The explosion claimed the lives of Stephen Galsworthy, who was 25, Andrew Hutin, 20, and Len Radford, 53.
A £65m rebuilding of the furnace, and upgrades since, had allowed it to continue producing the liquid iron required for Port Talbot’s steelworks.
Its closure comes amid a vast restructure of Tata Steel UK’s operations.
While BF5 will close this week, Blast Furnace 4 will shut in September and will end Port Talbot’s ability to produce liquid iron from ore.
Around 2,800 staff from Tata’s 8,000 workforce will lose their jobs.
