White hot - very hot indeed!

This was taken around 1989 at the then British Steel's stainless steel plant at Tinsley, Sheffield.

The raw steel is melted in an enormous electric arc furnace and impurities rise to the top of the molten steel as slag. The molten slag is tapped off into a cone-shaped crucible which is then picked up by the special transporter as shown, trundled outside and tipped into a large pit. When it is cool, the solidified slag is broken up and used as hardcore in construction projects.

The photograph was taken using a 135 mm telephoto lens from around 150 m away and I could feel the heat even at that distance. The now defunct Sheffield airport was built on this site.

Scanned from a Kodacolor print .