Bittersweet Progress: Russia’s Very Last Ancient Smelting Furnace Has Just Been Shut Down

I'll remind you now of a famous line from the song 'Victory Day'. Do you recall these lines?

"Days and nights spent by Martin furnaces,

Our people did not blink an eye".

 

As of this week, there are no more open-hearth furnaces in Russia. The last one closed its gates. Judging from the reaction to such news in the previous years, this would have been labeled as another decrease of domestic industrial output But we are in a different time. A new stage of Russian metal industry is afoot.

Our correspondent, Leonid Muravyov, from Viksa, Nizhegorodskaya Oblast.

Another smelting at this Martin furnace. Metal workers sample, stepping directly into the fire. The noise is deafening, the heat is unbearable. Everything goes as usual. There are just many more people around. Journalists, students, fellow metal workers. More than 1,000 people came here to bid this furnace farewell, as this will be its last smelting.

Mikhail Podsekalin, steelmaker: “I feel as if my soul were falling apart. Our whole lives we've seen the pipes smoking in the background, which meant the Martin furnace was functional. We dedicated our whole lives to serve it".

This 250-ton Martin furnace is the last one of its kind in Russia. It had worked in Viksa for more than 50 years, surviving more than one rebuilding, and as hard as it is to acknowledge to the metal workers themselves, it has aged. It no longer meets environmental standards, and the prime cost of liter of metal it produces is too high.

Catherine Kalganov flew in from Paris to say goodbye, and looks like she doesn't regret it. Her great-grandfather was the famous Pierre Martin, the French metallurgist-inventor who more than 150 years ago came up with a revolutionary smelting method.

Catherine Kalganov: "Never in my life have I visited a Martin furnace, not even once. So I feel very lucky to have witnessed this".

The honored guest was offered goggles as those worn by every worker, for looking at molten metal is as painful as looking at welding or at the sun.

And here the molten metal from the Martin furnace is being poured into two containers, 115 ton each. This isn't yet steel, it is an intermediate product. But it already contains no harmful materials, such as phosphorus or sulfur.

"This smelting was completed ahead of schedule. Premium steel is an important ingredient to strengthen our motherland".

During World War II, it was in furnaces like this that Russian victory was cemented. In Viksa, tank shielding was produced. And after the war, 1000 tons of premium steel served the rebuilding of the country.

Now the Martin furnace steelworkers are going to have to learn new trades. The only person who won’t be changing job is Evgeny Vyatin. Today he is retiring, just like the Martin furnace.

Evgeny Vyatin: "According to our tradition, when a worker retires or the Martin furnace is stopped, like today. we throw our gloves and helmets into the fire. Though we won't throw in the helmets, as we have to return them. But I will throw my gloves into the active part of the furnace".

The steelworker waved his hand to say goodbye, and even said something, though the roar of the furnace drowned out his words. The burning will continue for a few more days.

The factory will now be provided with steel by modern furnaces like these: large electrified rods form electric arcs to smelt the metal.

"This method provides less capacity but the overall productivity is higher".

The young steelworker Sergey Belov came here from the Martin furnace a few months ago. He is satisfied with his job, as the smelting method is almost entirely automated.

Despite being 260 years old, the Viksa factory is actively developing and is Russia’s leader in making oil and gas pipes, as well as train wheels. The first thing that'll change after the Martin furnace is closed is the air. It'll become cleaner, with no smokestacks, or unpleasant odors all around. Plans are made to minimize pollution while not losing production capacity.

Leonid Muravyov, Anton Kalmykov, Igor Senyurin, Yulia Mironova. Vesti Saturday.