• 한국안전학회지
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.96-101
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• 2019

Chemicals Control Act have been strengthened to control more safely hazardous chemicals from 2015. In particular, the standards for the installation and management of handling facilities was enhanced with specific regulations depending on type of the facilities and the hazardous chemicals. However, some standards for handling facilities caused difficulties in implementing the strengthened standards due to various field conditions, such as lack of physical space. The Ministry of Environment is implementing Safety Assessment System (SAS) to solve these problems since 2018. However, many plants have difficulties in preparing alternative methods to pass the safety evaluation. The purpose of this study was to review and analyze the SAS and to suggest alternative measures in terms of management and technical aspects through the case study of hydrochloric acid storage tanks. The following safety solutions were suggested for handling facilities that had insufficient the space and capacity for the retaining wall due to physical space. Firstly, insufficient space was resolved by introducing equipment relocation or demolition, and retaining wall expansion. Secondly, the wall of the surrounding buildings was used as an alternative to the retaining wall with additional chemical resistant treatment. Finally, sensor installation and facility inspection were suggested as ways to improve chemical safety. Therefore, improvement of chemical accident prevention system is required not only in terms of facilities supplementation but also management aspect. The results of this study are expected to be available for similar facilities and will be based on the preparation of additional safety assessment as alternatives measures in the future.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제35권7호
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• pp.1933-1938
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• 2014

Despite increasing importance of in vitro cell-based assays for the assessment of nanoparticles (NPs) cytotoxicity, their suitability for the assessment of NPs toxicity is still in doubt. Here, limitations of widely used cell viability assay protocol (i.e., MTT asssay) for the cytotoxicity assessment of P25 $TiO_2$ NPs were carefully examined and an alternative toxicity assessment method to overcome these limitations was proposed, where the artifacts caused by extracellularly formed formazan and light scattered by agglomerated NPs were minimized by measuring only the intracellular formazan via image cytometric methods.

• 한국위험물학회지
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.59-64
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• 2015

Semiconductor industry has large number of chemical inventory and is easily exposed to chemical release incidents. Toxic release is one of the most interested area in evaluating consequence to the vicinity of industry facilities handling hazardous materials. Hydrofluoric acid is one of the typical chemical used in semiconductor facility and is selected and toxic release is evaluated to assess the risk impacted to its off-site. Accident scenarios were listed using process safety information. The scenarios having effect to the off-site were selected and assessed further according to guideline provided by Korea government. Worst case and alternative scenarios including other interested scenarios were evaluated using ALOHA. Each evaluated scenario was assessed further considering countermeasures. The results showed that the facility handling hydroflooric acid is safe enough and needed no further protections at the moment.

• 청정기술
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.144-151
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• 2008

천연가스로부터 합성가스를 거쳐 제조되는 디메틸에테르가 디젤 대체연료로서 가지는 환경적 가치를 평가하기 위하여 전과정평가를 실시하였다. 전과정평가를 위한 시스템 경계 안에는 디젤과 디메틸에테르 두 물질에 대한 원료 물질의 획득부터 연소를 통한 최종 소비까지의 과정이 포함되었다. 디젤과 디메틸에테르 각각에 대한 목록분석을 실시한 결과 천연자원의 소모와 대기오염물질의 배출이 두 물질과 관련된 가장 중요한 환경오염인자라는 것을 알 수 있었다. 두 물질에 대한 영향평가의 결과로부터 인간의 건강과 생태계 보전이라는 측면에서는 디메틸에테르가 환경적으로 우수하지만 천연자원의 고갈이라는 측면에서는 디젤이 보다 우수함을 알 수 있었다. 목록분석과 영향평가의 결과를 바탕으로 디젤 대체연료로서 디메틸에테르가 가지는 환경적 가치를 제고하기 위한 방안을 제시하였다.

• 한국위험물학회지
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.52-58
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• 2015

Since the HF release in 2012 in Korea, it became one of the most significant to evaluate consequence to the vicinity of industry facilities handling hazardous materials. BTX plant is selected to assess off-site risk to check whether the facility satisfies the Chemical Control Law by Korea Government. Accident scenarios were listed using process safety information. The scenarios having effect to the off-site were selected and assessed further according to guideline provided by Korea government. Worst case and alternative scenarios including other interested scenarios were evaluated using ALOHA. Each evaluated scenario was assessed further considering countermeasures. The results showed that the facility handling chloric acid is safe enough and needed no further protections at the moment.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제18권10호
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• pp.733-738
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• 2017

본 연구에서는 여러 사업장에서 많이 사용되는 대표적 독성 물질인 염소를 누출 물질로 선정하여 화학사고 통계자료에 따라 사고 발생 빈도가 높은 여름철 기상조건을 인자로 한 대안의 시나리오와 기존의 시행방법인 연평균 기상조건을 인자로 한 대안의 시나리오 비교분석을 통해 개선방안을 제시하고자 하였다. 2014년 1월부터 2016년 12월까지 발생한 총 296건의 화학 사고를 분석한 결과 사계절 중 여름에 가장 많은 사고가 발생하는 것으로 조사되었으며 전체 사고 발생건수의 35.81%를 차지하였다. 실제 염소를 취급하는 사업장을 대상으로 위험성 평가 결과 2016년의 경우 연평균 기상조건하에서 산출된 영향범위는 발생원으로부터 반경 712.4 m, 영향범위 내 주민 수는 20,090 명이였으며, 여름철 평균 기상조건하에서 산출된 영향범위는 발생원으로부터 반경 796.2 m, 영향범위 내 주민 수는 27,143 명으로 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과는 특정 조건하에서 현 대안의 시나리오 상의 영향범위가 포괄할 수 없는 부분이 존재함을 의미한다. 따라서 화학 물질별 특성을 고려한 Case Risk Assessment가 이루어져야 한다는 위험성 평가 제도의 발전방향을 제시한다.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.11-21
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• 2023

