THE LENIN STEEL COMBINE IN HUNEDOARA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A008600660008-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 19, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: December 21, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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SUBJECT The Lenin Steel Combine
in Hunedoara
DATE OF INFO. May 1955
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 21 December 1955
NO. OF PAGES 6
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
This is UNEVALUATED
Information
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
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1. The Lenin Steel Combine at Hunedoara (Stahl Kombinat Lenin - Hunedoara)
occupies an area of 800 by .400 meters north of the city on the west bank
of the Cerna River. It is served by a railroad trunk line running south
through Pestisu Mare from the main Deva-Alba luli.a railroad,
2. The Directorate of the Combine consists of the followings
a. Personnel Director - Mitrea Ghiugaria9
b. Technical Director v Engineer Octav Birlic9 formerly employed at
Recita;
c. Manager of the Iron Smelter ? Dimitru Gheorghe6nu9
d. Manager of the Steel. Works - Ioan Dsnielopol,u, who is not a Communist
Party member. This department employs only specialists among which
there are almost no Party members;
e. Manager of the Foundry m Mircea Constantin, a bourgeoisie;
f. Manager of the Rolling Mill m loan Petrasi-
g. Manager of the Forge - Gheorghe Luca.;
h. Manager of the Power Plant - Gregor Stefa.nescu9
i. Party Secretary - Petru Crisan-
j, Head Dispatcher - Mihail Schuster-
k, Responsible for Production - Loan Porumbac,
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3. There is a permanent Soviet committee in the factory. Soviet members live
completely apart from the Rumanians and have no contacts with them except
for business purposes. The names of the Soviet members are not known.
4. The Carbine has 89000 to 10,000 employees. Of this number,, about 119000 are
technically trained workers, about 1,500 are semi-skilled workers,, and the
remainder are laborers. The number of technically trained workers is com-
paratively large because of the fact that individuals enrolled in the various
training and technical qualification courses are accommodated first for
employment in the Carbine, Women form about 25 percent of the workers.
There are approximately 900 Party members and 1,500 Party candidates., most
of whom are not genuine Communists but enter the Party because it is pre-
scribed as a requisite for remaining in a job.
5. There are three work shifts in the Combine,, starting at 0600, 11100, and
2200 hours. Only the two day shifts have a full complement of workers.
The night shift is generally engaged in maintenance and transportation
work. In spite of the lowering of norms at the end of 19511., the tempo of
work is forced and workers find it difficult to fulfill the norms.
6. The entire Combine is surrounded by a wire net fence with barbed wire
running along the top. The fence is mounted partly on brisk,, partly on
wood, and partly on iron posts, The installation has five gates,, two of
which are always closed, Entry is permitted only after proof of identity.
Each worker and employee has an identity card which bears personal infor-
mation and the name of that part of the plant in which the individual is
employed, Upon arrival at work the card is exchanged for a round
aluminum disk bearing the worker9e identity number and the number of the
unit to which he is assigned. The worker must stay only in that part of
the Combine to which he is assigned.
7. The Combine Guard consists of 160 men, Each work shift has 110 men on
duty, while the remaining 110 men have a free day. The Fire Department
of the Combine likewise consists of 160 men who, in addition., perform
air raid defense duty and hold air defense courses for the workers, Each
worker must be trained in a particular branch of air-raid defense and the
problems involved9 such as removal of ruins., hygiene, etc. Those who are
trained must take an annual two weeks' refresher course and must hold 30
drills a year in their free time.
8. The uniforms of the Combine Guard and Fire Department resemble the Soviet
military uniform; the Guard uniform is steel blue and the Fire Department
uniform is ash gray. The Combine Guard is not armed,., but is equipped
with rubber truncheons. Each guard post is equipped with a pistol, some
of which are automatic.
9.
At the main gate., there is a porteros lodge which is equipped with an
automatic time clock; a two-story, flat-roofed building., SO by 15 meters.,
which contains storage space on the ground floor for fire equipment and
garages and on the second floor quarters for the Combine Guard and
firemen; a three-story building for the management and laboratory., 80 by
20 meters, which has a gate for employees only; and, a building 60 by 20
meters which provides separate bathing and wardrobe facilities for men
and women.
10. The ore dressing plant consists of ore milling and washing units. The
milling unit has two mill lines. Because of great dust accumulations,
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this milling unit is in the open air, Lump pre which is carried by the
Combine railroad is piled partly by dump cars and partly by steam shovels
on a conveyor belt which carries the ore to the mill line where it is
crushed. The crushed ore'comes out on the other side on another conveyor
belt which carries it to a cylindrical ore cleaning installation, In this
cylinder., the ore is cleaned by steady rotation. The ore dressing shop
employs 200 workers. Either there is no night shift or it is limited to
the necessary maintenance work.
U. The large smelting plant has a 500-ton. and two 250-ton smelting furnaces.
The 500-ton furnace was completed in 1953 and replaces one which was
destroyed during the war. Of the two 250-ton smelting furnaces, one is
of prewar make, the other was completed in November, 1951, The cleaned
and crushed ore is carried by conveyors and hoists into the so-called
bell, a bell-type distributing gear., in the upper part of the smelting
furnace, From this bell, the-ore enters the furnace through an opening.
