# Nucor Corporation

> Nucor identifies scrap as the primary input to its EAF steelmaking and DJJ as a wholly owned scrap brokerage and recycling subsidiary. The company reports capture and recycling of more than 90% of EAF dust, with downstream co-products such as zinc. These disclosures do not establish a mill-specific material opportunity or recovery volume.

- Industry: Metals & Mining
- Collection: Active
- Regions: North America
- Countries: United States
- Materials: Cement, Metals, Minerals, Steel
- Processes: Recycling, Sorting, Mechanical processing
- Evidence through: 2026-09-18
- Canonical URL: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/nucor-corporation

## Reported scale and scope

- **FY2025 revenue:** $32.49B (December 31, 2025 · SEC XBRL)
- **TRI facility leads:** 79 (2024 U.S. match, unresolved)
- **Production route:** EAF mini-mill (Company reported, primary route)
- **Zinc compounds managed:** 219.0M lb (2024 TRI aggregate, 79 facilities)
- **Owned scrap subsidiary:** DJJ (David J. Joseph Company)

## Company flow

Public evidence, arranged around Nucor’s physical production system rather than the corporate org chart. Nucor’s defining structural fact sits upstream of any single product: it is overwhelmingly an electric-arc-furnace (EAF) “mini-mill” steelmaker, melting recycled steel scrap rather than reducing virgin iron ore through a blast furnace.

01 · MATERIALS IN

#### Recycled steel scrap, plus alloying elements

Nucor identifies scrap as the primary EAF input. DJJ is a wholly owned Nucor subsidiary providing scrap brokerage and recycling services; the reviewed passage does not quantify DJJ’s share of Nucor’s total mill charge. [11]

Company reported, structural

02 · MAKE

#### Electric-arc-furnace mini-mills

Nucor’s mills melt scrap in electric arc furnaces rather than reducing iron ore through a blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), a structurally different, less carbon- and virgin-material-intensive production route.

Company reported

03 · PRODUCTS OUT

#### Bar, plate, sheet, structural steel & downstream products

Steel bars, plate, sheet, structural shapes, and rebar, plus downstream fabricated products including steel joists and deck sold through Nucor’s own downstream-products operations.

Company described

04 · WASTE OUT

#### TRI-reported zinc compounds & EAF dust

219.0M lb of zinc compounds reported managed in 2024 across 79 matched U.S. facilities; EAF dust generated while melting galvanized scrap is a federally listed (K061) hazardous waste requiring its own management stream.

Listed-chemical & listed-waste view

#### What is public now

Ticker / CIK NYSE: NUE · SEC CIK 0000073309

FY2025 revenue $32.49B, period ended December 31, 2025 (SEC XBRL)

Production model Electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mini-mill steelmaking, scrap-based, not the integrated blast-furnace/basic-oxygen-furnace (BF-BOF) route used by many global steelmakers

Public plant signal 79 U.S. facilities matched to a Nucor parent name in the 2024 TRI dataset; three (Berkeley, SC; Blytheville, AR; Gallatin, KY) carry enough public detail here to treat as candidate facility leads

#### What the public record tells us

Nucor identifies scrap as the primary EAF input. This does not establish an unmet mill-specific sourcing need. [11]

Nucor identifies DJJ as a wholly owned subsidiary providing scrap brokerage, metals recycling and transportation services. [11]

**Waste signal, with a caveat:** Matched 2024 TRI records show 219.0M lb of zinc compounds managed nationally. One of the three named facility leads, Nucor Steel-Berkeley (Huger, SC), carries a secondary TRI parent-name match to JFE Shoji America Holdings Inc alongside Nucor Corp, an unresolved record-level association that does not establish a joint venture, trading relationship, shared infrastructure, ownership or operating control.

#### Regulatory and certification signals

Regulatory watchlist Clean Air Act EAF NESHAP rules, RCRA hazardous-waste management (EAF dust, K061), TRI zinc-compound reporting

Certification & reporting families Company sustainability reporting on Scope 1/2 emissions intensity; ISO 14001 site-level environmental management where in place

How to use this view Full detail sits in the Regulatory & innovation section: connect each requirement to a named mill before treating it as applicable

#### Innovation and recovery signals

Material innovation Direct-reduced iron (DRI) / hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production at Nucor Steel Louisiana, supplementing scrap for higher-purity grades

Recovery pathways DJJ scrap recycling and brokerage; Nucor-reported capture and recycling of more than 90% of EAF dust, processed downstream into co-products such as zinc

## Mini-mills, scrap supply & the David J. Joseph Company

Nucor’s production route is a company-described production context: it already runs on a circular material. This section explains the electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mini-mill model, Nucor’s owned scrap-supply subsidiary, and how the three named TRI facility leads fit into that picture.

