• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.124-132
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• 2018

Objectives: All enterprises intending to install and operate hazardous chemical handling facilities should prepare an off-site risk assessment (ORA) report that evaluates the impact of potential chemical accidents on the surrounding environment and population. This study was conducted to introduce the process of development and the functioning of the Korea Off-site Risk Assessment support tool (KORA) developed by the National Institute of Chemical Safety and to suggest manners to increase its utilization. Additionally, this article provided an overview of KORA. Methods: In order to identify problems with and refinements for KORA, the required items for each phase of KORA were derived by analyzing the Chemical Control Act and related administrative regulations. Results: The functions of KORA made receptor-considered assessment of chemical accidents possible, but several limitations were found in particular phases, such as the analysis of impact range, consideration of sensitive receptors, and assessment of environmental receptors. Conclusion: In this study, we suggested manners to increase the utilization of KORA. It is anticipated that the further research suggested in the study could contribute to the stabilization of the KORA system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.38-44
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• 2018

Ammonia is used primarily as a refrigerant in refrigeration facility and SCR of a plant, and is frequently involved in leakage accidents. This study was conducted by selecting ammonia, a material with a wide influence range when evaluated, as a material with higher vapor pressure and lighter than air. In this study, the influence ranges were computed using KORA(Korea Off-site Risk Assessment supporting tool) with four different environmental factors : ground roughness, sealing, operating temperature, pressure, and leakage hole size. As a result, the difference in the influence range of ground roughness is approximately 4.62 times, while the ammonia storage tank shows a difference in the reduction rate of 0.64 when sealed. The extent of impact increased with increasing leakage depending on storage temperature and pressure, and when storing higher than the saturation vapor pressure, the impact range showed an average growth rate of 3.45 % per 0.1 Mpa($45^{\circ}C$). The influence ranges based on the size of the leakage holes is shown to be proportional to the area of the leakage zone.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.84-90
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• 2018

We researched the way to minimize the damage when the chlorine-leak accident take place in a purification plant. Since the level of risk based on the Off-site Risk Assessment(ORA) is a combination of proportional to the number of residents in the damaged area and frequency of accidents, we suggested the adequate conditions to reduce the number of residents in the damaged area by means of the operating temperature of a handling facility, installation of a emergency shut-off valve, and the analysis of the variation of the damaging range in accordance with the type of enclosure. The coverage of damage was calculated by the 'KORA(Korea Off-site Risk Assessment Supporting Tool) program. The research shows that the lower operating temperature gets, the more emergency shut-off valve being installed and the higher enclosure level of facility becomes, the extent of damage gets decreased. The decreasing rate of worst case was 17.6%, 71%, 34.5% respectively, the decreasing rate of alternative case was 31.6%, 69.0%, 34.8% respectively.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.112-120
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• 2019

Benzene is a class 4 hazardous material according to the Act on the Safety Control of Hazardous Substances. This study qualitatively evaluated the damage size of a "toxic" accident and "pool fire" accidents based on benzene in a virtual scenario of a fire and leakage accident during unloading at a port facility. The KORA program was used as an evaluation method, which is supported as a universal program by the National Institute of Chemical Safety. The range of damage effects of a benzene-induced fire and leakage accident was predicted. In the case of toxic damage range, the accident's damage effect range for the "worst case scenario" was reduced by up to 5.11% with a decrease in the size of the leakage hole. In the case of the leakage time, the damage effect range increased to 145.12% with a 10 min leakage time compared to that of a 5 min leakage time and went up to 20 min (212.29%) with a 20 min leakage time. In the case of pool-fire-induced damage, the damage effect range by radiant heat in the "worst case scenario" was 228.8 m in radius from the center of the handling facility. In the "alternative scenario," the damage effect range by radiant heat was reduced by up to 8.26% compared to that in the "worst case scenario" since the size of the leakage hole was decreased by reducing the cross-sectional area of the pipe.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2021

Objectives: The correlation between the size of a leak hole, the volume of the leakage, and the range of influence was investigated for a hydrochloric acid tank-lorry. Methods: For the case of a tank-lorry chemical accident, KORA (Korea Off-site Risk Assessment Supporting Tool) was used to predict the leak rate and the range of influence according to the size of the leak hole. The correlation was studied using R. Results: As a result of analyzing the leak rate change according to the leak hole size in a 35% hydrochloric acid tank-lorry, as the size of the leak hole increased from 1 to 100 mm, the leak rate increased from 0.008 to 83.94 kg/sec, following the power function. As a result of calculating the range of influence under conditions ranging from 1 to 100 mm in size and 10 to 60 minutes of leakage time, it was found that the range spanned from a minimum of 5.4 m to a maximum of 307.9 m. As a result of multiple regression analysis using R, the quadratic function model best explained the correlation between the size of the leak hole, the leak time, and the range of influence with an adjected coefficient of determination of 0.97 and a root mean square error of 22.33. Conclusion: If a correlation database for the size of a leak hole is accumulated for various substances and under various conditions, the amount of leakage and the range of influence can easily be calculated, facilitating field response activities.