Following an accident that caused millions of dollars of damage, the “L” blast furnace at Sparrows Point is down for repairs, jeopardizing RG Steel’s ambitious plans to restart the Baltimore County steel mill, informed sources tell The Brew.

The mill, which is dependent on the L furnace to make steel, had hoped to begin shipping product to customers this week. These plans have been put on hold until the problems at the furnace are resolved.

So far, the delays have cost RG Steel, which purchased Sparrows Point in March, more than $15 million in lost production and repairs, a person knowledgeable of the situation said.

Of even greater concern to the company is that customers will start redirecting orders from the mill – or refuse to do business with the company – because it cannot guarantee delivery times.

This would jeopardize RG Steel’s effort to return Sparrows Point to full production and threaten the jobs of 2,500 employees and allied contractors, many of whom had just undergone long layoffs under the prior owner, Severstal.

A company source expressed confidence yesterday that technicians had “turned the corner” and L furnace would be producing hot metal in the near future.

Interior Wall Collapses

Except to confirm that the L furnace had experienced an “operating issue,” RG Steel has not released any information on the May 19 accident, which was first disclosed by this website.

On that morning, a section of an interior wall broke away and collapsed into the hearth. This sent thousands of tons of red-hot metal at the base of the furnace into surrounding pipes and other equipment, burning out many expensive pipe nozzles known as tuyeres.

The accident happened while the furnace was in the process of being “blown in,” or restarted, by RG Steel following ten months of standing idle under Severstal.

Two workers for an outside contractor, AS&L Industrial Services of Dundalk, were injured when they tried to open one of the damaged pipes and were sprayed by 2,000-degree-hot metal.

One of the men, identified by sources as John Williams, was burned on his stomach, legs, hands and face and has undergone a series of treatments at the burn unit at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, according to sources.

The other man had much less severe burns, sources said.

RG Steel has not responded to requests for information about the workers’ status, and the Maryland Occupational Health and Safety agency (MOSH) said the accident was not serious enough to merit a state investigation.

Beast of the East

“Blowing in” a blast furnace is a slow and difficult task due to the enormous amount of heat (up to 3,900 degrees F) and pressure the equipment must withstand.

Operators must juggle enormous gas and air-blast pressures and introduce cooling water into pipes to keep the furnace structure from melting down.

L furnace is one of the world’s biggest blast furnaces, with a capacity of 9,000 tons of hot metal per day. Since it opened in 1978, the furnace has produced more than 125 million tons of metal – enough to build 2,000 Empire State Buildings.

In the tight-knit fraternity of steelmen, the furnace is known as “The Beast of the East.”

However, in the year prior to its shutdown, the furnace has been unstable, according to internal company records, dropping its raw materials (known as a “slip”) hundreds of times and burning out tuyeres and other equipment.

This resulted in costly repairs and low production, which partly led to Severstal’s decision to close much of the mill last July and put it on the auction block, along with two other poor-performing mills in Warren, Ohio, and Wheeling, WVa.

Assuming the Risk

One of the main risks that RG Steel assumed when it purchased Sparrows Point was the potential cost of restarting L furnace. The new company sprayed the interior of the furnace and performed other repairs prior to “blowing in” the furnace on May 9.

A small amount of hot metal was successfully cast from the furnace on May 11. The furnace was increasing production when part of an interior wall broke away on May 19 (known as a “furnace peel”) and fell into the hearth.

A source said that everyone thought the metal had cooled sufficiently for workmen to begin disassembling the damaged equipment later that same day.

But when John Williams opened up a pipe just a crack, hot metal sprayed over him, burning through his protective clothing and face mask.

On Friday, while again trying to restart the furnace, there was another “slip” that damaged more tuyeres.

Attempts will be made this week to cast small batches of metal successfully, then slowly ramp up production.

“I think it’s doable, but then again it’s been one headache after another,” said a source.

With L furnace not working, Sparrows Point must rely on semi-finished steel shipped from Warren, Ohio, to fulfill it currently low order book.