Structural circularity, company reported

#### EAF mini-mills vs. integrated BF-BOF steelmaking

Two fundamentally different routes make steel. Traditional integrated steelmaking reduces virgin iron ore and coking coal through a blast furnace into molten pig iron, then refines it in a basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), a route that is capital-intensive, hard to idle or restart, and dependent on continuous virgin ore and coal inputs. Nucor’s mills instead melt recycled steel scrap directly in an electric arc furnace (EAF), a process that can run on a majority-scrap charge, cycle production up and down more flexibly, and does not require a blast furnace, coking operation, or sintering plant at all. Because scrap steel can be recycled repeatedly without losing its essential metallurgical properties, an EAF mini-mill’s primary material input is already the circular material that a BF-BOF producer would need a separate transition strategy to reach. Treat “overwhelmingly EAF-based” as company-reported and consistent with Nucor’s public description of itself as North America’s largest steel producer and largest recycler of any material; a facility-by-facility production-route audit is outside this source set.

#### The David J. Joseph Company: Nucor’s owned scrap-supply chain

DJJ is a wholly owned Nucor subsidiary providing scrap brokerage, ferrous and nonferrous metals recycling and transportation services. The source does not quantify DJJ’s share of all scrap charged at Nucor mills. [11]

#### Named mills: candidate owned-and-operated facilities

| Facility | TRI ID | 2024 zinc compounds | Status |
|-|-|-|-|
| Nucor Steel-Berkeley, Huger, SC | 29450NCRST1455H | 32,054,029 lb | Co-parent match: confirm before assuming sole control |
| Nucor Steel-Arkansas, Blytheville, AR | 72315NCRST7301E | 28,453,344 lb |  |
| Nucor Steel Gallatin LLC, Warsaw, KY | 41096GLLTNUS42W | 21,974,191 lb |  |

The three rows are candidate leads from 2024 TRI parent-name matching, excluded from an owned/operated plant count. The Berkeley record also includes JFE Shoji America Holdings Inc in the imported match. This does not establish a joint venture, trading relationship, shared infrastructure or sole operating control.

## Products leaving the mills

Publicly described product families across Nucor’s steel-mill and downstream-products operations. Steel packaging and cans are a real but minor end-market application layered on top of these core product lines, not a standalone Nucor packaging business.

Company described

#### Steel bar products

Merchant bar, special bar quality (SBQ), and light structural shapes sold to metal service centers, forgers, and manufacturers.

Automotive, industrial machinery, construction end markets

#### Plate

Steel plate for heavy equipment, construction, shipbuilding, transportation, and energy-sector fabrication.

Sold to fabricators and OEMs, not direct-to-consumer

#### Sheet

Hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated sheet steel, including higher-purity grades supplemented with DRI/HBI for exposed automotive and appliance applications.

Automotive, appliance, and general manufacturing

#### Structural steel

Wide-flange beams and other structural shapes for non-residential construction and infrastructure.

Commercial and infrastructure construction

#### Rebar

Reinforcing bar for concrete construction, produced across multiple Nucor bar mills.

Residential, commercial, and infrastructure construction

#### Steel joists & deck (downstream products)

Steel joists, girders, and metal deck manufactured through Nucor’s downstream-products operations, a step further down the value chain than raw mill output.

Non-residential building construction

#### Packaging-adjacent note

Nucor does not run a dedicated packaging business or product line comparable to a can-sheet or tinplate producer. Steel packaging and cans are a genuine but minor downstream end-market for sheet-steel producers generally; where Nucor sheet reaches that end market, it does so as one application among many for its sheet-steel product line, not as a distinct reportable segment. Treat any specific Nucor-to-packaging volume claim as unverified in this source set.

#### Product and application signal

Segment and product-family descriptions are public. Plant-level output volume by product line and customer-specific specification are not publicly disclosed. Treat any specific tonnage figure as directional unless sourced to a named Nucor filing or technical data sheet.

## Materials entering the system

Nucor’s “materials in” story is the inverse of most industrial companies profiled here: the dominant input is already the circular material, recycled steel scrap, not a virgin resource awaiting a substitute.

Structural circularity signal

| Material family | Public signal | Transition lens |
|-|-|-|
| Recycled ferrous steel scrap (primary feedstock) | Company disclosed, structural | Already circular; the lever is scrap quality, sorting, and security of supply, not substitution |
| Direct-reduced iron / hot-briquetted iron (DRI/HBI) | Company reported (Nucor Steel Louisiana) | Virgin-ore-derived metallic supplement used to dilute tramp elements for higher-purity grades, a genuine non-scrap input worth naming honestly |
| Zinc (galvanizing & coating) | Public category signal (via TRI zinc-compound reporting) | Zinc-compound recovery from EAF dust and coating lines; the specific number this brief tracks in the Waste section |
| Manganese & other alloying elements | Public category signal | Alloy-grade sourcing and lower-carbon alloy inputs as a supplier differentiation angle |
| Electricity (EAF process energy) | Public category signal | EAF steelmaking is electricity-intensive rather than fuel-intensive; grid mix and on-site power sourcing are a genuine decarbonization lever not covered in this source set |

