Steel Mills
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/media/k2/items/src/ab8922348b4770a13ecd0600d75eb381.jpg)
Nucor Slates Extended Outage at Gallatin, Sees $$$ in Green Steel
Written by Michael Cowden
October 21, 2021
Nucor Corp. plans to take a 25-day outage at its Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent., Ky., for final equipment installation for a hot-rolled capacity expansion there.
The outage will begin on Nov. 23. Once it is completed, the new electric-arc furnace (EAF) and related equipment will be commissioned, company executives said during an earnings conference call on Thursday, Oct. 21.
“Startup will continue into the first quarter, and then we will be producing product through the mill,” said Rex Query, Nucor’s executive vice president of sheet and tubular products.
The $650 million expansion – once fully ramped up – is expected to increase Gallatin’s hot-rolled coil capacity from approximately 1.6 million tons per year to 3 million tons per year.
But the 1.4 million tons per year of additional hot-rolled coil capacity won’t come online all at once. Gallatin is forecast to make 800,000 to 1 million tons more in 2022, Query said.
Nucor’s overall sheet volumes should see only a “minimal impact” from the extended outage at Gallatin because the company has stocked material ahead of it. Also, Nucor has five other sheet mills.
“We are able to support a plant that may have an extended outage … We’ll shift supply between our plants to accommodate that,” Query said.
Nucor added a hot-rolled galvanizing line to Gallatin that started up in mid-2019, and most of the additional hot-rolled coil capacity at the mill is expected to feed into downstream coated products.
The company is also underway with the commissioning of a Gen-3 flexible galvanizing line at its sheet mill in Hickman., Ark. Production from the new line is expected in December, Nucor CFO James Frias said.
As for new mills, Nucor expects to finalize site selection for its $2.7 billion, 3 milllion ton per year EAF sheet mill by the end of the year, company President and CEO Leon Topalian said.
The company has said that it would build the mill in either Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Ohio. Market participants have speculated that the mill will be located along the Ohio River.
On the plate side, Nucor’s new mill in Brandenburg, Ky., remains on track to start up in late 2022 and should be in a good position to supply the wind tower market, company executives said.
One thing Nucor won’t be doing is building a new blast furnace. There had been speculation years ago that the company might add blast furnace capacity on the site of what became its direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant in Convent, La.
The company had at one point considered building two blast furnaces in Louisiana, but opted instead to go the DRI route. “At this point, there is zero chance Nucor is going to build a blast furnace,” Topalian said.
If there is something to keep an eye on, it is potential investments in cutting-edge green technologies such as hydrogen or CO2 sequestration, he said.
That’s in part because Nucor has seen keen interest in its Econiq “net zero” steel – especially since Detroit-based General Motors, the largest U.S.-based automaker, said that it would purchase the low CO2 steel from Nucor to help meet its own carbon emissions targets.
“Demand for that product and that family of products has been significant,” Topalian said, noting that interest in Econiq has hardly been limited to the automotive sector.
And Nucor expects to be able to charge a premium for low CO2 steel, he added.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/SMU_MC_headshot-150x150.png)
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/stelco.png)
Steel Summit 2024: Stelco CEO reflects on strategy, growth, and sale to Cleveland-Cliffs
In a candid fireside chat with SMU Senior Analyst/Editor David Schollert, Stelco’s CEO Alan Kestenbaum opened up about Stelco’s pending sale to Cliffs, his business strategy, outlook for the industry, and plans for the future. The chat took place on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the 2024 SMU Steel Summit in Atlanta.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/AISI.png)
AISI: US steel shipments unchanged in July vs. June, down on-year
Domestic steel shipments remained nearly flat in July month over month but fell from a year earlier.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/white_house.png)
Media reports: Biden could block USS sale on national security concerns
President Joe Biden could block the $15-billion sale of U.S. Steel to Japan's Nippon Steel by citing national security concerns That’s according to reporting in the Washington Post and the Financial Times that was later picked up by the New York Times as well as in wire services.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/US_Steel.png)
USS threatens to cut ‘thousands’ of jobs, move HQ if Nippon sale blocked
U.S. Steel could slash thousands of jobs, shift away from integrated steelmaking, and move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh if its acquisition by Nippon Steel isn’t completed, the company’s top executive said. “We want elected leaders and other key decision makers to recognize the benefits of the deal was well as the unavoidable consequences if the deal fails,” company President and CEO David Burritt said in a statement on Wednesday.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/SSAB.png)
CRU: SSAB to expand Mobile plate mill
SSAB plans to spend $12 million to boost production capacity at its electric-arc furnace (EAF) plate mill in Mobile, Ala. The Sweden-based steelmaker will do that by expanding the existing furnace there. Shot blast equipment will also be upgraded. The expanded capacity is expected to come online late next year. The mill currently has an […]