes 37% of arsenic at 0.6$m{ell}$/min/kg flow rate in case of ARD treatment. And the dissolution amount of apatite is twenty five times higher than that of limestone. In case of AMD treatment, fish bone shows higher dissolution rate than apatite, and pH of outlet water reacted with fish bone is higher than that reacted with apatite. The heavy metal removal rates of fish bone are also higher than that of apatite except arsenic removal rate. The precipitate resulted from fish bone reaction with AMD seems to be biological sludge type while that resulted from apatite with AMD is inorganic solid which can settle easily compared with the biological sludge and can be cemented by gypsum. As the results, apatite can be used as a precipitant for the polluted mine waters showing wide range of pH and fish bone can be used for highly contaminated AMD.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2009

The property of pit and fissure sealant has been improved and many studies on the bond strength, penetration, microleakage have been published. But there are few studies on the using status and perception of pit and fissure sealant within the country. Therefore, this study made a survey on it. Pedodontists and non-pedodontists were surveyed by interview. The Results were as follows; 1. On caries prevention effect, 96.7% of the pedodontists replied that sealants were effective on both permanent teeth and primary teeth. On the other hand, 13.5% of the non-pedodontists replied that sealants weren't effective on both. 2. All of the pedodontists and 27% of the non-pedodontists used rubber dams. 83.3% of the pedodontists and 40.5% of the non-pedodontists used bonding agents. 3. Non-pedodontists used enameloplasty more frequently than Pedodontists but the pattern was not significantly different. 4. The causes of sealant failures included salivary contamination, caries under sealant, low strength, low flowability, overfilling. 5. In the pedodontists, 90% replied that PRR application was desirable and PRR applications were more frequent than sealant application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Application of manganese-impregnated activated carbon(Mn-AC) in the treatment of synthetic wastewater containing both organic and inorganic contaminants was investigated. Phenol and As(III) was used as representative organic and inorganic contaminants, respectively. When the stability of Mn-AC at acidic condition was evaluated with variation of solution pH ranging from 2 to 4, Mn-AC was unstable below pH 3, while negligible dissolution of Mn was observed above pH 4. This stability test suggests a plausible applicability of Mn-AC in the treatment of wastewater above pH 4. Compared to AC-alone, the adsorption rates of phenol as well as adsorbed amounts of phenol by Mn-AC were slightly decreased due to the decrease of the surface area by impregnation. The maximum adsorbed amount of phenol by Mn-AC was corresponds to 75% of that by AC-alone from the adsorption isotherm study. The oxidation efficiency of As(III) by Mn-AC was greater than that by AC-alone at lower pHs while reverse trend was observed as pH increased above 7. From this work, it was found that Mn-AC could be used in the simultaneous treatment of both phenol and As(III).

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.14-21
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• 2016

This study evaluated the applicability of stabilization of arsenic (As)-contaminated soil with iron (Fe) oxides at the former Janghang smelter site. Three Fe oxides (magnetite, goethite, and hematite) were tested as stabilizing agents to one soil sample collected from the study site. Amendment of 5% of magnetite, goethite, or hematite for one week showed the 64, 58, and 36% of reduction of the SBRC (Solubility/Bioavailability Research Consortium)-extractable (bioaccessible) As, respectively. Duration of stabilization more than one week did not show an additional reduction in SBRC-extractable As. Amendment of 5% of magnetite, which showed the highest As stabilization efficiency, was applied to 24 soil samples collected from the same site for one week, and 72% of reduction in the bioaccessible As was observed. The potential carcinogenic human health risk at the study site caused by As was $1.7{\times}10^{-5}$, which could be reduced to $8.1{\times}10^{-6}$ by the amendment of 5% magnetite for one week.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2011

Although Nepal is naturally bestowed with ample water resources, not all of the population has access to safe and clean drinking water. Waste water treatment is almost nonexistent. In the recent days the flow of population in the urban areas has increased the existing challenges of providing safe water and promoting sanitation. The prevalence of water borne diseases is high. This paper presents overview of issues like water pollution, arsenic contamination of drinking water, waste water treatment and effects of water contamination on public health. Comparison between waste water treatment regulations in South Korea and Nepal has also been made. Implementation strategies to tackle the existing water related problem for promoting public health is also recommended.