• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.02a
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• pp.81-93
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• 2003

USACE has developed guidance, training, procedures and and support to ensure that hazardous and toxic waste sites are assessed and remediated appropriately

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.213-223
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• 1992

Although landfill has been heavily relied upon as a final hazardous waste disposal method in Korea, the legal and technical problems associated with the landfill severely hinder proper disposal of hazardous wastes. The single largest legal problem is simply that, in spite of the recent amendments, the law regulating the hazardous waste landfill is yet in its primitive stage that even the lawful landfill sites cannot be regarded safe. The technical problems include improper selection of landfill sites, poor design and construction of landfill facilities, and lack of QA/AC and post-closure cares. These technical problems stem from inexperience and lack of resources. For the reduction of the potential danger from the improper landfills of hazardous wastes, it is an immediate need to further refine the law and to resolve the technical problems.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1994.02a
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• pp.405-411
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• 1994

Hazardous wastes released into the general environment are of concern to the public and to public health authorities. In response to this concern, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (commonly called Superfund), was enacted in 1980 to provide a framework for environmental, public health, and legal actions concerning uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was created by Superfund to address the public health issues of hazardous wastes in the community environment. Two key Agency programs, Public Health Assessments and Toxicological Profiles, are designed to assess the risk to human health of exposures to hazardous substances that migrate from waste sites or through emergency releases (e.g., chemical spills). The Agency's public health assessment is a structured process that permits ATSDR to identify which waste sites or other point sources require traditional public health actions (e.g.. human exposure studies, health studies, registries, health surveillance, health advisories). The ATSDR qualitative public health assessment complements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's quantitative risk assessment. For Superfund purposes, both assessments are sitespecific. ATSDR's toxicological profiles are prepared for priority hazardous substances found most frequently at Superfund sites. Each profile presents the current toxicologic and human health effects information about the substance being profiled. Each profile also contains Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs), a type of risk assessment value. This paper covers ATSDR's experience in conducting public health assessments and developing MRLs, and it relates this experience to recommendations on how to improve chemical risk assessments.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.533-546
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• 2021

Large earthquakes with (M_W > ~ 6) result in ground shaking, surface ruptures, and permanent deformation with displacement. The earthquakes would damage important facilities and infrastructure such as large industrial establishments, nuclear power plants, and waste disposal sites. In particular, earthquake ruptures associated with large earthquakes can affect geological and engineered barriers such as deep geological repositories that are used for storing hazardous radioactive wastes. Earthquake-driven faults and surface ruptures exhibit various fault zone structural characteristics such as direction of earthquake propagation and rupture and asymmetric displacement patterns. Therefore, estimating the respect distances and hazardous areas has been challenging. We propose that considering multiple parameters, such as fault types, distribution, scale, activity, linkage patterns, damage zones, and respect distances, enable accurate identification of the sites for deep geological repositories and important facilities. This information would enable earthquake hazard assessment and lower earthquake-resulted hazards in potential earthquake-prone areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.23-30
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• 2005

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.207-212
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• 1992

Main disposal technology for industrial wasites in Korea has been landfilling, however, this is encountering serious problems such as the lack of landfill sites and objections of residents. Incineration, therefore, has become a final solution for this dilema. Various kinds of air pollutants generation are possible because of the variety of types and compositions of wastes generated in industry. In this paper, air pollutants produced while incinerating hazardous industrial wastes are discussed and some control technologies are surveryed with the purpose of optimal design of incinerators and emission reduction. From this initial stage of incinerator utilization, low-emission type should be developed and applied and intensive research on pollutant generation due to waste incineration and advanced control technologies should be also performed.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.135-158
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• 2015

An efficient management system of mercury-containing waste was designed by reviewing the management and treatment of spent fluorescent lamp in Korea and foreign countries. According to Waste Management Act in Korea, mercury-containing wastes from households are classified as municipal solid wastes even though mercury-containing wastes pose hazardous risks. In general, hence, mercury-containing wastes from households are not being managed properly because those wastes from households were not classified as specific wastes (or hazardous wastes). Some mercury-containing wastes are managed as a mandatory target item in waste charge system and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system under Act on Promotion for Saving and Recycling of Resources. An efficient management plan of mercury-containing wastes can be derived with an improved collection system, designating disposal sites and advanced treatment facilities for spent fluorescent lamps. Finally, the role of each agent involved from collection to disposal of mercury-containing wastes was suggested to establish the efficient management system for mercury-containing waste.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.205-215
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• 2008

