RUMANIAN ELECTRIFICATION PLAN TO PROMOTE INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: March 10, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
UtN lI AL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY !(,r,~,~ s t: - d~aSTAT
CI ACQICIPATn01. oorinorrvnw.
COUNTRY Rumania
SUBJECT Economic - Industry, agriculture,
electrification
HOW
PUBLISHED Bimonthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Bucharest
DATE
PUBLISHED Mar - Apr 1951
LANGUAGE Rumanian
hU 0OW 1OT 00171111 Inr011170n 10ltm11 TM! 11111000[ 01R0tt
or nit 011010 07t700 U1701n 1111 tu000 or 11non10t Am 1o
?. t, c.. tl 111 10.1010[0[0. T10nt0U0oOl On 701010t1anol
or 170 00070070 in 0nT 010001 To O Al 010/70/0010 111000 It 1O.
^Itm0 0T 110. JOM000rnon or T01t FOIO 10 0000111700.
CATE OF
INFORMATION
DATE DIST. /o Mar 1952
NO. OF PAGES 6
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
RUMANIAN ELECTRIFICATION PLAN
TO PROMOTE INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE
Constantin Scarlat
During a period of 70 years in Rumania, the capitalists erected power in-
stallations producing only 740,000 kilowatts. Today, only about 600,000 kilo-
watts produced in 603 power stations are usable. Of these installations, 541
consume high-quality fuel. The stations are scattered throughout the country
in an unsystematic manner, and the power available per square kilometer in some
regions of the country is extremely low. In the regions of Oltenia, Dobruja,
and Moldavia, where the exploitation of the soil and subsoil presents much
greater difficulties than in other regions of the country, the available power
per square mile varies between 0.47 and 1.40 kilowatts. The great majority of
the rural population has been totally deprived of the benefits of electricity.
Out, of the total of 13,000 villages, only a very small number, about 450, had
been electrj. ,d.
CLASSIFIATIO" U
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
The principal objectives of the Rumanian Electrification Plan for the
first 10-year period are: to supply existing industries, as well as those to
be built under the Five-Year Plans, with electric power derived from the utili-
zation of water and low-grade fuel; to institute water control in dry areas and
areas subject to flood; to supply electric power for railroads and rural areas;
and to utilize electricity to raise the material and cultural standards of the
people.
The Electrification Plan will put into operation 13 thermal electric power
plants with a total production capacity of 1,039,000 kilowatts and 24 hydro-
electric power stations with a total production capacity of 764,000 kilowatts.
In addition, large thermal electric plants with a production capacity of 98,000
kilowatts will be built, as well as smaller ones with a total capacity of
40,000 kilowatts. The power output of the present plants is to be raised
59,000 kilowatts. The total production capacity expected from the Electrifi-
cation Plan is 2 million kilowatts. A capacity of 1,060,000 kilowatts will be
achieved during the First Five-Year Plan, and 940,000 kilowatts during the Sec-
ond Five-Year Plan. This amount of electrical energy will help industry and
agriculture out of their present slump.
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
For the first time, electricity will be uniformly distributed throughout
thermal electric plants with a capacity of approximately 100,000 kilowatts each.
The Petrosani and Filipesti de Padure plants, with a capacity of 150,000 kilo-
watts each, will be the largest. The V. I. Lenin Hydroelectric Power Station
on the Bistrita River will have a capacity of 210,000 kilowatts.
The doubling and tripling in the production of electric power will result
in a corresponding increase in industrial output, and will facilitate the build-
ing of new metallurgical and chemical centers. Petroleum extraction and the
mining of coal will increase considerably in volume and new factories will be
built to manufacture the goods in greatest demand.
Electrification opens great prospects for mechanizing coal mining and ren-
dering mining more attractive. By 1955, the quantity of electrically run appa-
ratus in the ferrous and nonferrous metal mining installations will increase
65 percent. The use of electrical equipment in the sinking of shafts will in-
crease 300 percent during the Five-Year Plan. The electrification of drilling
and boring installations will augment the extraction of petroleum and make pos-
sible the erection of new refineries and the enlarging of the old ones. In
ferrous metallurgy, electrification will considerably increase production and
reduce the cost of cast iron and steel.
