• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.727-733
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• 2011

A new Korean standard for the determination of Cr(VI) in soils has been officially published as ES 07408.1 in 2009. This analytical method is based on the hot alkaline digestion and colorimetric detection prescribed by U.S. EPA method 3060A and 7196A. The hot alkaline digestion accomplished using 0.28 M $Na_2CO_3$ and 0.5 M NaOH solution (pH 13.4) at $90{\sim}95^{\circ}C$ determines total Cr(VI) in soils extracting all forms of Cr(VI), including water-soluble, adsorbed, precipitated, and mineral-bound chromates. This aggressive alkaline digestion, however, proved to be problematic for certain soils which contain large amounts of soluble humic substances or active manganese oxides. Cr(III) could be oxidized to Cr(VI) by manganese oxides during the strong alkaline extraction, resulting in overestimation (positive error) of Cr(VI). In contrast, Cr(VI) reduction by dissolved humic matter or Fe(II) could occur during the neutralization and acidic colorimetric detection procedure, resulting in underestimation (negative error) of Cr(VI). Futhermore, dissolved humic matter hampered the colorimetric detection of Cr(VI) using UV/Vis spectrophotometer due to the strong coloration of the filtrate, resulting in overestimation (positive error) of Cr(VI). Without understanding the mechanisms of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) transformation during the analysis it could be difficult to operate the experiment in laboratory and to evaluate the Cr(VI) results. For this reason, in this paper we described the theoretical principles and limitations of Cr(VI) analysis and provided useful guidelines for laboratory work and Cr(VI) data analysis.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2021

Objectives: There was a judgment of acquittal for the manufacturer SK Chemical and the vendor Aekyung regarding humidifier disinfectant (HD) containing 5-chloro-2-methylisothiazol-3(2H)-one/2-methylisothiazol-3(2H)-one (CMIT/MIT). The rationale used in this judgement is discussed here in the light of scientific consideration. Methods: The sentencing document for the judgements was obtained from the Korea Supreme Court Service. In particular, the judgements made by the court related to the risk of HD and external and internal exposure to CMIT/MIT are discussed based on scientific evidence. Results: Rendering a determination in a criminal trial of insufficient evidence of causation, the court dismissed the prosecution's motion that humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injuries (HDLI) and asthma were associated with the utilization of these products. However, CMIT/MIT, a strong sensitizing and corrosive substance, has been reported to be associated with brain toxicity, allergic contact dermatitis, and asthma. Furthermore, the judgment did not consider total consumption amounts or the cumulative dose of CMIT/MIT in the humidifier. Lastly, there are several cases supporting the fact that exposure to water-soluble substances including CMIT/MIT can cause lower respiratory tract diseases. In addition to cases of asthma among the workers exposed to CMIT/MIT, we identified lung injury victims who were exposed to HDs exclusively containing CMIT/MIT. Conclusions: We conclude that there is sufficient evidence supporting the assertion that HDs containing CMIT/MIT cause lung injuries, including asthma, contrary to the court's judgement.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2019

This study is analysis of the utilization as a concrete fine aggregate on CGS, a by-product of Integrated coal gasification combined cycle(IGCC). That is, in KS F 2527 "Concrete aggregate," properties of 1~12times to CGS were evaluated, focusing on quality items corresponding to natural aggregate sand(NS) and melted slag aggregate sand(MS). As a result, the distribution of grain shape, safety and expansion were all satisfied with KS standards by physical properties, but the quality was unstable at 7~12times of water absorption ratio and absolute dry density. The particle size distribution was unstable due to asymmetry distribution of coarse particles, and particles were too thick for 7~12times. The passing ratio of 0.08mm sieve was also out of the KS standard at part factor of 7~12times, but chloride content, clay contents, coal and lignite were all satisfactory. Meanwhile, chemical composition was satisfactory except for $SO_3$ in 1~6times, and content and amount of harmful substances were all within the specified value except for F in 7~12times. As a result of SEM analysis, the surface quality and porosity were 7~12times more than 1~6times, and it was the quality was degraded. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the quality deviation by using separate measures in order to utilize it as concrete aggregate in the future, and if it is premixed with fine quality aggregate, it will contribute positively to solve aggregate supply shortage and utilize circulation resources.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.573-585
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• 2019

