• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to develop a fire HRA (Human Reliability Analysis) procedure for full power operation of domestic NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants). For the development of fire HRA procedure, the recent research results of NUREG-1921 in an effort to meet the requirements of the ASME/ANS PRA Standard were reviewed. The K-HRA method, a standard method for HRA of a domestic level 1 PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment) and fire related procedures in domestic NPPs were reviewed. Based on the review, a procedure for the fire HRA required for a domestic fire PSA based on the K-HRA method was developed. To this end, HRA issues such as new operator actions required in the event of a fire and complexity of fire situations were considered. Based on the four kinds of HFE (Human Failure Event) developed for a fire HRA in this research, a qualitative analysis such as feasibility evaluation was suggested. And also a quantitative analysis process which consists of screening analysis and detailed analysis was proposed. For the qualitative analysis, a screening analysis by NUREG-1921 was used. In this research, the screening criteria for the screening analysis was modified to reduce vague description and to reflect recent experimental results. For a detailed analysis, the K-HRA method and scoping analysis by NUREG-1921 were adopted. To apply K-HRA to fire HRA for quantification, efforts to modify PSFs (Performance Shaping Factors) of K-HRA to reflect fire situation and effects were made. For example, an absence of STA (Shift Technical Advisor) to command a fire brigade at a fire area is considered and the absence time should be reflected for a HEP (Human Error Probability) quantification. Based on the fire HRA procedure developed in this paper, a case study for HEP quantification such as a screening analysis and detailed analysis with the modified K-HRA was performed. It is expected that the HRA procedure suggested in this paper will be utilized for fire PSA for domestic NPPs as it is the first attempt to establish an HRA process considering fire effects.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.723-730
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• 2008

Due to the higher ratio of live load to total loads of railway bridges, the accumulated damage by cyclic fatigue is significant. Moreover, it is highly possible that the initiated crack grows faster than that of highway bridges. Therefore, it is strongly needed to assess the safety for the accumulated damage analytically. The initiation and growth of fatigue-crack are related with the stress range, number of cycles, and the stiffness of the structural system. The stiffness of the structural system includes uncertainties of the planning, design, construction and maintenance, which varies as time goes. In this study, the authors developed the design and risk assessment techniques based on the reliability theories considering the uncertainties in load and resistance. For the probabilistic risk assessment of crack growth and the remaining life of the structures by the cyclic load of railway and subway bridges, response surface method (RSM) combined with first order second moment method were used. For composing limit state function, the stress range, stress intensity factor and the remaining life were selected as input important random variables to the RSM program. The probabilities of failure and the reliability indices of fatigue life for the considered specimen under cyclic loads were evaluated and discussed.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.9
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• pp.657-668
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• 2022

With the occurrence of localized heavy rain while river flow has increased, both flow and rainfall cause riverside flood damages. As the degree of damage varies according to the level of social and economic impact, it is required to secure sufficient forecast lead time for flood response in areas with high population and asset density. In this study, the author established a flood risk matrix using ensemble rainfall runoff modeling and evaluated its applicability in order to increase the damage reduction effect by securing the time required for flood response. The flood risk matrix constructs the flood damage impact level (X-axis) using flood damage data and predicts the likelihood of flood occurrence (Y-axis) according to the result of ensemble rainfall runoff modeling using LENS rainfall data and as well as probabilistic forecasting. Therefore, the author introduced a method for determining the impact level of flood damage using historical flood damage data and quantitative flood damage assessment methods. It was compared with the existing flood warning data and the damage situation at the flood warning points in the Taehwa River Basin and the Hyeongsan River Basin in the Nakdong River Region. As a result, the analysis showed that it was possible to predict the time and degree of flood risk from up to three days in advance. Hence, it will be helpful for damage reduction activities by securing the lead time for flood response.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.91-93
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• 2003