High-frequency furnaces and refining processes will greatly improve the
quality of refined metals. It will be possible to produce the tool steel
necessary for the rapid cutting of metals. By means of electric furnaces it
will be possible to produce special types of steel for ball bearings, to manur
facture measuring apparatus, artificial magnets, etc.
Production capacity and quality will increase considerably as a result of
the mechanization of the foundries and of the internal means of transportation,
as well as the standardization of machine tools and the adoption of new manu-
facture control methods.
The chemical industry will also make great strides forward, for it will
then be able to make full use of electrochemical processes. Thus, large-scale
production of caustic soda and other products of the chlorine-sodium industry
such as ammonium salts, nitrogenous products, and fertilizers will be possible.
Pharmaceutical factories will be built to produce the medicines needed for the
health of the nation. Also, nonferrous metals will be available, in an almost
pure state, to satisfy the needs of the electrotechnieal industry, Bauxite
reserves, for the production of aluminum, will become plentiful.
The introduction of electricity in construction work will make possible
large-scale mechanization of heavy tasks.
As a result of the mechanization of work and the standardization of ma-
chinery, the textile and leather industries will also be able to advance and
reduce the cost of production..
The improvement of backward regions is related to the problem of the utili-
zation of water.. This problem plays an important part in the economic and so-
cial life of Rumania. Thus, a series of problems, such as safeguarding agri-
cultural production against drought, flood prevention, and the reclamation of
flooded areas, supplying towns and industrial centers with water, navigation,
fishing, and reforestation, are all related to the utilization of water.
In the past, the population in the vast regions of Moldavia, Dobruja, and
Oltenia, found mainly in rural areas, lived under unusually difficult condi-
tions in that they were at the mercy of the forces of nature. Semidry regions,
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
such'as northeastern and southern Moldavia and Dobruja, occupy 34 percent of
the country and approximately 51 percent of all arable land. In dry years, the
wheat yield per hectare is one fifth that of normal years; the corn yield is one
seventh the normal amount. During the 1946 drought, when the total agricultural
production of Rumania was hardly 40 percent of normal, a large part of the do-
mestic animals, especially in Moldavia and Baragan, were lost, and the popular
tion was stricken by hunger and uisease.
Because of deforestation, it was no longer possible to contain the water
during rainy seasons, and the torrents eroded more than 800,000 hectares,
creating ravines and barren hills, and covering large areas of arable land
with alluvia. The lack of vegetation, in turn, has affected the climate, re-
ducing the rainfall in semiarid regions to 375-630 millimeters, as compared to
465-1,000 millimeters in forest regions.
A great shortcoming in our country is the irregularity of the natural water
supply. The streams of Muntenia and Moldavia, in particular, flood areas of up
to 890,00 hectares at certain times of the year, whereas at other times they
dry up almost entirely. Together with the approximately one million hectares
of land subject to flooding by the Danube River, the total area subject to in-
undation is about 1,900,000 hectares -- nearly 20 percent of the arable land in
Rumania. For these reasons, the problem of utilization of rivers and streams,
which is an integral part of the electrification plan, is of marked importance
to the economic and social improvement of the backward regions,
Gheorghe Gheorghin-Dej stressed this point in his report at the plenary
session of the Central Committee of the Rumania Workers Party. He said, "Due
to the important role of water In agriculture, in the determination of the cli-
mate, anu in the production of power necessary for electrification, the control
and utilization of our waters constitutes one of the basic problems in the
building of socialism."
Through the erection of dams and the creation of artificial lakes, the
rivers and streams which originate in the mountains and flow down sloped ter-
rains towards level land will be subject to man's control Such lakes include
the one at Izvorul Muntelui on the Bistr.ita, with a capacity of 1.2 billion
cubic meters, the one at Tunelul on the Arges, with a capacity of 75 million
cubic meters; and the one at Vidra on the Lcctru, nth a capacity of 100 million
cubic meters.
Thv dams which are to be erected on the rivers will permit the retention
of approximately 4.2 billion cubic meters of water.
