Steel Products
Incident Shuts Down No. 3 Furnace at AM Indiana Harbor
Written by Tim Triplett
August 8, 2018
ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor suffered an incident on Saturday, Aug. 4, that has shut down its No. 3 blast furnace (IH3) for an estimated two weeks.
A company spokesperson reports that process alarms indicated a filling problem on the blast furnace around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, August 4th. The furnace was safely shutdown at 6:10 p.m. An initial investigation determined that the large bell had dropped into the furnace during the charge. There were no injuries as a result of the incident, which is under further investigation by plant and union management. Contractors and internal resources were mobilized on Sunday, Aug. 5, to start repairs with an anticipated return of the No. 3 furnace to operation in approximately two weeks.
ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor has advanced production volumes at both its No. 4 and No. 7 furnaces to compensate for the outage. The company anticipates minimal impact from the disruption and will be in close communication with customers, the spokesperson said.
Tim Triplett
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