BY KIMBERLY HOPSON
L’OBSERVATEUR

CONVENT – An accident, initially thought to be an explosion, was reported at the Nucor Steel Plant in Convent on Wednesday afternoon.
Johnny Jacobs, a controller for Nucor, attributed the accident to the collpase of a storage dome at the facility. No one was injured, and no chemicals were involved, according to the statement.
The company issued a press release on Wednesday explaining the dome collapse. The release stated that iron ore pellets, which are used in the creation of direct reduced iron, are stored in three domes on the site. Nucor is currently in the midst of finishing construction of its on-site direct reduced iron plant, a $750 million project. The plant would be the largest DRI plant in the world and the first to operate within the United States in several years.
Nucor had planned to begin production at the new facility within a few weeks but said the start-up of operations will now be delayed until the end of the year.
Construction and hot commissioning of the plant are continuing during the incident investigation and damage assessment.
Further details are not available, as the accident is still under investigation.