on the Vilui River in Yaku-

™" Waters’ passing through the

pare her people happy by harnessing

. mountain river and bringing water
pe the. parched cotton fields of the
asants. A brave young giant; named
Ur, who loved Soadat dearly, took up
€ challenge. He locked the river with
ge boulders and triumphantly took
S beloved in his arms on the crest of
sk high dam. But the river, enraged,
ee against the dam in blind fury,
yonoved it and swallowed up the
caller couple. Since then it has been
‘ €d “Vakhsh” which theans wild,
8trible . . .
It Was 99° Fahrenheit when our bus
rf led up the steep mountain road lead-
f to the construction site of the
‘ee hydroelectric development, the
Best in Central Asia (it will have a
Pacity of 2.7 million kw. when it
a into operation next year). The
tion, still in the embryonic stage
ithe I visited it, will operate nine
ea of 300,000 kw. each. The
$a Across the narrow section of Puli-
Nginskoye Gorge is the highest in
bla, World, over 1,000 feet. (In second
ae the Grande Dixence in Switz-
the nd, 932 feet. Highest U.S. dam is
Th Oroville in California, 770 feet).
7 © potential life of the dam is 100
ca cost of construction, 588 million
bith les. The water reservoir holds 11
eee cubic metres and more than
Gis, billion will be used annually to
€nch the thirst of some 600,000 hec-
ay (a hectare is 2,471 acres) of cot-
N fields in the valley below.

pee where the young’ giant Nur
Ned, socialist man has triumphed!

4 I Promised at the beginning of this
Tticle to say something about thermal
Bt stations and also the new sourc-
tio of energy—nuclear and tidal sta-
Ns. But space is running out.
writing in the newspaper Trud
pest) Academician Vladimir Kirillin,
Monty chairman of the Council of
Misters of the U.S.S.R., notes that
poe electric power stations now
ing built are of a high technical level.
This is proved by the fact that the
Putting into operation of new power
8€nerating facilities is being carried
a now on a big scale with the use
4 300,000 kilowatt turbogenerators,
Perated by steam of supercritical
Parameters, with a pressure of 240 at-
Ospheres and with a temperature of
“a degrees. The next step will be
Ecc application of even more power-
turbogenerators — 500,000 and
0,00 kilowatts per unit. The first
‘Samples of such machines are already
= operation,; and a million kilowatt

turbogenerator is now being deve-
loped.” ;

A couple of months ago I visited the
Konakovo steam power station on the
banks of the Volga in the Kalinin re-
gion, not far from Moscow. It is the
biggest power station of the Central
Power Grid, with a rated capacity of
2,400,000 kw. Natural gas is the main
fuel and fuel oil is the reserve fuel

"(though at present, because of a short-

age of gas, it is working mainly on
fuel oil).

Director Vladislav Bylichev, 43,

- showed us around the plant and wil-

lingly answered questions. Construc-
tion began in 1961 and the eighth and
final unit was put into operation in the
autumn of 1969—one year behind
schedule. Each 300,000 kw. unit con-
sists of a twin furnace boiler designed
for gas and oil firing, and a three-
cylinder tandem-compound turbine
with an alternator and step-up trans-
former. The boilers were made in Po-
dolski; the turbines and alternators in
Leningrad; the transformers in Zapo-
rozhye.

There are three 75-ton capacity
cranes in the boiler unit, all operated

-by girls. I spoke to one girl and she

told me her wages were 130 roubles a
month. In the chemical unit all the
workers are women. Of the total sta-
tion personnel—mainly young people
215 of the 750 are women. Minimum
wage (for apprentices) is 85 roubles,
maximum (for mechanics and other
skilled trades) 250. Average wage is
156 roubles. As .everywhere in the
U.S.S.R., men and women receive
equal pay for equal work.

I asked the plant director about
water pollution. He admitted it was a
problem. A coal filter is in use and a
chemical filter is under construction.
Other steps are being taken to prevent
fouling the waters of the Volga.

Living conditions for the workers
are good. Modern apartment buildings,
a hotel, canteens, cafes, shops, cine-
mas, Clubs, a hospital, kindergartens
and nurseries have been constructed
in the vicinity. The houses have a
water supply and sewage system, cen-
tral heating and gas, telephone, radio
and other facilities. Rent is about four
percent of a worker’s wages.

The Konakovo thermal station is
equalled in size by the Pridneprovska-
ya and Krivoi Rog stations and. sur-
passed by the Nazarovo and Slavyansk
stations. Foundations are being laid

for super thermal power stations with

acapacities of 4-5 million kw.

Atomic energy is the most concen-
trated source of power known to man.
Atomic power stations are going up in
all developed countries of the world.
One-third of all the power generated

Tide-operated Kislogubsky Power Station, built as a floating block

destination.

'

The world's largest power ‘station—Bratsk—on the An

&

gara River.

Its 18 turbines generate 4,100,000 kilowatts. -

by atomic electric stations is pro-
duced in the U.S.S-R.

Another source of vast potential
energy is concealed in the sea and
ocean tides. Steps to harness them
have already been taken. One such
power station—the Kislogubsk — has
already been built near Murmansk, in-

side the Arctic Circle. (Unfortunately,.

when I travelled to Murmansk last
year I had no time to make a side-trip
to see the unusual power plant). An-
other is being built on the eastern
coast of the White Sea.

Yesterday such plants would have
been regarded as sheer fantasy. Today
they have become reality.

SS Mk
. is readied for its trip by sea

And what about the Earth’s heat,
which rises in temperature 1° Centi-
grade every 100 feet one digs? Man
reaches for the stars—he can also ex-
plore the depths of the Earth.

The ancient sources of energy were
wind, animals, men and wood. Today
tric power. Plus tke new sources—
—petroleum, coal, natural gas, elec-
tric power. Plus the new sources —
clear, tidal, the Earth’s heat, geysers,
subterranean waters.

Everything for man, everything in
the name of man—that is the Soviet
goal. In working to achieve it, a key
role is being played by the power in-
dustry.

%

B.

to its

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1970—PAGE eae