It has been estimated that the equivalent of approximately $US 50 billion has been spent on research on the behavior and fate of pesticides in the environment since Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring” in 1962. Much of the resulting knowledge has been summarized explicitly in computer algorithms in a variety of empirical, deterministic, and probabilistic simulation models. These models describe and predict the transport, degradation and resultant concentrations of pesticides in various compartments of the environment during and after application. In many cases the known errors of model predictions are large. For this reason they are typically designed to be “conservative”, i.e., err on the side of over-prediction of concentrations in order to err on the side of safety. These predictions are then compared with toxicity data, from tests of the pesticide on a series of standard representative biota, including terrestrial and aquatic indicator species and higher animals (e.g., wildlife and humans). The models' predictions are good enough in some cases to provide screening of those compounds which are very unlikely to do harm, and to indicate those compounds which must be investigated further. If further investigation is indicated a more detailed (and therefore more complicated) model may be employed to give a better estimate, or field experiments may be required. A model may be used to explore “what if” questions leading to possible alternative pesticide usage patterns which give lower potential environmental concentrations and allowable exposures. We are currently at a maturing stage in this research where the knowledge base of pesticide behavior in the environmental is growing more slowly than in the past. However, innovative uses are being made of the explosion in available computer technology to use models to take ever more advantage of the knowledge we have. In this presentation, current developments in the state of the art as practiced in North America and Europe will be presented. Specifically, we will look at the efforts of the ‘Focus’ consortium in the European Union, and the ‘EMWG’ consortium in North America. These groups have been innovative in developing a process and mechanisms for discussion amongst academic, agriculture, industry and regulatory scientists, for consensus adoption of research advances into risk management methodology.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.51-61
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• 2006

An efficient and accurate hybrid reliability analysis method is proposed in this paper to quantify the risk of an axially loaded single pile considering pile-soil interaction behavior and uncertainties in various design variables. The proposed method intelligently integrates the concepts of the response surface method, the finite difference method, the first-order reliability method, and the iterative linear interpolation scheme. The load transfer method is incorporated into the finite difference method for the deterministic analysis of a single pile-soil system. The uncertainties associated with load conditions, material and section properties of a pile and soil properties are explicitly considered. The risk corresponding to both serviceability limit state and strength limit state of the pile and soil is estimated. Applicability, accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in the safety assessment of a realistic pile-soil system subjected to axial loads are verified by comparing it with the results of the Monte Carlo simulation technique.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2021

This paper focuses on the development and assessment of the expected damage for the rocking response of rigid anchored blocks, with irregular geometry and non-uniform mass distribution, considering the site conditions and the seismicity of Mexico City. The non-linear behavior of the restrainers is incorporated to evaluate the pure tension and tension-shear failure mechanisms. A probabilistic framework is performed covering a wide range of block sizes, slenderness ratios and eccentricities using physics-based ground motion simulation. In order to incorporate the uncertainties related to the propagation of far-field earthquakes with a significant contribution to the seismic hazard at study sites, it was simulated a set of scenarios using a stochastic summation methods of small-earthquakes records, considered as Empirical Green's Function (EGFs). As Engineering Demand Parameter (EDP), the absolute value of the maximum block rotation normalized by the body slenderness, as a function of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) is adopted. The results show that anchorages are more efficient for blocks with slenderness ratio between two and three, while slenderness above four provide a better stability when they are not restrained. Besides, there is a range of peak intensities where anchored blocks located in soft soils are less vulnerable with respect to those located in firm soils. The procedure used in here allows to take decisions about risk, reliability and resilience assessment of different types of contents, and it is easily adaptable to other seismic environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.105-117
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• 2010

The topographical depressions in urban areas, the lack in drainage capability, sewage backward flow, road drainage, etc. cause internal inundation, and the increase in rainfall resulting from recent climate change, the rapid urbanization accompanied by economic development and population growth, and the increase in an impervious area in urban areas deteriorate the risk of internal inundation in the urban areas. In this study, the vulnerability of internal inundation in urban areas is analyzed and SWMM model is applied into Oncheoncheon watershed, which represents urban river of Busan, as a target basin. Based on the results, the representative storm sewers in individual sub-catchments is selected and the risk of vulnerability to internal inundation due to rainfall in urban streams is analyzed. In order to analyze the risk and vulnerability of internal inundation, capacity is applied as an index indicating the volume of a storm sewer in the SWMM model, and the risk of internal inundation is into 4 steps. For the analysis on the risk of internal inundation, simulation results by using a SMMM model are compared with the actual inundation areas resulting from localized heavy rain on July 7, 2009 at Busan and comparison results are analyzed to prove the validity of the designed model. Accordingly, probabilistic rainfall at Busan was input to the model for each frequency (10, 20, 50, 100 years) and duration (6, 12, 18, 24hr) at Busan. In this study, it suggests that the findings can be used to preliminarily alarm the possibility of internal inundation and selecting the vulnerable zones in urban areas.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.213-220
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• 2009