On the plains, lakes especially designated for irrigation will total about
450 million cubic meters in Muntenia and 210 million cubic meters in Moldavia.
The water from these great lakes will operate a series of hydroelectric stations
which will furnish 764,000 kilowatts of electricity..
The damming of streams which, if uncontrolled, would cause destructive
floods during the rainy seasons will provide the huge water reserves necessary
for the irrigation of dry areas, for the organization of water transport, and
for the improvement of areas now subject to flood. The irrigation of up to
500,000 hectares of land will thus be ensured. By making use of the rivers
that flow across and regions, an additional 200,000 hectares can be irrigated.
The ample supply of electric power which will be available at the end of
the Five-Year Plan will make possible the irrigation of another 400,000-500,000
hectares of land adjacent to the Danube by pumping water from the river.' Thus,
planned utilization of the lake reservoirs and of electricity will insure the
irrigation of 1,200,000 hectares (45 percent of the total area suffering from
intermittent dry spells).
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-
By water conservation, irrigation, and the use of chemical fertilizer,
the Soviet Union showed an increase of approximately 200 percent in wheat, 110
percer` in sugar beets, 400 percent in corn, 50 percent in potatoes, and up to
900 percent in alfalfa and hay. In 1950, a good beginning was made in Rumania
in the irrigated cotton regions, where an increase of 250 percent was obtained.
The supplementary agricultural production expected from the irrigation of the
1,200,000 hectares will amount to approximately 240,000 freight cars of grains
annually.
Measures will be taken in Rumania to create wooded areas along the princi-
pal rivers and to plant forest shelter belts as protection against drought and
erosion. To that end, the Five-Year Plan provides for the afforestation of
about 400,000 hectares, the reclamation of more than 40,000 hectares of eroded
land, and, at the same time, the completion of other projects designed to check
flood devastation in an area of 7,000 hectares.
The fulfillment of the Electrification Plan and the plan for the utiliza-
tion of rivers and streams will lead to improved conditions in the backward
regions. In Moldavia, one of the least advanced regions in the country, new
.powerhouses will be built, having an installed capacity of 317,000 kilowatts
as compared to the 47,000 kilowatts at present, The construction of the great
Izvorul Muntelr'. Dam and of the V. I, Lenin Hydroelectric Power Station, with
a capacity of 210,000 kilowatts, will represent the equivalent of almost one
third of the power available in the country today. This huge hydroelectric
plant will furnish power for the large industrial enterprises to be built dur-
ing the Five-Year Plan, that is, for the ironworking, metallurgical, electro-
chemical, petroleum, textile, and forestry enterprises.
At the same time, the reserve of 1,2 billion cubic meters of water in
artificial lakes will be used to increase the productivity of 300,000 hectares
of land. Transportation will be greatly improved; the smaller cargo ships
.from the Black Sea will be able to penetrate far into Moldavia on the Siretul
which will become navigable,
Furthermore, more than 30,000 hectares of the Moldavia River Valley, fur-
nished with power by the Prisaca-Dorna Hydroelectric Power Station which will
have a 90-million-cubic-meter reservoir, will be irrigated, while another
16,000 hectares, today largely flooded, will become arable. The 20,000-kilowatt
power generated by the Prisaca-Dorna Hydroelectric Power Station, aside from
furnishing the Vatra-Dorna Forestry Combine with electricity, will make possible
the introduction of electricity in the rural areas of the Moldavia River Valley,
During the First Five-Year Plan, electric power will be introduced into
2,000 villages and, most important of all, provided for the MrS, the state
farms, and the collective farms. Although the number of MTS will increase
several hundred percent during the Five-Year Plan, their complete electrifica-
tion will be assured.. Electrification will speed the mechanization of labor
in. agriculture.
In addition to the cultivation of grain, the state and collective agri-
cultural farms will be able to develop fully the raising of cattle and poul-
try, and to expand the honey industry and fishing. Moreover, through the proc-
essing of milk, fish, fruit, vegetables, reed grass, straw, etc., by electrical
machinery, local income from these products will be increased.
Electric lights will permit more books to be read and studied in the
schools (to which 2,000 new classes will be added), in the cultural centers,
in the collective farm buildings, and in the working peasants' homes. Radios
will increase in-the villages, and cinematography will be able to be expanded
in the rural areas..
