This study established risk-based fluoride soil contamination standards according to the Korean Soil Contaminant Risk Assessment Guidelines(SRAG). Ten exposure scenarios were evaluated, broadly categorized into Scenario 1, which used the default parameters from the current SRAG, and Scenario 2, which used the latest exposure factors and bio-concentration factors. Fluoride soil standards corresponding to a total hazard index(HI) of 1.0 were determined for each scenario. For children in agricultural areas, the derived risk-based soil fluoride standard was 70 mg/kg for Scenario 1 and 27 mg/kg for Scenario 2. In industrial areas, the risk-based fluoride soil standard was 2200 mg/kg in Scenario 1 and 2300 mg/kg in Scenario 2. This study clearly demonstrated that the crop ingestion exposure pathway exerted predominent influence on the estimated human health risk standards. Additionally, using the Added Risk Approach and considering soil background concentrations, the total fluoride soil standards for residential areas ranged from 232 mg/kg to 444 mg/kg, while the standards for industrial areas ranged from 2405 mg/kg to 2674 mg/kg.

Keywords: Fluoride, Risk assessment, Exposure routes, Soils, Bio-concentration