Mamie
FriedGreenTomatoes2
Thank you MaizieD for putting me straight.
As you say, sadly the result is the same though. No steel.
Not entirely true. The planning permission has been given to Tata Steel for this.
The £1.25 billion investment in state-of-the-art electric arc furnace steel making and upgrades to the Port Talbot site will transform the industry and underpin the manufacturing sector for decades to come.
A state of the art electric furnace doesn't produce the same steel as does a a blast furnace. Forgive me if I'm hazy on detail, but one of the arguments I saw for continuing with blast furnace steel making was that it produced a better quality of steel. But a quick online search doesn't come up with any confirmation of that claim. I don't know if anyone here knows more?
Blast furnaces work with iron ore as their base and have high CO2 emissions, electric arcs recycle scrap metal and have low emissions. Blast furnaces need more labour to work them.
I was just pointing out that Tata made its decision on cost, not environmental concerns. I believe it is still operating blast furnace steel making in Europe somewhere. I suspect that trade barriers resulting from Brexit also played a part in their decision.