For this purpose, cokes, scrap,-metal, limestone, and quartz are mixed in
with the iron ore. Each shift, except the night shifts, finishes one
smelting., Each smelting takes about five hours. The remaining three
hours are employed in charging the furnace, casting the pigs, and clean-
ing the furnace, The pig iron 'flows into asbestos-lined ingot molds. An
ingot mold of 50 kilograms capacity is divided into two 25-kilogram
compartments by an asbestos lining. The large smelting plant includes the
special firebrick plant and asbestos manufacturing workshops of the Combine.
Because of its mechanization, the large smelting plant employs 700 workers.,
300 in each day shift, and 100 in the night shift,
12. The steel mill consists of 16 open-hearth furnaces, arranged in two rove,
each independent of the other,- In these furnaces, the pig iron is alloyed
by the addition of scrap metal, aluminum, chromium,, niikel,a manganese., and
charcoal to produce steel by means of gas firing in graphite pots,
13. Another line of open-hearth furnaces is under construction, provisionally
with four furnaces, which will operate with an electric heating and steel
crucible system. Two of the new open-hearth furnaces will probably be
put into operation in the second half of 1955, The furnaces have a 15-ton
capacity and two charges will be completed in each shift, including the
night shift, This mill includes also the adjoining coking plants, consist-
ing of 20 furnaces and a gas cleaning installation. Coke is used in the
large smelting'plant,'and gas in the open-hearth furnaces, Coke is
obtained from coking brown coal from the Jiu Valley mines. The steel mill
employs 1,200 menu while the coking plant employs 200 men,
14. Casting of the pig iron, obtained from the large smelting plant and in
part of the pig steel from the open-hearth furnaces, as well as of non-
ferrous metal not produced in these operations, is carried on in the
foundry which is organized in- four sections. The smallest foundry section
is the gray cast iron foundry, consisting of one roan, 30 by 15 meters in
dimensions. Next to it and-twice its site is the iron foundry, the
equally large steel foundry,'and the nonferrous metal foundry which is
somewhat larger than the gray metal foundry, Each foundry comprises the
foundry proper and an alloy cleaning installation, In the foundries, the
metals come first to the so-called cupola furnace, where they are again
smelted in the desired alloy combination' and then poured into wooden
cases containing molds of sand and ashes,
15. The iron and steel foundries each have two cupola furnaces, the gray iron
and nonferrous metal foundries each have one, The alloys, which take
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four hours to cool,, are then brought to the alloy cleaning installation
where they are cleansed of the sand and ashes on the surface by means of
oil and compres?sed'air. Pouring at the cupola furnace is done twice in
the two day shifts., the remaining time being employed in preparing the
model and for cooling off the castings., Shifts in the alloy cleaning unit
begin work an hour later than the foundry unit. The foundry also has a
carpenetry shop for preparing models. The total number of workers in these
two units is about 19200,
16. The rolling mill is organized in the three following separate groups of
buildings+: a roughing mill., a secondary mill and a fine rolling mill,
Each building is a 20 by 30 meter hail with a concrete framework 20 meters
high. The ingots, coming from the open hearth furnaces., are brought by an
automatic line of rollers to one of the two smelting furnaces at the end
of the hall where they are heated by gas,, to white heat., at about 1,.,200
degrees. The ingots are placed into and taken from the main furnaces by
automatic hoists. From these furnaces, they are conveyed by,rllers to
the rolling mill line. The fine rolling mill consists 'of' 18 rolling mill
lines; the secondajrrolling mill of 14 rolling mill lines- and the roughing
mill of 10 rolling mill lines. The work is completely mechanized,
17. Before this part of the Combine was rebuilt in 193 and 1954.9 and when it
was still little mechanized., ' it employed 19200 workers, The present
employment rate is not known. Planned production for 195;5 is 1209000 tons,
Output includes rolled axles., rounds., falts9 nail iron, I and U sections.,
railroad rails for, sidings, as well as various types of pit props, and
sheet metaAL, from heavy plate to fine sheets,, 0,.5 millimeter thick,
18. Some of the steel products from the rolling mill., as well as some of the
pig steel from the open-hearth furnaces, are conveyed to the Jorge shop,,
which als:o'conaasts of two units,, the power press shop and the large
hammer mill. The two shops are large-halls with concrete framework.,
80 by 30 and 100 by 30 meters in area, respectively. In both these shops
the steel is put', in a so-called sintering furnace heated with coal. The
steel is heated red hot in these furnaces and then treated by various
cooling sy66erisv,, The raw material is then put under the pY-?eas where it
is pressed and then hammered into the desired form, The preasrshop has
two large and two small hydraulic presses while the hammer mill has one
large and three small steam hammrere, This part of the Combine also has
a tempering plant in which the - pressed. and forged, steel is tempered to
the d'e,si,red haadness in oil heated furnaces, in Hunedoara,,onily east,
rolled, forged,,, and pressed semi-manufactured products are turned out.