#### Financial scale context

$32.49B FY2025 revenue (period ended December 31, 2025, SEC XBRL) provides scale context for Nucor’s total raw-material purchasing. It is not a materials-purchasing figure broken out by scrap, DRI/HBI, or alloy-element spend, and Nucor does not publicly itemize scrap tonnage by mill in this source set. A separate cost-of-revenue figure in the underlying data (~$17.68B) is dated December 31, 2017 and flagged missing/stale. It is not used anywhere in this brief as a current cost figure.

#### Material transition focus

## Reported residual, water & climate signals

2024 TRI data gives a facility-level, U.S.-only view of zinc-compound reporting. Climate and water figures come from company sustainability disclosure and the structural fact of the EAF production route, not a government registry.

Parent-name TRI match plus company-reported context

#### U.S. TRI facility leads (parent-name match, unresolved)

| Facility | TRI ID | Reported chemical | 2024 total quantity | Status |
|-|-|-|-|-|
| Nucor Steel-Berkeley, Huger, SC | 29450NCRST1455H | Zinc compounds | 32,054,029 lb | Co-parent match, see note |
| Nucor Steel-Arkansas, Blytheville, AR | 72315NCRST7301E | Zinc compounds | 28,453,344 lb |  |
| Nucor Steel Gallatin LLC, Warsaw, KY | 41096GLLTNUS42W | Zinc compounds | 21,974,191 lb |  |

All three are candidate facility leads from parent-name matching against 2024 U.S. TRI records. Excluded from any owned/operated plant count until ownership and operating control are verified. **Berkeley site note:** the 2024 TRI record for this facility ID also carries a secondary parent-name match to JFE Shoji America Holdings Inc alongside Nucor Corp, an unresolved record-level association that does not establish a joint venture, trading relationship, shared infrastructure, ownership or operating control.

#### National TRI footprint (2024, aggregate across 79 matched facilities)

Facilities matched to Nucor parent name 79

Total zinc compounds reported (aggregate) 219,030,498 lb

On-site release (aggregate) 176,457,198 lb

Transferred off-site (aggregate) 26,946,787 lb

Other reported management categories (aggregate, 3 lines) 307,381 lb + 1,058,711 lb + 14,431,500 lb

**Category labels require verification** against the EPA’s own TRI schema before this breakdown is used in a compliance or procurement context, the same caution applied to every TRI aggregate in Material Transition’s briefs. The three unlabeled “other” figures likely correspond to some combination of recycling, treatment, energy-recovery, and disposal management categories, but this source set does not confirm which figure maps to which category. Components are shown as reported and may not sum exactly to the published total due to EPA rounding or categorization conventions.

#### Structural climate signal: EAF vs. BF-BOF carbon intensity

Electric-arc-furnace steelmaking is widely reported across the steel industry, including in World Steel Association data, as having substantially lower direct carbon intensity per tonne of crude steel than integrated blast-furnace/basic-oxygen-furnace production, largely because it skips coke production and iron-ore reduction entirely and instead melts existing scrap. Nucor has publicly positioned its EAF-based production as a lower-carbon-intensity route on this basis. Treat the exact intensity gap as directional (it depends heavily on scrap share, grid electricity mix, and the specific mill) and confirm any current-year figure in Nucor’s own sustainability disclosure or the latest World Steel Association data before citing a specific percentage.

#### Water stewardship

Company sustainability reporting typically covers water withdrawal, recycling, and discharge at steelmaking sites, which use water for cooling and process purposes. Specific current-year Nucor withdrawal figures, site-level water-risk assessments, and discharge permits are not publicly disclosed in this source set and should be confirmed in Nucor’s own current sustainability report before being cited.

#### Scope limitation

TRI parent-name matching only reaches U.S. facilities filed under a Nucor corporate name and only covers the specific listed chemicals (here, zinc compounds) tracked in this source set. It is not a complete emissions or waste inventory for Nucor’s full U.S. footprint, and it says nothing about Nucor’s operations outside the United States.

## Regulatory watchlist, certifications & innovation signals

Nucor’s dominant U.S. regulatory throughline is Clean Air Act emissions control for EAF facilities and RCRA hazardous-waste management for EAF dust, alongside TRI zinc-compound reporting.

| Jurisdiction | Framework | Trigger / status |
|-|-|-|
| United States (federal) | Clean Air Act: EAF NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) | Air-emissions control requirements specific to electric-arc-furnace steelmaking facilities |
| United States (federal) | RCRA: K061 listed hazardous waste | Emission-control dust/sludge from EAF steel production is a federally listed hazardous waste requiring RCRA-compliant management, commonly recycled for zinc recovery |
| United States (federal) | TRI (Toxics Release Inventory) | Facility-level zinc-compound and other listed-chemical release and management reporting for matched U.S. sites |
| United States (state/federal, general) | Clean Water Act discharge permits (NPDES) | Process and cooling-water discharge permitting applicable to steelmaking sites generally; site-specific permit terms not in this source set |

Regulatory applicability has not been adjudicated per site here. This is a watchlist, not a legal conclusion.