Background: The need to develop alternative chemicals is increasing worldwide due to the strengthening of global chemical regulations and consumer safety awareness in the marketplace. Objectives: We aimed to review domestic and foreign technology trends for exploring alternative candidate algorithms that can be used to develop safer alternatives to strengthen global market competitiveness and protect public health in the future. Methods: We searched the current status of research trends, companies related to the development of alternative chemicals in domestic and foreign countries. For this, we referred to research papers and websites by companies and institutes related to such alternatives. Results: Among the domestic and foreign research trends, more studies in South Korea were focused on predicting molecular-based physicochemical properties and toxicity than were reporting on research exploring alternative candidates. Three web-based databases and six tools were being developed. More studies in other countries predicted information to consider in alternative development than reported on research exploring alternative candidates, and four web-based databases and three tools were being developed. Among the companies related to the development of alternative chemicals, 286 alternatives classified as 'EVALUATED ALTERNATIVE' in MARKETPLACE accounted for the most significant proportion in Europe on a continent basis, and the largest number in the United States (US) on a national basis. In South Korea, only significant companies were registered. Conclusions: In this study, it was found to be necessary to provide public technology support platforms to explore alternative candidates considering various aspects in order to support alternative development. In conclusion, exploring alternative candidate algorithms could contribute to the response to the global trends in the chemical industry and to supporting companies and researchers developing safer alternatives in the future.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.2828-2839
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• 2022

This study developed a safety assessment tool for geological disposal systems called APro, a systemically integrated modeling system based on modularizing and coupling the processes which need to be considered in a geological disposal system. Thermal, hydraulic, chemical, canister failure, radionuclide release and transport processes were considered in the current version of APro. Each of the unit processes in APro consists of a single Default Module, and several Alternative Modules which can increase the flexibility of the model. As an initial stage of developing the modularization concept and modeling interface, the Default Modules of each unit process were described, with one Alternative Module of chemical process. The computation part of APro is mainly a MATLAB workspace controlling COMSOL and PHREEQC, which are coupled by an operator splitting scheme. The APro model domain is a stylized geological disposal system employing the Swedish disposal concept (KBS-3 type), but the repository layout can be freely adjusted. In order to show the applicability of APro to the total system performance assessment of geological disposal system, some sample simulations were conducted. From the results, it was confirmed that coupling of the thermal and hydraulic processes and coupling of the canister failure and the radionuclide release processes were well reflected in APro. In addition, the technical connectivity between COMSOL and PHREEQC was also confirmed.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.141-158
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• 2019

Objectives: An adverse outcome pathway is a biological pathway that disturbs homeostasis and causes toxicity. It is a conceptual framework for organizing existing biological knowledge and consists of the molecular initiating event, key event, and adverse output. The AOP concept provides intuitive risk identification that can be helpful in evaluating the carcinogenicity of chemicals and in the prevention of cancer through the assessment of chemical carcinogenicity predictions. Methods: We reviewed various papers and books related to the application of AOPs for the prevention of occupational cancer. We mainly used the internet to search for the necessary research data and information, such as via Google scholar(http://scholar.google.com), ScienceDirect(www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus(www.scopus. com), NDSL(http: //www.ndsl.kr/index.do) and PubMed(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). The key terms searched were "adverse outcome pathway," "toxicology," "risk assessment," "human exposure," "worker," "nanoparticle," "applications," and "occupational safety and health," among others. Results: Since it focused on the current state of AOP for the prediction of toxicity from chemical exposure at work and prospects for industrial health in the context of the AOP concept, respiratory and nanomaterial hazard assessments. AOP provides an intuitive understanding of the toxicity of chemicals as a conceptual means, and it works toward accurately predicting chemical toxicity. The AOP technique has emerged as a future-oriented alternative to the existing paradigm of chemical hazard and risk assessment. AOP can be applied to the assessment of chemical carcinogenicity along with efforts to understand the effects of chronic toxic chemicals in workplaces. Based on these predictive tools, it could be possible to bring about a breakthrough in the prevention of occupational and environmental cancer. Conclusions: The AOP tool has emerged as a future-oriented alternative to the existing paradigm of chemical hazard and risk assessment and has been widely used in the field of chemical risk assessment and the evaluation of carcinogenicity at work. It will be a useful tool for prediction, and it is possible that it can help bring about a breakthrough in the prevention of occupational and environmental cancer.

• 대한화학회지
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• 제60권5호
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• pp.353-361
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• 2016

The goal of this study was to examine the current status of science teachers’ stage of concern (SOC) and level of use (LoU) on descriptive assessment and determine the relationship between SoC and LoU. To achieve this, concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was used, and a survey was conducted on 138 science teachers. The data from this study were analyzed by frequency analysis, percentile analysis based on CBAM, χ² test, and Spearman correlation analysis. SoC and LoU of the science teachers observed in this study are as follows. First, the science teachers’ overall SoC for the descriptive assessment was low and showed a typical pattern of the initial stage when the program was introduced. Second, LoU analysis on descriptive assessment showed that the “mechanical Use” (N=49, 35.5%) or “routine” (N=48, 34.8%) accounted for the majority. Third, the Spearman correlation between SoC and LoU on descriptive assessment was .299(p<.01). This suggests that teachers’ SoC needs to be increased in order to promote higher LoU on descriptive assessment, which requires new alternative measures.