There are 1,,.000 employees.
19. Three air raid defense bunkers have been built, These bun-era are large
enough to permit the inhabitants of the settlements in the me' gh~borhood
as well as the workers to take refuge there, The bunkers are Pave meters
underground.,, andf have such strong concrete walls that,, according to
people on the spot., the bunkers can withstand atom bombs..
20. The Combine has two electric power plants, Olne of them,, on the grounds
of the C.ombiine,, has a cynxamo operated by three gas turbines w,hioh are
powered by the blast furnace gases of the large furnaces, Thyia power
plant can sa
sufficient current to meet the needs not onlay, of the
Combine .bukt also of the city of Hunedoara, The hydroelectric power,
plant, built at the dam south of Hunedoer^a near Te.l axc,, is a reserve
power plant for emergencies. 'No information is available as to the
power production of the plant,
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21. Scrap metal, conveyed to the scrap metal shop by rail., is cut to pieces
by motor saws and cutting torches. The scrap is then tied up in 50-
kilogram bundles.
22. A two-story, 25 by 10 meter., building houses medical facilities., dispensary
and emergency hospital. The first floor contains also a dentistry office,
the second fioor has two operating rooms and a four-room emergency hospital.
23. The planned 1955 production is 320,000 tons of crude iron and 1809000 tons
of crude steel. This tonnage exceeds 1951 production by 20 percent and
exceeds the planned production by 28 percent.
21. Some of the semi-finished goods produced from pig iron and steel are
delivered by rail via Simeria to Orsova, from where it is shipped by way
of the Danube to the USSR;-and some of it is shipped to various Rumanian
enterprises, chiefly in Arad$ Qrasul-Stalin, and Bucharest, for processing.
Since 1951, none of the cast, rolled., and forged semi-processed products
have gone to the USSR. Instead the total production is used partly for
domestic requirements and partly for export.
25. About 18 percent of the iron ore comes from the iron mines near Hunedoara,
chiefly from the Baia Teluicului iron mine, while the greater part of the
iron ore domes from the USSR, from Kirvoi Rog, It is in the form of lump
ore and is shipped on tug boats to Turnu Severin and Orsova, from where it
goes by rail via Hateg and S3meria,
26. As to alloying materials, crude aluminum and managanese ore is delivered
by Hungary; manganese, nickel, chromium,'and other nonferrous metals by
the USSR.. There is no shortage in raw materials, The Combine always has
a two-weeks' reserve of raw materials, and reserves for a long period in
the fall so. that delays which may occur in Danube River transportation
will not cause work stoppages,
27. Coal is obtained from the brown coal mines in the vicinity of Petrosani
and Luteni, The Combine supplies its requirements for coke by coking the
brown coal.
28. The technical equipment for the Combine consists partly of post war
equipment and partly of repaired prewar equipment.
29. The reject rate in the foundry amounts to 22 to 21 percent., the higher
rate being that of the iron foundry, the lower rate that of the nonferrous
metal foundry. The reject rate in the rolling mill is 16 percent, in the
forge shops it was brought-down to less than 10 percent in 1954. The
Combine competes with its counterpart shops in Resita to lower the reject
rate.
30. The welfare installations at the Combine consist of a hospital, a pulmonary
sanatorium, a convalescent home, a sports arena, and a culture house, all
in impeccable condition.
31. The old settlement of the workers, which housed 2,000 workers., consists
largely of bedroom-kitchen quarters. The new settlement of the workers,
built after the war for 800 families, is composed mainly of two-room
quarters,. Housing built in 1953 consists of eight three-story houses
with about 100 apartments, Another workera settlement is now under
construction.
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32. At present, the Combine is not being.enlarged but it is rumored in
Hunedoara that it is planned to build an agricultural machine factory
south of Hunedoara.
33. The Combine has a standard-gauge railroad installation and a narrow-gauge
railroad.. The Rumanian railroads use the standard-gauge track. There are
always four shunting locomotives at the Combine. The locomotives on the
narrow-gauge railroad are electrically operated. The Combine has'a number
of trucks and motor busses.
34. A legend for the attached sketch is as follovsg
1 - Main gate and porterDs lodge
2 - Guard and f"iremenes quarters., equipment, garages
3 - Management and laboratory building
4 - Bathing andwardrobe facilities
5 - Ore dressing plant
6 - Large smelting plant
7 - Steel mill
8 - Foundry
9 - Rolling mill
10 - Forge shop
11 - Air raid defense bunkers
12 - Electric power plant
13?- Scrap metal shop
it - Medical facilities
15 - Workers' settlement (old)
16 - Workers' settlement (new)
17 - Workers' apartments
18 - Workers' settlement (under construction)
19 - Brickyard
20 - Coking plant
21 - Carpentry shop (not shown on sketch)
22 - Open air coal storage
23 - Warehouse for raw materials
24 - Semi-processed products warehouse
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Comment: Probably an error in translation.
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