Steel Mills

Electrical Failure Damages Galv Line at BRS

September 2, 2020

The galvanizing line at Big River Steel’s mill in Osceola, Ark., will be down from 10-14 days for repairs following an electrical failure on Sunday. The company said it will continue to meet customer needs despite the unplanned incident.

Big River Steel confirms that its electrical energy provider, Entergy Arkansas, experienced a substation failure on Aug. 30. The resulting power outage lasted less than 24 hours. Following the outage, all operations were successfully and safely restarted with the exception of the galvanizing line. During restart, the galvanizing line suffered its own electrical failure.

During the two-week period the line is undergoing repairs, BRS said it will conduct the annual maintenance to the galvanizing line originally scheduled for late October.

“Although disappointing to have this unplanned event, we will be able to continue to meet our strong customer demand for galvanized products by overlapping our planned outage days with the days needed for electrical repairs,” said Keith Shuttlesworth, Big River Steel’s chief commercial officer.

The mill’s highly automated galvanizing line is capable of processing coils ranging from 35-73 inches wide and 0.014-0.12 inches thick, with an annual production capacity of 550,000 tons.