Indoor air quality is the dominant contributor to total personal exposure because most people spend a majority of their time indoors. Especially when indoor environments have sources of contaminants, exposure to indoor air can potentially pose a greater threat than exposure to ambient air. In this study, estimations of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde emission rate in indoor environments of new apartments were carried out using mass balance model in indoor environment, because indoor air quality can be affected by source generation, outdoor air level, ventilation, decay by reaction, temperature, humidity, mixing condition and so on. Considering the estimated emission rate of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde, it is suggested that new apartment should be designed and constructed in the aspect of using construction materials to emit low hazardous air pollutants.

The purpose of this study was to investigate Rn concentration and annual radiation exposure level in the basement and first floor. The Rn Cup monitors were placed in different environments such as shopping stage, office building, Apartment, Hospital , house in Seoul from March 1996 to April 1997 and CR-39 films were collected every two months. The mean radon concentration in the basement of house(88.6 Bq/㎥) showed the highest level among the areas, while radon concentration on the first floor of house(50.5 Bq/㎥) showed the higher than other areas. The annual radiation exposure dose that person on the floor / in the basement of differential place in the seoul can be exposed during living was estimated from 24.11 to 87.64 mRem/yr. This radiation dose is significantly lower than 130mRem maximum radiation dosage from the radon nuclide prescribed by the ICRP, with respect to the overall average exposure of the working adult. this study indicated that possible radon sources on the first floor / in the basement areas are radon intrusion from soil gas, construction materials, or ground water leaking. Further study is needed to quantitatively assess major contributions of radon-222 and health effect to radon exposure.

In this study, we investigated PM10, NO2, and 1-hydroxypyrene(1-OHP) in urine at indoor environments which are 35 houses and 20 hospitals for using air cleaner and non-using air cleaner in Seoul metropolitan area and Kyoung-gi province from April, 2003 to February, 2004. Moreover, we examined effect of improvement for indoor air quality and health effect by concentration of 1-OHP also we investigated removal efficiency by air cleaner for PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP that were 28.5%, 27.4%, and 42.1% respectively. Concentration of PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP were 19.02±18.14㎍/m3, 8.66±3.06ppb, and 0.19±0.18㎍/g creatinine when air cleaner was no worked. The concentration for PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP were 13.60±10.79㎍/m3, 6.29±2.71ppb, and 0.11±0.10㎍/g creatinine, respectively. It was significant statistically. Therefore, it is considered using the air cleaner to remove the partial pollutants in indoor environment and is positive effect for health.

This study was conducted to evaluate the characterization of airborne bioaerosol in public facilities in Seoul. A total of 17 public facilities were investigated from December, 2002 to February, 2003. As results of the survey, the mean concentrations of bacteria and fungi in indoor air of public facilities were 378.08±296.33CFU/m3 by RCS and 106.38±171.63CFU/m3 and 347.46±335.32CFU/m3 and 95.23±62.61CFU/m3, by Six-stage cascade air sampler respectively. The mean concentrations of bacteria in indoor air (by ventilation method) were 517.14±343.93CFU/m3 of natural ventilation and 215,83±100.71CFU/m3 of mechanical ventilation. The mean concentrations of fungi in indoor air (by ventilation method) were 83.14±79.16CFU/m3 of natural ventilation and 133.50±248.07 CFU/m3 of mechanical ventilation. The mean concentrations of bacteria in indoor air were 449.44CFU/m3 for the ground and 217.50±103.68CFU/m3 for the underground. The mean concentrations of fungi in indoor air were 63.89±77.66CFU/m3 for the ground and 202.00±290.08CFU/m3 for the underground.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are present in essentially all natural and synthetic materials from petrol to flowers. In this study, indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations of houses, offices and internet-cafes were measured and compared simultaneously with personal exposures of each 50 participants in Asan and Seoul, respectively. Also, factors that influence personal VOCs exposure were statistically analyzed using questionnaires in relation to house characteristics, time activities, and health effects. All VOCs concentrations were measured by OVM passive samplers (3M) and analyzed with GC/MS. Target pollutants among VOCs were Toluene, o-Xylene, m/p-Xylene, Ethylbenzene, MIBK, n-Octane, Styrene, Trichloroethylene, and 1,2-Dichlorobenzene. Indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations measured in Seoul were significantly higher than those in Asan except Ethylbenzene. Residential indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios for all target compounds ranged from 0.94 to 1.51 and I/O ratios of Asan were a little higher than those of Seoul. Relationship between personal VOCs exposure, and indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations suggested that time-activity pattern could affect the high exposure to air pollutant. Factors that influence indoor VOCs level and personal exposure with regard to house characteristics in houses were building age, inside smoking and house type. In addition insecticide and cosmetics interestingly affected the VOCs personal exposure. Higher exposure to VOCs might be caused to be exciting increase and memory reduction, considering the relationship between measured VOCs concentrations and questionnaire (p<0.05).

The purpose of this study was to predict occurrence of earthquakes in Korea by measuring the concentration of radon radioactivity in the air and in the underground water. Two monitoring systems of radon concentration detection in the air were installed in Seoul, East Coast area, whereas of radon concentration in the underground water in Kyungju area during December, 1999 to June, 2001. The distribution of radon concentration in the air in Seoul is as follows : winter(10.10±2.81Bq/m3), autumn(8.41±1.35Bq/m3), summer(5.83±0.05Bq/m3) and spring(5.34±0.44Bq/m3), whereas the distribution of radon in the air in the East Coast area showed some difference as follows : autumn(14.08±5.75Bq/m3), summer(12.04±0.53Bq/m3), winter(12.02±1.40Bq/m3) and spring(8.93±0.91Bq/m3). In the meanwhile, the distribution of radon in the water is as follows : spring(123.59±16.36count/10min),winter(93.95±79.69counter/10min),autumn(68.96±37.53counter/10min) and spring(34.45±9.69counter/10min). The daily range of the density of radon concentration in Seoul and East Coast area was between 5.51Bq/m3-9.44Bq/m3, 7.15Bq/m3-15.27Bq/m3, respectively. Correlation of the distributions of radon concentrations in the air and in underground water with earthquake showed considerable variations of radon concentration before the occurrence of the earthquake. The results suggested that radon radioactivity seemed to be helpful for the prediction of the occurrence of earthquake.

To investigate the chemical characteristics of PM2.5 in Seoul, Korea, atmospheric particulate matters were collected using a PM10 dichotomous sampler including PM10 and PM2.5 inlet during the period of October 2000 to September 2001. The Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectromety (ICP-MS), Ion Chromatography (IC) methods were used to determine the concentration of both metal and ionic species. A statistical analysis was performed for the heavy metals data set using a principal component analysis (PCA) to derived important factors inherent in the interactions among the variables. The mean concentrations of ambient PM2.5 and PM10 were 24.47 and 45.27 ㎍/㎥, respectively. PM2.5 masses also showed temporal variations both yearly and seasonally. The ratios of PM2.5/PM10 was 0.54, which similar to the value of 0.60 in North America. Soil-related chemical components (such as Al, Ca, Fe, Si, and Mn) were abundant in PM10, while anthropogenic components (such as As, Cd, Cr, V, Zn and Pb) were abundant in PM2.5. Total water soluble ions constituted 30～50 % of PM2.5 mass, and sulfate, nitrate and ammonium were main components in water soluble ions. Reactive forms of NH4+ were considered as NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4 during the sampling periods. In the results of PCA for PM2.5, we identified three principal components. Major contribution to PM2.5 seemed to be soil, oil combustion, unidentified source. Further study, the detailed interpretation of these data will need efforts in order to identify emission sources.