SSAB halts construction of the plant in Luleå once again

The latest pause is due to the detection of hydrogen cyanide by personal gas detectors

The Swedish steel company SSAB has announced a further suspension of work at the construction site of its plant in Luleå.

This latest suspension is due to the detection of low levels of hydrogen cyanide in personal gas detectors.

As the company noted, the levels detected do not exceed the current maximum permissible concentrations in the workplace and are not considered to pose any danger to staff on site. However, work will not resume until the situation has been investigated and deemed safe.

The suspension applies to the areas where the readings were recorded, as well as to the surrounding areas where earthworks are being carried out.

Karl Orring, SSAB’s Chief Technical Officer and Head of Transformation, stated that the safety of employees and contractors is a priority. The company will now expand its monitoring programme.

Work at the site was first suspended on 3 April this year, after several people developed symptoms of illness. From 27 May, operations were gradually resumed following an analysis of the root causes. The conclusion was that the symptoms were caused by dust combined with respiratory viruses and weather conditions.

SSAB will now, together with external experts, assess how the current monitoring programme can be expanded – including measurements under conditions similar to those in production, with the necessary personal protective equipment – and carry out further analyses to examine this new information.

According to the company’s current assessment, the suspension of work will not have a significant impact on the overall project schedule or budget.

It should be noted that, according to reports in the Swedish media, construction of the new facility is taking place on an SSAB site adjacent to the existing steelworks. The site as a whole forms part of the earlier Stålverk 80 project (a Swedish industrial initiative from the 1970s aimed at creating one of Europe’s largest integrated steelworks), which was never completed.

The current project for an electric arc furnace plant forms part of the company’s efforts to transition from fossil-fuel-based production to the production of ‘green’ steel. SSAB had previously informed the County Administrative Board that it had encountered a large amount of waste during excavation work in the area.