Lines of history: Faina Zakaryevna YUSUPOVA, chemist-technologist, PTO engineer at CHPP-1 named after. B. Orazbaeva, pensioner

“In 1936, my parents moved from Kazan to Alma-Ata. And already on January 13, 1937, my father got a job at CHPP-1 as a lineman on a steam locomotive. When dad came to the station, about 350-400 people were working here. And only one person served from the 1st to the 4th boiler.

I remember when we still lived in a dugout near the station, I saw that coal was brought by train and delivered to the boiler by conveyors. As a child, I also saw how the ash workers from each boiler loaded hot ash onto carts, took them to the other side and dumped them out. And then cars came and took it to the ash dump. Only when the 5th and 6th boilers were turned on did they begin to build an ash dump.

The station had its own houses from the very beginning. Before the war – mostly barracks. For example, we lived in a barracks on Remeslennaya Street, there was also a separate house for engineers. And then they built several two-story 8-apartment buildings, and people still live there. The station had its own kindergartens, a rest house, a dispensary, and children’s camps. When I was studying at a technical school, during the summer holidays, I worked as a teacher at the Energetik children’s camp.

Then for many years our family, like the families of other power engineers, lived in a two-story station building. We had a large family – seven children, and only my father worked. I remember when I was 18 years old, I went out into the street, laid out books on a bench, wrote my graduation project – I was studying to become a chemical technologist at an industrial enterprise.

Then I was very thin, small… One day, the director of CHPP-1, Ivan Ivanovich Ovchinnikov, came down to me – he also lived in our house on the second floor, and asked what grade I was in. I replied that I was graduating from technical school, and my dad worked in the fuel and transport workshop as an assistant driver.

And then Ivan Ivanovich asked: “Do you want to work at the thermal power plant?” I answered: “Yes, I would like to.” “Let father come to me,” said the director. “I will prepare a letter so that you will be sent to CHPP-1.” So, after graduating from technical school, on July 21, 1958, I immediately went to work in a chemical shop, as a laboratory assistant for water and coal selection.

I worked as a laboratory assistant for a year, and I was transferred as an operator to a chemical workshop for water treatment. When a new water treatment plant was built at CHPP-1, I was made shift supervisor of the on-duty operators, where I worked for about 9 years. There were 4 women and 7 guys on duty. The mechanics only worked during the day, so on the night shift the women had to do everything themselves. There was no automation at the thermal power plants then. And I had to work with alkali, sulfuric, hydrochloric acid, phosphates, ammonia. There were huge tanks in the turbine shop. And in order for the filters to clean the water, it was necessary to load 50 buckets of salt into the tanks. Frail women had to do this. Therefore, in order to raise the buckets to a height of one and a half meters, we were helped by the turbine and boiler shop foremen and shift supervisors. People were responsive…

And then suddenly I was transferred to work in the production and technical department. It happened like this: the director of the thermal power plant, Alexander Parfentievich Saraev, came through our chemical water treatment plant and saw me using an iron key to open a meter-long valve. He simply called me over and said: “Tomorrow you are going to work as an engineer in a technical department.” The head of the department at that time was Mikhail Abramovich Vaisman. The director explained the transfer by the fact that work in a chemical shop is shift work and is physically difficult for a woman, while work in a technical and technical department is a day job.

In the department, I calculated heat, trained personnel, and worked with students. I maintained contacts with the Energy Institute and the scientific and technical library. I worked there until I retired, and even after retirement until 1996.

My whole life is connected with the station. And I am glad that ties with AlES are still maintained. At one time, I had to collect archival documents on the construction of the station, select photographs… From them I learned a lot of interesting things about CHPP-1. Then a poster was made for the 50th anniversary of the station.

The station began to be built in 1932 by Russians and local Kazakhs, as well as Poles, Jews and Japanese prisoners. It was put into operation on October 25, 1935, and launched on December 31. Then there was a tradition – to launch a new enterprise for the holiday, the station was launched on New Year’s Eve.

K.B. worked at the station at different times. Iskakov (head of the electrical department), A.Zh. Zhakutov, E.A. Abitaev, who later became the first vice minister of energy, industry and trade. In the first years of the station’s operation, there were few experienced workers, so young specialists were immediately appointed deputy heads of workshops and foremen. We learned new things on the spot; few people were sent to courses back then. The young workers were helped by engineers on duty and shop managers. I was familiar with all the equipment, so it was easier for me. I learned everything myself and taught others.

In the second half of the 50s, highly qualified specialists began to appear. Including from Russia, for example, after the Tomsk and Ivanovo institutes. Gradually, the station expanded: one after another, boilers No. 5, 6, 7, 8 were built. I remember that in the turbine shop there were 4 low-power turbines, and therefore then a fifth powerful turbine was built.

I often remember working at the station only on the good side; everyone treated me well and respected me. In addition to my father, my brother from our family once worked at the station, and my cousins ​​worked as repairmen. Although the work was difficult, there were a lot of good things here. For example, we had our own houses in Issyk-Kul. A trip for two weeks cost… 5 rubles! We didn’t pay for the houses, only for food in the dining room. I went there almost every year. We were rewarded not only with money. I remember that the district party committee gave me a trip to the Baltic countries, and then for good work I was awarded a trip to Bulgaria. Thanks to the station, thanks to my work, I was able to visit these places.

…In 1996, the station and the entire energy complex were sold to the Belgians. There was a big commotion. Then, at all stations, almost 1,700 people were left without work. Since I was previously involved in Komsomol, party, and then public work, people came to me so that I could talk with the leadership.

But the Belgians did not fire only those who serviced the boilers and water treatment. And only 2-3 people were left in management. After some time, the station director was removed. And I left in November, having worked at the thermal power plant for almost 40 years.

For me, leaving the station was the most difficult period in my life. As, probably, for many of our energy workers…”