Kharkov Turbine Plant

(full name, S. M. Kirov Kharkov Turbine Plant), a large power machine-building enterprise in the USSR. Construction of the plant was undertaken in 1929, and the plant was put into operation in 1934. In 1935 the plant produced its first steam turbine with a capacity of 50,000 kilowatts (kW); three years later it put out its first 100,000-kW steam turbine. During the Great Patriotic War the plant was evacuated to the East, where it provided for the needs of the country’s power industry and filled orders for the army and navy. Almost entirely destroyed by the Hitlerite invaders, the production shops in Kharkov were largely rebuilt by the middle of 1946.

Since the 1950’s the plant has been modernized and enlarged. Steam turbines with capacities of 100,000 kW, 160,000 kW, 220,000 kW, 300,000 kW, and 500,000 kW are produced for steam and nuclear power plants. Since 1954 large hydraulic turbines have also been manufactured. Plans are under way to produce turbines for nuclear power plants having capacities of 750,000 kW and 1,000,000 kW. During the ninth five-year plan both production and labor productivity increased by a factor of 1.5. All turbines produced by the plant conform to the superior and first category of quality. Turbines bearing the plant’s trademark are operating in more than 100 electric power plants in the USSR, and they are exported to many countries.

The plant was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1966 and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1976.