USSR ACQUIRES FREE WORLD EQUIPMENT TO OFFSET OXYGEN STEELMAKING LAG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01003A001500170003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: February 18, 1963
• Content Type: BRIEF

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CONFIDENTIAL
Current Support Brief
USSR ACQUIRES XYGFREE EN STEELMAKING LAG
Tp OFFSET
CIA/RR CB 63-17
18 February 1963
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
State Dept. declassification & release instructions on file
CONFIDENTIAL
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WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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USSR ACQUIRES FREE WORLD EQUIPMENT
LMAKING LAG
TO OFFSET OXYGEN STEE
The recent agreement under which the USSR
o f 2ll sllion quire frroiYC toAus nstria
an oxygen converter steel plant with a capacity
ui meat for the Soviet steel indus-
is the second recent purchase of major
USSR bought from an equipment
try from non-Bloc countries. 1/ 961 plants that are scheduled
manufacturer in Japan six large oxygen-generating for delivery in 1963. 2/ In each case the USSR acquired
viding impetus to therior
to that now produced in the USSR and capable pro
currently lagging program for expanding oxygen steelmaking in the USSR.
1. Cutback in Production of Steel which
had e
xten Negotiations for the oxygen converter sime when,the USSR had cutded
over a 2-year period, were concluded at a t
back the expansion in production of steel to the smallest an~r3alal rate since
Production of crude steel in
the start of the Seven Year Plan (1959-65).
1963 is planned at about 80 million mt, Tor only 3. 7 he nc~ ase in11962 waso5e5tma iln-
the 76. 3 million mt produced in 1962.
mt in spite of a shortfall of 600, 000 mt, and increases during 1959-62
lion
averaged 5. 35 million mt a year.
the
The significance of the slowdown planned s fonot r
c1 lear atxpres tes tThat
reaqui
probable trend in output of steel in 1964-65 m Soviet planners may have lowered their
1a t years s for
steel in 1965 is suggested by Khrushchev s
Party Congress concerning the fallacy of producing steel merely for the
If this criticism reflects planning pblicy, the
sake of producing it. 3/
goal rg t of 95 il
production goal may have been cut back from hae revised
lion mt to a level nearer the original Seven Yer Plan of 91 min
mt.
have been intended to ration:
ma
y
Khrushchev's statement, however,
alize the prospect that present difficulties may continue to delay major
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on p programs, one of which is the extensive sdtpcularlywhen applied-
tices in steelmaking. Such techniques, p
junction in onC
junction with other advanced practice significantly
of oxygen steelmaking,
rates of steelmaking facilities. The rapid growth _
de
particularly the increase in basic oxygen
Wet and waseplanned ass ch in the
velopment in steel industries in the inc
rea
s USSR. Production of steel in o195$ tof 70 percentsin was 1965a oref om 13 m le
from 24 percent of the total in
lion to 64 million mt, based on production of 91 million mt of steel in
1965. 4/ Most of the increase was to reflect the application of oxygen-
injection practices to open-hearth furnaces, but a substantial increase
was to be obtained by converting several existing Bessemer furnaces to
top-blown oxygen units and by installing in nine steel plants new converters
the KrD oy R g, (Il L- , Dhde-
incorporating the Soviet version heAustrian
sign and technology. The nine steel plants are
(Zhdanov), Novo-Tagil, Novo-Lipetsk,azOstall, Chelyabinsk, Karaganda,
Kuznets, and West Siberian metallurgic plants.
2. Lag in Oxygen Steelmaking
The Soviet oxygen steelmaking program has lagged cons
st tly, the and
basic reason being difficulties experienced in designing,
that are gvital to
installing both high-capacity oxygen generating plants
of ox en
the program and the improve models of the Soviet Soviet-designed large oxygen tntype
- the BR-2
converter. The latest
unit, which reportedly has an hourly capacity of 11, 000 cubic ermeters ters (cu m)
of oxygen of 99. 5 percent purity required in L-D types
24, 000 cu m of oxygen of lower purity usable in open-hearth and blast
furnaces -- was to have been operating
1 not in production by the'
Metallurgical Plant by the end of 961 but was
end of 1962. 5/ As this plant is the prototype BR-2 unit, the delay in
installing it has forestalled series production of the unit, in turn threaten-
during 196 3 nearbTwy othe Plant,
ing the completion of the oxygen two converter
which is scheduled to receive t
are oxygen plants, the BR- K and
cothe nverter shops inf thunknown e USSR.S1Two BR-1K
planned to supply new oxygen
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units, which were to be commis
note omplet d by the end off the year,
Novo-Tagil plant, however, were and the BR-12 unit is still in the design stage.
There have been similar delays in constructing oxygen converters.
