But, if not, why go through all the expense to dump scrap in the ocean,
when
these mega-tons of steel could be recycled? With much less expense and
chemical waste ito prep/cleaning, etc.?

There was a 60 minutes expose on this a couple years ago. The only place
that can do this for less than the cost of the ship is Bangladesh or east
Pakistan. No pollution laws and almost slave labor rates. I guess its just
too damned expensive to do it right.

Karl