Arcelor is working to extend the employment arrangement given the severity of the damage caused by the fire

The repair operation will involve restoring the crucible, a crucial component of the blast furnace, which was confirmed to have suffered a perforation that was already confirmed after a preliminary inspection, adding extra seriousness to the case.

The incident was triggered by the destabilization of the manufacturing process while a nozzle was routinely replaced, which led to a “violent reaction” inside the furnace that triggered several explosions and a massive ignition with very high temperatures and a massive release of dense smoke.

To deal with the impact of the accident on the production process, the company is considering various options, once verified, based on the extent of the damage and an assessment of the costs to fix them, as the company explained to the worker representative yesterday.

Options. One of the alternatives being considered is short-term repair of the plant if this intervention is feasible and sufficient to restore operation for the remaining short lifetime of the affected furnace. Installation will end in 2025, and with an investment of more than 1,000 million by then, the Veriña plant is expected to receive a new iron ore direct reduction furnace (DRI) as part of its partial decarbonization plans.

Another possibility is to undertake a more in-depth restoration, if economically feasible and recommended, but this will require a longer shutdown time and a predictably higher cost for installation; this can be a deterrent depending on the cost because there is hardly two years for the investment to depreciate.

The “salamander” operation will be carried out this weekend to minimize damage to the oven.

The third presumed hypothesis is to definitively stop the plant if rehabilitation is not possible, forcing it to import billet or steel “slabs” from other ArcelorMittal mills abroad (Asturias has had these discussions from Brazil in the past). To meet the needs of finishing shops in the region, as the pig iron produced in a single blast furnace (B, undamaged and in working condition) is not enough to meet the joint demand of the steelworks of Avilés and Gijón, which converts pig iron. steel, although the company expects to maximize its operations.

Aviles Steelworks. Therefore, the Avilesian steelworks will have to use one of its converters due to the lack of raw materials and reducing its casting, as was the case when the now damaged blast furnace was stopped between late September and early February. due to low demand for steel products.

Supply to the Gijón steelworks, then and now, is prioritized, as it is the plant that feeds the long product lines (rail and wire rod), which are currently the most demanded finished products. The Tabaza steel mill in the Avilés region supplies the flat product lines of this mill and the heavy plate line of the Veriña (Gijón) mill.

The setback occurred at a time when slightly more optimistic expectations for the steel industry were nurtured and it was assumed that demand could continue to recover gradually, albeit slowly, and was therefore reactivated a month and a half ago. The facility is now paralyzed four months later. In fact, this was the first of five bakeries that Arcelor stopped to continue operating in Europe.

The impact of the incident on one of the two blast furnaces in Gijón (the only blast furnace in Spain) will be mitigated for ArcelorMittal’s commercial interests in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region, as the furnace was scheduled to be operational again in April. it still stands at the French factory in Fos Sur Mer.

Investigation so far has determined that the source of the boiler was the presence of water in the furnace’s crucible, which caused an explosion when it came into contact with incandescent cast iron. The crucible reaches a temperature of 1,500 degrees Celsius. According to the company’s calculations, this reaction caused pig iron to escape from the wall of the crucible and the nozzle to be replaced. Nozzles are what allow hot air to be injected into the oven.

Unions denounce low maintenance and company says they are working on water filtration

Worker sources explained that the affected furnace had a water leak problem, and the cause and where it was produced are not yet known. “The source of the presence of water in the crucible has not yet been determined,” company management said in a statement yesterday. Said. Some unions have disgraced the fact that during the four-month downtime the furnace no longer has consistent repair and maintenance work. But the company said yesterday at the Health and Safety Committee, which was held in an extraordinary meeting by prevention delegates, that the leaks were known and action was taken to eliminate them, so what other problems might have been confirmed.

The company forwarded to the committee a report of the facts that “abnormal activity” was observed on the windshields as the flames increased after the furnace was stopped to replace the nozzle. This activated the safety elements of the installation: the screeds and the anti-explosion valve. The explosion inside the furnace caused the material to come out, but not from the mouth (the natural outlet for cast iron, which is located at a height of about seven meters), but from the bottom. The smoke spread raised the alarm and ordered evacuation for the baker (20 workers from the afternoon shift) and 30 other utilities, outbuildings and office workers. This early order prevented people from being harmed. The output of pig iron and coke continued, and this is what triggered the fires and the very strong and spectacular smoke spread, whose blackened plumes were visible from much of Gijón and Carreño.

After the fire was extinguished yesterday, cooling continued and the task of cleaning and securing structures exposed to extreme temperatures began. During this weekend, the operation known as “salamander”, which is the usual procedure of shutting down blast furnaces to prevent further damage in this case, will take place. It consists of removing the pig iron and slag residues accumulated in the lower part of the furnace so that they remain clean and do not further damage this critical component of the furnace by solidifying in the crucible at the bottom of the plant. herb. It is also planned to maintain the stoves, cooling circuits and other vital parts of the blast furnace. On the same Thursday afternoon and again yesterday, the unions expressed their gratitude to the blast furnace personnel, chain of command, prevention services and company firefighters for acting quickly to contain the situation. They underlined that his “professionalism” and the urgency of activating the facility’s internal emergency plan and issuing an evacuation and evacuation order were decisive in avoiding personal misfortunes that would make an event even more dramatic. About the economy of Asturias.