No converters have been installed since 1956-57, when the USSR commis-
sioned the only units presently in operation, three 25-mt converters at
the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant and four 40-mt units at the Krivoy
Rog Metallurgical Plant. Delays in obtaining both the planned levels of
production and of quality from these facilities were a major reason for the
postponement of new converter projects for which plans were outlined, in
some cases, as early as 1959. The installation of converters originally
was intended to begin in 1961 at the Chelyabinsk and Kuznets metallurgical
plants but was deferred until 1964, and open-hearth construction was given
priority over converter projects at both the Karaganda and Il'ich metal-
lurgical plants. 6/ Construction of converters currently is behind schedule
operation where a to~.l.of
at both the Il'ich and Novo-Tmetallurgical plants,
three 100-mt basic oxygen units
3. Impact of Imported Equipment
Technological benefits will accrue to the USSR from the acquisition
off
the Austrian and Japanese equipment, and some
steel could result during 1963-65, particularly from the availability of
considerably increased supplies of oxygen. The three Austrian L-D con-
verters, which apparently are to be installed in the Novo-Lipetsk plant,
have a total capacity of 2 million mt of steel annually. In addition to
oxygen-generating equipment required to supply these units, which is to
be built by the West German firm of Linde, the USSR also will acquire
the advanced technology incorporated in the L-D process, widely recog-
nized as among the best in world practice. * The Austrian-built plant is
to be the first in the world to use L-D converters in conjunction with con-
tinuous steel casting instead of the conventional slabbing mill. The West
Some measure of the desire on the part of the Soviet authorities to ac-
quire the advanced L-D technology is revealed by their apparent agreement
to pay an annual royalty of $1.00 per ton of steel produced. 7/
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German firm of Mannesmann apparently will cooperate with the USSR in
the design of this continuous casting line. 8/ Operating at rated capacity,
the L-D plant could produce about 20 percent of the total converter steel
that the USSR planned to produce in 1965. 9/ Delivery and installation of
the equipment, however, will require at least 2 years, making it unlikely
that production at or near the rated capacity of the converter plant will
be achieved before the closing months of 1965.
A more immediate impetus to Soviet production of steel, however,
could result from the receipt of the Japanese oxygen-generating plants,
which could be in production as early as 1964, barring delays in ship-
ment or construction. In terms of output of oxygen of high purity, each
of these installations is larger than the Soviet BR-2 unit, being capable
of producing about 16, 000 cu m of oxygen of 99. 6 percent purity per hour.
The aggregate production of these facilities is sufficient to supply fully
six top-blown oxygen converter shops of the current Soviet design, * each
shop containing three converters of 100 to 130 mt, which together have a
rated annual capacity of up to 2. 25 million mt. Shops of this size have
been planned for the Novo-Tagil, Il'ich, Krivoy Rog, and Karaganda
metallurgical plants. Soviet designers have recently completed blue-
prints for another standard converter shop, containing six converte;rs ;with
an annual capacity of 5. 6 million mt, and are presently designing a shop
with four 250-mt converters, with a total annual capacity of 6 million
mt. ** Each of these converter shops could be served by two oxygen
plants of the Japanese design if sufficient oxygen storage facilities were
provided.
* Determined on the basis of the relatively high rates of consumption of
oxygen (53 to 59 cu m per metric ton of steel produced) characteristic of
Soviet practice at the Krivoy Rog and Dnepropetrovsk converter shops.
Rates of consumption of oxygen in the US at the Jones and Laughlin con-
verter shop in Cleveland and at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation's
plant in Pueblo, Colorado, for which plant statistics are available, have
not exceeded 51 cu m per metric ton of steel produced. 10/
** Construction of `250-mt converters is to begin in 1964 at the Azovstal'
Metallurgical Plant in the Ukraine. The largest units now in operation
in the US have a nominal charge capacity of 272 mt.
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Analyst:
1. State, Vienna. Dsp A-864, 4 Jan 62, p. 5. OFF USE.
2. East-West Trade News, no 33/61, London, 17 Aug 61. U.
Ajia keigai jumpo, no 50 3, Tokyo, 11 May 6 Z. U.
3. FBIS, Daily Report (USSR and East Europe), 21 Nov 62,
Supplement, p. 41-42. OFF USE.
4. Khlebnikov, V. B., Sovetskaya chernaya metallurgiya 1959-65
(Soviet Ferrous Metallurgy, 1959-65), Moscow, 1960, p. 112. U.
5. Stroitel'naya gazeta, 9 Jan 63, p. 1. U.
6. Pravda, 13 Dec 61. U.
Ibid., 25 Aug 6Z, p. 2. U.
7. State, Vienna. Dsp A-904, 11 Jan 63, p. 1. C.
8. State, Vienna. Dsp A-865, 4 Jan 63, p. Z. C.
9. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy -- chernaya metallurgiya,
no 8, 62, p. 206. U.
10. Journal of Metals, Jul 62, p. 517. U.
Blast Furnace and Steel Plant, Feb 62, p. 154. U.
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