The objective of this study is to propose the drainage system that has been improved the workability, waterproofing and drainage performance to treat the leakage from the cement concrete structures in underground. It is improved that the pipe for conveying ground leak in the existing drainage system had the problem in workability and waterproof. The drainage systems with the improved pipe for conveying ground leak were constructed in conventional concrete lining tunnels to evaluate the workability, waterproofing and drainage. The waterproof and the drainage performance of the drainage system was evaluated by injecting 1,000 ml of red water in the back of the drainage system at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 11 weeks, 14 weeks, 17 weeks and 23 weeks. During 6 months of field performance test, the average daily temperature of the tunnel site was measured from $-12.4^{\circ}C$ to $19.7^{\circ}C$. The daily minimum temperature was $-17.2^{\circ}C$ and the daily maximum temperature was $26.7^{\circ}C$. There was no problem in waterproof and drainage performance on the pipe for conveying ground leak and the drainage system during 6 months for field performance test. It is concluded that the improved drainage system can be applied to various cement concrete underground structures where leakage occurs, and has little seasonal effect.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.197-213
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• 2019

We simulated the fault reactivation experiment conducted at 'Main Fault' intersecting the low permeability clay formations of Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory in Switzerland using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. We formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relation of hydraulic aperture to consider the elastic fracture opening and failure-induced dilation for reproducing the abrupt changes in injection flow rate and monitoring pressure at fracture opening pressure. A parametric study was conducted to examine the effects of in-situ stress condition and fault deformation and strength parameters and to find the optimal parameter set to reproduce the field observations. In the best matching simulation, the fracture opening pressure and variations of injection flow rate and monitoring pressure showed good agreement with field experiment results, which suggests the capability of the numerical model to reasonably capture the fracture opening and propagation process. The model overestimated the fault displacement in shear direction and the range of reactivated zone, which was attributed to the progressive shear failures along the fault at high injection pressure. In the field experiment results, however, fracture tensile opening seems the dominant mechanism affecting the hydraulic aperture increase.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.324-330
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• 2018

In accordance with the amendment of the Industrial Safety and Health Act of 2007, Korea completely prohibited the import, distribution and manufacture of asbestos like Europe and Japan. Accordingly, the current problem of asbestos is the safe maintenance and disposal of asbestos construction material, the disposal of asbestos, and the final disposal of asbestos building materials. In the past, Korea used 100,000 tons of asbestos every year, and the building materials using it exceeded 1 million tons per year. These asbestos building materials continued to be used until 2006, and the Ministry predicted that these materials would continue to be maintained until 2044. When the permeable hardening agent is applied to the asbestos building material installed in the pre-pretreatment step for the harmless treatment of the asbestos waste and the dismantling is carried out, the scattering of the asbestos is suppressed in the disassembling step, detoxification treatment conditions can be improved. Therefore, permeable hardeners should be stably penetrated into asbestos building materials. In this study, it is suggested that pre - pretreatment methods for the harmlessization of waste asbestos building materials with medium density level can be presented. In order to efficiently perform pre - treatment for chemical harmlessness in the future, the mixing ratio of permeable hardener and middle water Optimization is the most important factor.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.21-31
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• 2018