In order to predict the risk of freeze injury for 'Changhowon Hwangdo' peach trees, we used the dormancy depth (i.e., the daily chill unit accumulation during the overwintering period) as a proxy for the short-term, physiological tolerance to freezing temperatures. A Chill-days model was employed and its parameters such as base temperature and chilling requirement were optimized for peach trees based on the 12 observational experiments during the 2008-2009 winter. The model predicted the flowering dates much closer to the observations than other models without considering dormancy depth, showing the strength of employing dormancy depth into consideration. To derive empirical equations for calculating the probabilistic freeze risk, the dormancy depth was then combined with the browning ratio and the budburst ratio of frozen peach fruit branches. Given the exact date and the predicted minimum temperature, the equations calculate the probability of freeze damages such as a failure in budburst or tissue browning. This method of employing dormancy depth in addition to freezing temperature would be useful in locating in advance the risky areas of freezing injury for peach trees production under the projected climate change.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2020

This study evalutated the risk of foodborne illness from Vibrio spp. (Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae) through sea squirt consumption. The prevalence of V. vulnificus and V. cholerae in sea squirt was evaluated, and the predictive models to describe the kinetic behavior of the Vibrio in sea squirt were developed. Distribution temperatures and times were collected, and they were fitted to probabilistic distributions to determine the appropriate distributions. The raw data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016 were used to estimate the consumption rates and amount of sea squirt. In the hazard characterization, the Beta-Poisson model for V. vulnificus and V. cholerae infection was used. With the collected data, a simulation model was prepared and it was run with @RISK to estimate probabilities of foodborne illness by pathogenic Vibrio spp. through sea squirt consumption. Among 101 sea squirt samples, there were no V. vulnificus positive samples, but V. cholerae was detected in one sample. The developed predictive models described the fates of Vibrio spp. in sea squirt during distribution and storage, appropriately shown as 0.815-0.907 of R² and 0.28 of RMSE. The consumption rate of sea squirt was 0.26%, and the daily consumption amount was 68.84 g per person. The Beta-Poisson model [P=1-(1+Dose/β)^-α] was selected as a dose-response model. With these data, a simulation model was developed, and the risks of V. vulnificus and V. cholerae foodborne illness from sea squirt consumption were 2.66×10^-15, and 1.02×10^-12, respectively. These results suggest that the risk of pathogenic Vibrio spp. in sea squirt could be considered low in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Many edible mushrooms are known to accumulate high levels of heavy metals. This research was focused on health risk assessment to investigate the mushrooms in Korea, arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) contaminations in edible mushrooms in cultivated areas were investigated, and health risk was assessed through dietary intake of mushrooms. METHODS AND RESULTS: The heavy metals in mushrooms were analyzed by ICP/MS after acid digestion. Probabilistic health risk were estimated by Monte-Carlo simulation techniques. The average contents of As, Cd, Pb, and Hg were $0.035{\pm}0.042$ mg/kg, $0.017{\pm}0.020$ mg/kg, $0.043{\pm}0.013$ mg/kg, and $0.004{\pm}0.004$ mg/kg, respectively. The results showed that contents of Cd and Pb did not exceed maximum residual levels established by European Uion regulation (Cd 0.20 mg/kg and Pb 0.30 mg/kg). For health risk assessment, estimated intakes in all age populations did not exceed the provisional tolerable daily intake of As and Hg, provisional tolerable monthly intake of Cd, provisional tolerable weekly intake of Pb. The Hazard Index (HI) were ranged from $0.03{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}0.01{\times}10^{-3}$ for As, $0.02{\times}10^{-3}{\sim}0.81{\times}10^{-3}$ for Cd, $0.06{\times}10^{-3}{\sim}0.38{\times}10^{-3}$ for Pb, and $0.08{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}0.14{\times}10^{-3}$ for Hg at general population. CONCLUSION: The HI from the ratio analysis between daily exposure and safety level values was less than 1.0. This results demonstrated that human exposure to heavy metals through dietary intake of mushrooms might not cause adverse effect.