The Arcelor Mittal Galati steel plant is continuing the demolition of Blast Furnace 6, carrying out controlled demolitions of infrastructure, Dorian Dumitrescu, the plant’s director of communication, announced on Sunday. Blast Furnace 6 came online in 1981 and was the biggest in South-East Europe. However in 1994 production stopped after a massive explosion. Four workers lost their lives in the blast and three others suffered serious burns. In the last two years ArcelorMittal has decided to demolish two other outdated blast furnaces – Blast Furnace 1, built in 1968, and Blast Furnace 2, built in 1969. The demolition of Blast Furnace 6 started in February 2014. Of the plant’s total number of six blast furnaces only Blast Furnace 5 is currently operational, while Blast Furnace 3 is operational but shut down. Blast Furnace 5, recently upgraded following an investment of EUR 90 M, is the only one currently in operation and can produce the volume of high quality cast iron demanded by the market, at variable competitive prices and low pollution parameters.