Bucket foundations are widely used in offshore areas due to their various benefits such as easy and fast installations. A bucket is installed using self-weight and the hydraulic pressure difference across the lid generated by pumping out water from inside the bucket. When buckets are installed in high permeable soil such as sands, upward seepage flow occurs around the bucket tip and interior, leading to a decrease in the effective stress in the soil inside the buckets. This process reduces the penetration resistance of buckets. However, the soil inside and outside the bucket can be disturbed due to the upward seepage flow and this can change the soil properties around the bucket. Moreover, upward seepage flow can create significant soil plug heave, thereby hindering the penetration of the bucket to the target depth. Despite of these problems, soil disturbance and soil plug heave created by suction installation are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the behavior of soil during suction installation. To comprehend the phenomena of soil plug heave during installation, a series of small-scale model tests were conducted with different testing conditions. From a series of tests, the effects of tip thickness of bucket, penetration rate, and self-weight were identified. Finally, soil properties inside the bucket after installation were approximated from the measured soil plug heave.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1177-1192
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to develop the existing drainage system for catching the partial leakage of tunnel structures operating in cold region. The drainage system consists of drainage board, Hotty-gel as a waterproofing material, cover for preventing protrusion of Hotty-gel, air nailer, fixed nail, pipe for collecting ground leak, pipe for conveying ground leak, wire-mesh, and sprayed cement mortar. The drainage systems were installed in conventional concrete lining tunnels to evaluate the site applicability and constructability. The performances of waterproof and the drainage in the drainage system were evaluated by injecting 1,000 ml of red water in the back of the drainage system at 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months and 8 months. During 8 months of field test, the average daily temperature of the tunnel site was measured from $-16.0^{\circ}C$ to $25.6^{\circ}C$. The daily minimum temperature was $-21.3^{\circ}C$ and the daily maximum temperature was $30.8^{\circ}C$. There was no problem in waterproof and drainage performance of the drainage board in the drainage system. However, the pipe for conveying ground leak had the leakage problem from 14 days. It is considered that the leakage of the pipe for conveying ground leak was caused by the deformation of the pipe of the flexible plastic material having a thickness of 0.2 cm by using the high pressure air nailer and the fixing pin and the insufficient thickness and width of the hotty-gel for preventing the leakage.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.629-635
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• 2018

In this study, the safety aspect of Maesil-cheongs with reduced amygdalin levels was investigated in terms of toxicokinetics and repeated oral toxicity. Plasma or UVC treatment was utilized to obtain Maesil-cheongs with reduced amygdalin levels. The toxicokinetic study demonstrated that the oral absorption of amygdalin decreased remarkably after a single-dose oral administration of both plasma- and UVC-treated Maesil-cheongs. The fourteen-day repeated oral toxicity study revealed that plasma- or UVC-treated Maesil-cheongs did not cause changes in body weight, food intake, water consumption, and absolute and relative organ weights. No significant effects on hematological and serum biochemical parameters were found. Histopathological examination showed no abnormality or toxicological change. These findings suggest that plasma- and UVC-treated Maesil-cheongs have no toxicity potential, and these processes will be useful to obtain products with safe, reduced amygdalin levels.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.397-410
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• 2018

When considering the long-term safety assessment of spent-nuclear fuel management, americium is one of the most radio-toxic actinides. Although spectroscopic methods are widely used for the study of actinide chemistry, application of those methods to americium chemistry has been limited. Herein, we purified $^{241}Am$ to obtain a highly pure stock solution required for spectroscopic studies. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of purified $^{241}Am$ were carried out using liquid scintillation counting, and gamma and alpha radiation spectrometry. Highly sensitive absorption spectrometry coupled with a liquid waveguide capillary cell and time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy were employed for the study of Am(III) hydrolysis and oxalate (Ox) complexation. $Am^{3+}$ ions under acidic conditions exhibit maximum absorbance at 503 nm, with a molar absorption coefficient of $424{\pm}8cm^{-1}{\cdot}M^{-1}$. $Am(OH)_3(s)$ colloidal particles formed under near neutral pH conditions were identified by monitoring the absorbance at around 506-507 nm. The formation of ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$ was detected by red-shifts of the absorption and luminescence spectra of 4 and 5 nm, respectively. In addition, considerable enhancements of the luminescence intensities were observed. The luminescence lifetime of ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$ increased from 23 to 56 ns, which indicates that approximately six water molecules are replaced by carboxylate ligands in the inner-sphere of the Am(III). These results suggest that ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$ is formed through the bidentate coordination of the oxalate ligands.