Towards the History of the Soviet Atomic Project: A. M. Marinov’s Memorandum on the Problems of Modernization of the Urals Power Systems to Meet the Needs of the Nuclear Complex

Abstract

This article introduces for scientific use the materials from the communications of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (“Obkom of VKP(b)”), concerned with the construction of new, and modernization of the existing, powers stations and electrical power networks in the Oblast to meet the needs of the nuclear industry facilities of the First Principal Directorate (“PGU”) under the Council of People’s Commissars (the Council of Ministers) of the USSR that were being erected in the Urals. In 1945–1947, the construction of three power-consuming facilities specializing in the production of fissile materials for atomic bombs (plutonium-239, highly enriched uranium-235) was launched in the Middle and Southern Urals. At the time, the Urals industry was severely lacking electric power, which threatened normal operation of even the existing production facilities. To remedy this situation, the Soviet Government undertook a number of measures to modernize power systems in the Urals. The implementation of these measures met with some obstacles. A. M. Marinov, managing director of the Sverdlovenergo, submitted a memorandum on this problem to the Sverdlovsk Obkom of VKP(b). This document was used by the Obkom for preparing the draft government resolution to be submitted to the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The documents published here reveal the organizational problems associated with the development of electric power infrastructure required for successful operation of the enterprises producing fissile materials in the Urals. These documents may be of interest for the specialists in the history of the Soviet Atomic Project, the history of Soviet power industry, and the economic history of the USSR in the 1940s and 1950s.