#### Certification & reporting families in play

Certificate scope and current status are not verified here. Certification-family relevance does not prove an active, in-scope certificate at any named mill.

#### Innovation & capacity signals

DRI/HBI production Nucor Steel Louisiana (Convent, LA): company-reported direct-reduced/hot-briquetted iron facility supplementing scrap for higher-purity grades

Scrap processing & grading The David J. Joseph Company: shredding, shearing, sorting, and brokerage of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap

Lower-carbon positioning Company-reported framing of EAF steelmaking as structurally lower-carbon-intensity than BF-BOF production

EAF dust / zinc recovery Nucor reports that its filtration systems capture and recycle more than 90% of EAF dust, processed downstream into co-products such as zinc. This is company-reported and not a plant-specific recovery volume. [12]

## Evidence gaps

The sources reviewed do not establish a site-qualified material stream, unmet sourcing need, buyer, offtake, pilot or Material Transition relationship. Plant-level quantities, specifications, recovery yields and commercial demand remain unresolved.

## Material Transition editorial interpretation

Company disclosures describe the EAF input model, DJJ ownership and EAF-dust recycling. The imported TRI facility associations and mill-level quantities require separate verification.

## Sources

- [1] SEC XBRL company facts - https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000073309 - FY2025 revenue ($32,494,000,000, period ended December 31, 2025) and CIK 0000073309. A cost-of-revenue figure in the underlying dataset is dated December 31, 2017 and flagged missing/stale; not used as a current figure in this brief.
- [2] U.S. EPA TRI - https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/tri-basic-data-files-calendar-years-1987-present - 2024 U.S. TRI Basic Data Files. Facility, parent, chemical, and management quantities for zinc compounds across 79 matched facilities, including the three named mills.
- [3] Nucor Corporation investor relations - https://www.nucor.com/investors - Company description of business segments, production model, and mill locations.
- [4] World Steel Association - https://worldsteel.org/data/world-steel-in-figures/world-steel-in-figures-2026/ - Sector-context statistics on global crude-steel production routes, including EAF share of production.
- [5] EPA RCRA hazardous waste listing - https://www.epa.gov/hw/learn-basics-hazardous-waste - K061 listed hazardous waste (emission-control dust/sludge from EAF steel production), for regulatory verification.
- [6] The David J. Joseph Company - https://www.djj.com/ - Nucor’s owned scrap-metal recycling, brokerage, and processing subsidiary, for scrap-supply-chain verification.
- [7] Current source · Sustainability overview - https://nucor.com/sustainability/ - Nucor, official circular steel disclosure. Added in the September 2026 evidence refresh. The source supports the bounded company-specific signal above and does not establish a buyer, supply agreement, ownership, operating control or customer qualification by itself.
- [8] Current source · Sustainability resources and recycled-content letters - https://nucor.com/resources/documents/ - Nucor, official documents. Added in the September 2026 evidence refresh. The source supports the bounded company-specific signal above and does not establish a buyer, supply agreement, ownership, operating control or customer qualification by itself.
- [9] Current source · 2025 circular steel and emissions targets - https://investors.nucor.com/news/news-details/2025/Nucors-Emissions-Targets-Certified-by-the-Global-Steel-Climate-Council/default.aspx - Nucor, official investor release. Added in the September 2026 evidence refresh. The source supports the bounded company-specific signal above and does not establish a buyer, supply agreement, ownership, operating control or customer qualification by itself.
- [10] Current source · Investor relations - https://investors.nucor.com/overview/ - Nucor, official investor site. Added in the September 2026 evidence refresh. The source supports the bounded company-specific signal above and does not establish a buyer, supply agreement, ownership, operating control or customer qualification by itself.
- [11] Nucor raw materials, captured October 4, 2026 - https://nucor.com/products/raw-materials/ - Company-described input and subsidiary only; no DJJ share of total mill charge or confirmed facility relationship.
- [12] Nucor sustainability, captured October 4, 2026 - https://nucor.com/sustainability/ - Company-reported EAF-dust pathway; not mill-scale status, a volume or plant-specific result.
- [13] EPA: Common TRI Terms - https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/common-tri-terms - Definitions only. Does not validate the imported company aggregates, facility matches, equipment or recovery yields.

From the Material Transition company brief library: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/nucor-corporation