So what does Nucor think of this? Nucor, which started as a steel recycler, is the US's largest steelmaker. They use huge electric furnaces to melt down scrap. Scrap is 71% of their input. They now have some basic oxygen furnace operations, too, making new steel, but mostly it's the same steel going round and round.

If anybody is going to make basic steel with electric furnaces, it's likely to be Nucor. When they take this seriously, it's real.