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Sumitomo Metals Restarts Second Blast Furnace, Thermal Power Station at Kashima
03/28/2011 - Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. resumed operation of its No. 1 Blast Furnace in Kashima Steelworks, and its Kashima Power Station began generating electricity on Friday, March 25.
Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. resumed operation of its No. 1 Blast Furnace in Kashima Steelworks on Saturday, March 26, thus succeeding in restarting and operating both of its Kashima blast furnaces.
In addition, Sumitomo Metals Kashima Thermal Power Station (Kashima Power Station) began generating electricity Friday, March 25, and reached 100% capacity, generating an output of 475 megawatts on Saturday, March 26.
Kashima Power Station is capable of generating enough electricity to meet the power demand of all the households in the Ibaraki Prefecture, which is home to about 3 million people. The company is supplying all of the station’s electricity to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in hopes it will help TEPCO to scale back the rolling blackouts currently in force in the areas around Tokyo. Sumitomo Metals is aware of the importance of power supplies to the recovery of the areas around Tokyo, and have made the restarting of Kashima Power Station a very high priority.
The company’s first shipment from Kashima Steelworks to overseas customers left Kashima Port on March 24.
All the finishing lines in Kashima’s Plate Mill have resumed their operations, so the Plate Mill can now finish its inventory and begin shipping product to customers. Sumitomo Metals plans to restart the coke ovens in order to resume the coke gas balance, thus enabling the facility to restart the Hot Strip Mill and Plate Mill.
The company noted that its workers in Kashima, including maintenance staff sent there from other sites throughout Sumitomo Metals, are working very hard in the midst of frequent aftershocks and insufficient supplies of essential utilities such as gas, water and electricity in the surrounding areas. Sumitomo Metals is working toward the full recovery of Kashima Steelworks so that it can play a role in the reconstruction of earthquake-stricken communities.