SITES(Site Information and Total Environmental Data Management System) has been developed for the purpose of systematically managing site characteristics and environmental data produced during the pre-operational, operational, and post-closure phases of a radioactive waste disposal facility. SITES is an integration system, which consists of 4 modules, to be available for maintenance of site characteristics data, for safety assessment, and for site/environment monitoring; site environmental data management module(SECURE), integrated safety assessment module(SAINT), site/environment monitoring module(SUDAL) and geological information module for geological data management(SITES-GIS). Each module has its database with the functions of browsing, storing, and reporting data and information. Data from SECURE and SUDAL are interconnected to be utilized as inputs to SAINT. SAINT has the functions that multi-user can access simultaneously via client-server system, and the safety assessment results can be managed with its embedded Quality Assurance feature. Comparison between assessment results and environmental monitoring data can be made and visualized in SUDAL and SITES-GIS. Also, SUDAL is designed that the periodic monitoring data and information could be opened to the public via internet homepage. SITES has applied to the Wolsong low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal center in Korea, and is expected to enhance the function of site/environment monitoring in other nuclear-related facilities and also in industrial facilities handling hazardous materials.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.699-704
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• 2001

Until recently, disposal to landfill has been the most convenient way to deal with the increasing amount of residues the shredding industries produce. But the shortage of such disposal sites and the risk that liquid drained from these waste dusts may pollute ground water have increased the environmental pressures to find more effective solutions. The present study is an alternative approach that suggests identifying waste dusts characteristics and selecting an appropriate binder for hazardous materials to reduce the amount of contaminants (mainly lead) that were leaking into the soil. Investigations on the characteristics of automobiles waste dusts show that these materials are composed mainly of cottons and sponge like substances, plastics, rubber, glasses and gravel, metals, and electric wires. Besides, the percentage in weight of organic (inflammable) materials is about 70% and the lead contamination, which has not a ionic but a particulate nature, is particularly remarkable in cottons and sponge like materials. Binding additives such as K-20 and sodium carbonate were not effective but the addition of 5 % of cement (in weight of the investigated sample) followed by a 3-minute stirring and a 4-hour storage could drastically reduce the run off of lead below the maximum authorized level. No addition of water was necessary in this method.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2007

This study aimed to investigate the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) dechlorinating ability of sediment microbes collected from a natural canal receiving secondary effluents from an industrial estate and nearby factories. Nine sites along the stream and one in the estuary in the Gulf of Thailand into which the canal spills were specified and sampling for sediment and water. Preliminary analysis of the sediments showed that the first four sites nearest to the discharging location were contaminated by HCB within the range of 0.18 to 1.25 ppm. Apart from that, 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene which has never been commercially produced or used in any manufacturing processes except for the transformation from higher chlorinated benzene was also identified in the range of 0.16 to 0.24 ppm. This suggested a possibility of sporadically HCB contamination in this stream. Of more important, people in the community along this canal earn their living by coastal fishery; hence, posing a risk of spreading HCB and its less chlorinated congeners via food chain from caught marine creatures to human. As a result, there is an urgent need to understand the behavior of HCB dechlorination in this stream sediment which can lead to a clean-up action in the future. Serum bottles with sediment slurries (sediment to water ratio of 1:1 (v/v) and filtered to remove particles larger than 0.7 mm) from each site were inoculated with 2 mg/l of HCB, kept anaerobically in the dark at room temperature without any nourishment, and analyzed for HCB and its less-chlorinated congeners every 6 days. Total chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and volatile suspended solids were in the range of 21,492-73,584, 158,100-518,100 and 6,000-32,700 mg/l, respectively. It was found that all sediment slurries began to dechlorinate HCB in 12 to 30 days and the HCB was completely removed within 42 to 60 days or so. On the other hand, there was no HCB dechlorination occurred in the controlled set which was sterilized by autoclaving prior to the addition of HCB. This implies that the HCB transformation was solely due to microorganisms' activities. HCB was dechlorinated principally via pentachlolobenzene to 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene and terminated at 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene which is the major pathway as reported by many researchers. Dichlorobenzene has not been detected in any samples within the dechlorination period of 60 days. The results indicate that the microbial matrix in the sediment of this stream has an outstanding capability to dechlorinate HCB. Existing substrates and nutrients which mainly sorbed onto the solid phase and the typical temperature in Thailand were sufficient and suitable to promote the activities of these HCB-dechlorinating microbes.