The History of Creation of a Chemical Industry Power System in the Village of Vodnyi Promysel, Komi Autonomous Oblast (Zyryan) (Komi ASSR), in the 1930s
This article is devoted to the history of creation of a power system in the village of Vodnyi Promysel, Komi Autonomous Oblast (Zyryan) (since 1936, Komi ASSR), where a plant for radium extraction from mineral water operated in the GULAG system in the 1930s. The article depicts the conditions in which this power system emerged: severe climate, logistic difficulties with supplying the construction project, the use of worn equipment from other projects, and the use of convict specialists’ labor and knowledge. The contribution of M. D. Krasheninnikov, a repressed power engineer whose talents helped him become the plant’s chief engineer and recipient of the Stalin Prize, is reviewed in detail. The efforts of numerous workers and specialists resulted in the first major power system in the Russian North emerging in Vodnyi Promysel. This system allowed introducing new mineral extraction technologies and develop chemical industry in this region.