Acerinox, S.A. () is a stainless steel manufacturing conglomerate group based in Spain. The company was founded in 1970, and initially received technical support from the Japanese firm Nisshin Steel. Nisshin continues to hold approximately 15% of Acerinox as of April 2010. As for 2008, the company was the world's largest producer of stainless steel.

Companies and factories

Spain

*Fábrica del Campo de Gibraltar (

Los Barrios Los Barrios is a small town and municipality in the south of Spain. It is part of the province of Cádiz, which in turn is part of the Andalusia region. It belongs to the Campo de Gibraltar comarca. The town's name means “the districts” or “ ...

) *Roldán SA *Inoxfil SA *Inoxcenter SA *Inoxidables de Galicia SAU *Metalinox Bilbao SA *Inoxmetal SA *Acimetal *Alamak Espana Trade SL *Inoxcenter Canarias SA

Europe

*Acerol – Comércio e Indústria de Aços Inoxidáveis (Portugal) *Acerinox France *Acerinox UK Ltd (United Kingdom) *Acerinox Scandinavia AB (Sweden) *Acerinox Schweiz SA (Switzerland) *Acerinox Italia SRL (Italy) *Acerinox Turquía (Turkey) *Acerinox Polska sp. z o.o. (Poland) * VDM Metals,

Werdohl Werdohl () is a town in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Werdohl is located in the hills of the Sauerland, at a double meander of the river Lenne and its confluent, the Verse. The highest elevation i ...

, Germany (acquired in 2020)

Rest of the world

*Columbus Stainless (

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

) *Bahru Stainless (

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

) *North American Stainless (USA) *Acerinox Argentina *Acerinox Chile

Accidents

In 1998, the Acerinox factory in

, Cadiz melted a capsule of cesium-137 that was in a consignment of scrap metal.El CSN detectó la fuga antes del 9 de junio, pero no informó por considerarla menor
''

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

(newspaper)'', 17 June 1998, p.32. The radioactive substance was released into the atmosphere and spread over Europe — nuclear authorities in France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland detected up to 2,400 microbecquerels of

ionising radiation Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can t ...

in the air, 1,000 times higher than the norm. Two other factories in

Huelva Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including nature reserve on the Gulf of Cádiz coast. The ria ...

and

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populati ...

also became contaminated by waste transported to them from Acerinox. During the clean-up, 7,000 metric tons of

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapon ...

were dumped in Mendaña Marshes, Huelva. The estimated costs of the accident were 20 million US dollars for lost production in the factory, $3 million for clean-up, and $3 million for waste storage.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Madrid Manufacturing companies established in 1970 Companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange Steel companies of Spain Spanish companies established in 1970 IBEX 35