S-s, it depends on the temperatures that the furnace will operate at. The furnace is surrounded by insulation that is solid (not yer average pink batts type), and if it is heated up too quickly it will crack as the heat doesn't have time to flow through the insulation to attain the heat transfer equilibrium - like pouring boiling water into a glass, the glass will shatter.
I've worked on furnaces where it took two weeks to heat up or cool down (in a controlled fashion) and they were only moderate temperature ones. Steel furnaces are never closed down unless essential because they take months, but then they are a lot bigger than the REO one. Steel companies will run at an operating loss waiting for prices to improve rather than shut down altogether.
So if it is several weeks, then you won't have feed to the furnace in August anyway. And NC might be taking a gamble that the TOL will come within several weeks, and get a head start. What he doesn't want to do is heat it up, and then have to cool it down again because the TOL isn't issued, as that will degrade the insulation slightly. Better off just keeping it going if no TOL in time, shouldn't cost much in the overall scheme of things.
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