As part of the permit application for the new steel mill in Luleå, submitted in 2023, soil and groundwater investigations were carried out within the designated area. At the time of the application, the area was fully operational and used for by‑product handling related to existing operations.
This meant that soil investigations could only be carried out in parts of the area where activities were not ongoing or where no by‑product stockpiles were present. The investigations showed that contamination existed in certain parts of the area, but that these could not be fully delineated at the time.
The workflow prior to the investigations is summarized as follows:
The investigations were reported as part of the permitting process and formed an important basis for the authorities’ assessment. The environmental permit for the new facility was therefore granted with awareness of the condition of the land and with requirements for continued controlled management of soil and environmental issues throughout construction.
As areas have gradually been cleared and made accessible for earthworks, SSAB has carried out extensive additional soil investigations. The scope of the analyses has been based on the results of earlier investigations and knowledge of which contaminants may occur within SSAB’s operational area.
Sampling has included analyses of, among other substances:
In total:
The investigations show that contamination primarily occurs near the coking plant and mainly consists of organic contaminants, particularly PAH and aromatic hydrocarbons. PAH and aromatic hydrocarbons also occur in other areas that are not directly adjacent to the coking plant, but at significantly lower concentration levels. Their presence is linked to historical handling of tar sludge.
Regarding cyanide, the results show that trace amounts were detected in fewer than one‑eighth (21) of the samples, and at levels below the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline values for industrial land. In the remaining samples, concentrations were below the reporting limit. This limit is low (1/100 of the guideline value) and represents the lowest concentration that a laboratory can reliably measure and report. Most samples containing detectable cyanide correspond to areas also contaminated with tar sludge, which is expected since small amounts of cyanide form during gas purification in coking plants and can accumulate in tar sludge.
In addition to tar‑related contaminants, the investigations show elevated levels of certain metals in the soil. Various types of slag from the blast furnace and steelworks are the primary sources of these metals, and slag is generally present across the industrial site at surface level. The project area has historically been used extensively for slag processing and sorting. Slag is a man‑made, inert stone material occurring in many grain sizes. In the underlying soil (natural ground or dredged sand), only low concentration levels have been detected.
Overall, several investigations show similar results, with larger and smaller contiguous areas of soil contamination around the coking plant. Outside these areas, most results indicate low concentrations or very minor contamination, apart from a few isolated local occurrences of small extent.
The affected area amounts to approximately 170,000 m², out of a total site area of 1,700,000 m².
Soil sampling and contamination management in connection with the redevelopment of industrial land follow an established, risk‑based and stepwise approach. The work is based on historical land use, previous investigations and continued deepening of knowledge as land becomes accessible.
This approach is standard when developing areas with long industrial histories and is intended to ensure that soil and environmental issues are managed in a controlled, transparent and legally compliant manner.