Tata Steel is going to apply for a permit to place huge wind screens around the site where raw materials are stored. It concerns a construction of more than 18 meters high and a kilometer long. The steel company plans to start installing the screens this fall. Construction should be completed in the fall of 2023.
The installation of the wind screens is part of the measures from the Roadmap Plus improvement programme. Tata Steel expects it to reduce dust deposits in the immediate vicinity by 65 percent compared to last year.
Tata Steel says in a press release that it is already taking continuous measures to prevent the blowing of coal and ore, but that substances can still be blown away when excavating or moving via the conveyor belts.
Bram van de Kaa, principal engineer at Tata Steel: “The purpose of the windshield is to reduce the wind speed above this terrain. As a result, the wind has less influence on the material and the dust is blown up much less. In addition, any dust particles that still get into the air, capture it to prevent it from blowing into the environment.”
Tata Steel is under great social pressure to achieve results in making steel production more sustainable. The so-called Health Monitor will be published tomorrow, a report by the GGD and the RIVM. It is the result of a series of three studies over the past twelve years into the health of people in the IJmond.