Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih commented on the statements of the Security Council of Ukraine, which spoke about the excess of the maximum permissible level of radiation background on the continuous casting machine of continuous casting machine CCM-3 up to 4.4 microsievert per hour.
According to the company, this particular measurement was made by the SBU after the round metal lid was removed from the container containing the source of ionizing radiation, as stated in the SBU search report.
“At the same time, in the very same protocol, it is indicated below that this indicator (4.4 μSv /h) for this measurement is the maximum permissible. In our opinion, the wording voiced today at the SBU briefing is not correct, ”the commentary says.
“We have been certified. The technical characteristics correspond to all standards, which is why we were given permission to transport this equipment from Germany to Ukraine. Installation and installation were carried out according to all the rules. The radiation source does not exceed the permissible norm, as evidenced by numerous measurements, including with the participation of specialized state control bodies, "said Vinay Tiwari, Deputy General Director for Engineering and Investment Projects, Environment and Quality at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih.
On July 20, 18 representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine, a specialist of the State Emergency Service and the Central Inspectorate for Nuclear and Radiation Safety were admitted to the territory of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih to conduct a search of CCM-3.
According to the head of the investigative department of the SBU department in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Igor Yena, the company tried to delay the provision of the necessary documentation and prevented the inspection of the equipment, on which the security forces recorded a violation of operating rules.
According to the head of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine Grigory Plachkov, a group of inspectors has been sent to Krivoy Rog to conduct their own survey of the ArcelorMittal plant.
The Security Service of Ukraine opened a criminal case under Article 441 "Ecocide" and suspects the management of the ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih enterprise of negligent attitude to foreign investments. Acting CEO of the enterprise Alexander Ivanov called the searches "pressure on business".
Ukraine's security service said on Monday that the searches at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Kryvyi Rih were not an attempt to pressure the company.
"It was definitely not pressure," Acting told reporters. Chief of the Security Service Ivan Bakanov, adding that work at the plant has not been stopped.
The new CCM-3 has not yet been put into operation; at the time of the search by the SBU, hot tests of the machine were carried out. It is part of a large-scale complex with a total area of more than 100 thousand square meters - a new continuous casting department, which includes two new continuous casting machines - No. 2 and No. 3 (the second machine is still under construction). At present, by the decision of the SBU, all work at CCM-3 has been suspended. The $ 150 million project has been frozen.
Today it also became known that the prosecutor's office of the Karaganda region has obtained a recovery from the Kazakhstan branch of the Lakshmi Mittal corporation of Arcelor Mittal Temirtau JSC more than 1.3 billion tenge (approximately 3.4 million US dollars) for damage to the ecology of the region in the first half of 2019 year.
