The collapse of an iron ore pellet storage dome (not an explosion, as local news initially reported) at Nucor's St. James Parish, Louisiana DRI plant on Wednesday will delay the start-up of the $750 million facility until the end of the year.
In a statement, Nucor also said there were no injuries and there will be no environmental impact as a result of the incident. The plant was scheduled to begin production in a few weeks. The dome was one of three on site, and once the plant was operating fully, it was expected to produce 2.5 million tons of DRI per year--making it the largest DRI production facility in the world.