-4-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091
mitting modern methods to be introduced in4therexistingnhospitalstandtdispensa-
ries, and in those to be built during the Five-Year Plan. The network of mobile
units will be increased by 200 rural dispensaries, by 2,000 village dispensa-
ries, and 50 county dispensaries.
Thus, the penetration of electricity into the rural areas, the gradual
mechanization of agricultural industry, the introduction of new techniques
based on the latest scientific advances in all fields of endeavor, and the il-
lumination of roads, villagec, homes, schools, and cultural buildings will
make work easier and more pleasant.
At the Regional Electrical Enterprise in Bucharest, which comprises the
Grozavest and Filaret plants, the Obor Electrical Station, the First of May
power stations (Fiiantropia and Vasile Lascar), the laborers, engineers, tech-
nicians, and office workers undertook to improve and complete the existing
installations. This was done to increase the production capacity, to improve
the methods of transmitting and distributing the electric power generated in
the plants, and to make maximum use of the internal reserves.
the Academy of the Rumanian People's Republic, the institutes of higher
learning, and the scientific and cultural associations have organized exten-
sive disc?ssions with respect to the duties created and the possibilities
opened by the Electrification Plan.
The schedule of the Academy of the Rumanian People's Republic for this
year contains provisions for duties in connection with the Electrification
Plan for the country..
At the Petrosani Coal Institute, debates on problems related to electri-
fication were organized by professors, students, and the institute council.
The workers engaged in electrification construction jobs have already had
marked success. Reads have been built along the Bicaz River, giving access to
the construction work at the V. I. Lenin Hydroelectric Power Station. Trans-
portation was organized and warehouses and barracks for the workers and office
employees were prepared. A new bridge was built across the Bistrita so that
work on the power station could proceed concurrently with that of other proj-
ects. Moreover, work was begun on the 5-kilometer-long tunnel which will pierce
the mountains from the reservoirs to the power station.
On 1 March, 9 days ahead of schedule, the concrete caisson at position 34
was poured; the concrete workers are still on the job. The iron of the coffer-
dam was in place 7 days ahead of schedule. Thus, the building of the Valiug
Dam and Hydroelectric Power Station is almost finished. The main building of
the power station has been erected and most of the other structures now have
taken definite shape. The waters of the Berzava, conducted through three tubes,
are furnishing the Sovrommetal Works at Resita and vicinity with tens of thou-
sands of volts of electricity,
The workers and technicians at the Sovromchie.-Ucea-Fagaras Plant have com-
pleted the installation of a pressure tank needed by the thermal electric plant
which they are building. A new power station with a 100-kilowatt generator is
in operation in the village of lacobeni, in Vatra-Dorna Rayon, thereby creat-
ing greater opportunities for the community, as well as the mine.
These are only a few of the achievements to date. Numerous others can be
given. For example, considerable progress has also been made at the Ovidiu
Thermal Electric Plant, operating since 1950, and at the construction works at
Moroeni, Ovidiu II, Vadul Crisului, and elsewhere.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4
electrical energy in operating their equipment. A series of products not yet
:manufactured in the country, such as household and safety devices
are bein
,
g
manufactured at the Llectroaparatai Enterprise in Bucharest. Also, for the
firsttime in this country, the Electromagnetica Enterprise has begun the Pro-
duction of electric meters which have passed all tests. Over 20 types of con-
ductors and cables', wire, flexible Kopex tubes, etc., were developed at the
Electro-Cablu Enterprise. The Electroputere Factory was built at Craiova for
the production of motors and electrical machinery. High-pressure tanks for the
thermal electric plants are being built at the Vulcan Enterprise. Also, 480-
kilowatt motors, 5,000-kilowatt-ampere transformers, trolley-bus motors, new
types of generators, etc., are in production at the Dinamo Plant. High-tension
insulators are being produced for the first time at the Electromecanica Enter-
prise in Turda.
Y Any villages, Mf3, state farms, and collective farms have already been
equipped with electricity. Thus, the great Electrification Plan is fast be-
coming a reality in Rumania.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050091-4