Styrene is one of national priority hazard substance that needs to be controlled. There is Risk Assessment Report (RAR) for styrene in the European Union and risk assessment in Korea was also performed according to the project of “Study on Establish...
Styrene is one of national priority hazard substance that needs to be controlled. There is Risk Assessment Report (RAR) for styrene in the European Union and risk assessment in Korea was also performed according to the project of “Study on Establishment of Risk Assessment Framework for chemical management” by National Institute of Environmental Research. Generally, predicted environmental concentration (PEC) and predicted no effected concentration (PNEC) are required for the risk assessment and hazard quotient (HQ) is calculated using those values. PEC is obtained from measuring actual concentration or estimated concentration using model program and PNEC is determined from toxicity values. According to the existing risk assessment report of styrene, PEC was calculated using emission data and the toxicity data of international standard species of review papers (or estimation value) was used for PNEC. In order to evaluate the risk to the domestic environment, it was considered more accurate to use the toxicity value of Korean (native) species. Therefore, in this study, toxicity tests and ecological risk assessment were conducted using Korean (native) species. The hazard effect of styrene in freshwater system was evaluated using Aphyocypris chinensis and Moina macrocopa and Eisenia fetida, Avena sativa, Daucus carota, Brassica campestris var. chinensis were used for soil system effect. PEC was calculated by SimpleBox Korea recommended by K-REACH using emission amount of syrene in Korea. From this study, there was no risk because the HQ was not exceeding 1 for Korean ecosystem (freshwater, soil and sediment) nationally. However, in two industry sites where water emission amounts were reported, risk of water and sediment was concerned because HQ was over than 1. This results are expected to be used for additional risk assessment for the domestic environment and it will be necessary to evaluate of various Korean native species for risk assessment to minimize sensitivity and uncertainty.