Comparative Study on the Human Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination between Two Abandoned Metal Mines in Korea

Lim, Tae-Yong; Lee, Sang-Woo; Park, Mi Jeong; Lee, Sang-Hwan; Kim, Soon-Oh; Lim, Tae-Yong; Lee, Sang-Woo; Park, Mi Jeong; Lee, Sang-Hwan; Kim, Soon-Oh

doi:2015.37.11.619

The Korean text of this paper can be translated into multiple languages on the website of http://jksee.or.kr through Google Translator.

J Korean Soc Environ Eng > Volume 37(11); 2015 > Article

Original Paper

J Korean Soc Environ Eng 2015;37(11): 619-630. doi: https://doi.org/10.4491/KSEE.2015.37.11.619

국내 두 폐금속 광산의 중금속오염 인체위해성평가 비교

임태용¹, 이상우¹, 박미정², 이상환², 김순오¹

¹경상대학교 지질과학과 및 기초과학연구소
²한국광해관리공단 광해기술연구소

Comparative Study on the Human Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination between Two Abandoned Metal Mines in Korea

Tae-Yong Lim¹, Sang-Woo Lee¹, Mi Jeong Park², Sang-Hwan Lee², Soon-Oh Kim¹

¹Department of Geology and Research Institute of Natural Science (RINS), Gyeongsang National University (GNU)
²Institute of Mine Reclamation Technology, Mine Reclamation Corporation (MIRECO)

Corresponding author

Soon-Oh Kim ,Tel: 055-772-1477, Fax: 055-772-1479, Email: sokim@gnu.ac.kr

Received: November 3, 2015; Revised: November 26, 2015; Accepted: November 30, 2015. Published online: November 30, 2015.

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to propose the methodology of human risk assessment specialized to domestic mine areas and to quantify the human risk of heavy metal (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) contamination around two abandoned metal mines. To attain the goals, we established a relevant exposure scenario, including 7 exposure pathways and extracted a variety of exposure factors reflecting the characteristics of inhabitants around abandoned metal mine areas. Finally, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were compared between two areas, exposure pathways, heavy metal contaminants, and receptors. The total excess carcinogenic risks of two mine areas of concern were calculated to be larger than the acceptable carcinogenic risk (1×10^-6), indicating those two areas are not safe for carcinogenic hazard. In addition, the hazard indices of two areas were computed to be higher than unit risk (1), suggesting that the areas of concern have non-carcinogenic risk. Ingestion of crop and intake of groundwater were evaluated to be main exposure pathways contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks within the areas. Also, the results show that carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards were mostly attributed to As and As, Cd, and Pb, respectively.

Key Words: Human Risk Assessment, Abandoned Metal Mines, Heavy Metal Contamination, Carcinogenic Risk, Non-carcinogenic Risk