Mont Saint-Michel, the UNESCO-listed tourist hot spot located off France’s north-western coast, had been moving closer to the mainland due to silt build-ups caused by canal work at the Couesnon River. But thanks to the strong properties of steel from ArcelorMittal subsidiary Industeel, the Mont Saint-Michel has become an island again.
Freeing the Mont Saint-Michel from the sand was a major challenge. The main objective was to build a dam on the Couesnon River to flush away sediment with the flow of water. The dam valves were built with Ur® 2205 Duplex steel from Industeel, a wholly-owned ArcelorMittal subsidiary specialised in the production of hot-rolled steel plates, including stainless steel plates for use in highly specialised industries. Steel for the valves was produced at an Industeel site at Le Creusot.
Jean-Christophe Gagnepain, stainless steel commercial manager, ArcelorMittal, said: “Duplex stainless steels are well-known around the world, and have been used for more than 20 years to build seawater desalination plants due to its very strong anti-corrosion properties. With such advantages, Duplex steel plates were the ideal product for the valve system of the dam”.
