New Nucor Steel Plate Mill Pursuing LEED v4 Certification

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Sep 20, 2022, 14:00 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that the new steel plate mill being built in Brandenburg, Kentucky has publicly registered to pursue LEED v4 for Building and Design certification. Nucor Steel Brandenburg is the first steel mill in the world to pursue certification under LEED v4, which is more stringent than previous LEED rating systems and ambitiously aligns each credit category with sustainable performance, climate change, and revolutionizes the manufacturing landscape through third-party transparency and reporting requirements.

"Sustainability has been at the core of Nucor's business model since we first started making steel in the 1960s. Our recycling production method makes us one of the cleanest steelmakers in the world. LEED certification extends our sustainability efforts to the materials and operating system choices we make in constructing this new steel mill," said Leon Topalian, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The specific LEED features of Nucor Steel Brandenburg include preservation of a large portion of forested area on the property, lighting reduction strategies, reduced parking footprint, support for green vehicles, and water and energy efficiency measures. In addition, over 75% of the construction waste generated building the steel mill has been diverted from landfills. Sustainable building materials, many directly produced by Nucor divisions, have also been used in the construction of the mill.

"Our Nucor Steel Brandenburg team is proud to be the first Nucor mill to undertake LEED v4 certification. We make our products in a sustainable way and these products, such as steel for offshore wind towers, are going to help build the green economy. It is only natural that we would construct this mill using sustainable materials and practices," said Johnny Jacobs, Vice President and General Manager of Nucor Steel Brandenburg.

Expected to begin production at the end of 2022, the new $1.7 billion Nucor Steel Brandenburg facility will produce 1.2 million tons of steel plate annually. It will be able to produce 97% of plate products consumed domestically and will be one of only a few mills in the world capable of supplying the critical steel components required to build offshore wind farms.

The US Green Building Council created the LEED rating in 1998 as a way to standardize and recognize sustainable construction methods. Since the first release (LEED v1) subsequent versions have pushed the building industry towards higher levels of sustainable design and construction. The current rating system is LEED v4.

In addition to pursuing LEED v4 certification, Nucor will continue to be the sustainable leader in the steel industry by further reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity, which is already among the lowest in the world. Nucor is lowering its GHG intensity by increasing its utilization of renewable energy and supporting the continued growth of clean power generation in the U.S.; investing in new energy efficiency technologies; capturing and storing CO2 emissions; and encouraging GHG reductions throughout the steel supply chain.

Through its use of recycled scrap-based electric arc furnaces, Nucor's steelmaking GHG intensity is less than one-fourth of the global average and one-fifth of the average integrated steel producer. Earlier this year, Nucor began producing Econiq™, the world's first net-zero carbon steel at scale, to help its customers meet their sustainability goals.

About Nucor
Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; overhead doors; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties which we expect will or may occur in the future and may impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. The words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," "may," "will," "should," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's best judgment based on current information, and, although we base these statements on circumstances that we believe to be reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking information. As such, the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may vary materially from the projected results and expectations discussed in this news release. Factors that might cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) competitive pressure on sales and pricing, including pressure from imports and substitute materials; (2) U.S. and foreign trade policies affecting steel imports or exports; (3) the sensitivity of the results of our operations to prevailing market steel prices and changes in the supply and cost of raw materials, including pig iron, iron ore and scrap steel; (4) the availability and cost of electricity and natural gas, which could negatively affect our cost of steel production or result in a delay or cancellation of existing or future drilling within our natural gas drilling programs; (5) critical equipment failures and business interruptions; (6) market demand for steel products, which, in the case of many of our products, is driven by the level of nonresidential construction activity in the United States; (7) impairment in the recorded value of inventory, equity investments, fixed assets, goodwill or other long-lived assets; (8) uncertainties surrounding the global economy, including excess world capacity for steel production, inflation and interest rate changes; (9) fluctuations in currency conversion rates; (10) significant changes in laws or government regulations affecting environmental compliance, including legislation and regulations that result in greater regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that could increase our energy costs, capital expenditures and operating costs or cause one or more of our permits to be revoked or make it more difficult to obtain permit modifications; (11) the cyclical nature of the steel industry; (12) capital investments and their impact on our performance; (13) our safety performance; and (14) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any variants of the virus. These and other factors are discussed in Nucor's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Nucor's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date, and Nucor does not assume any obligation to update them, except as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE Nucor Corporation