FUTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN CZECHOSLOVAK ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120610-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 610
• Publication Date: August 19, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIF
ICATION CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATIO
N
CEN
FOREIGN D
TRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENC
INFORMATION FROM
OCUMENTS OR RADIO BRO
Y
ADCAST
S
REPORT
CD NO.
COUNTRY Czech
oslovakia
DATE OF
SUBJECT Econo
HOW
mic - Elec
tric power industry
DATE DIST. I
Aug 1953
PUBLISHED Daily
perio
, semiweek
dical, boo
ly newspapers;
ks
I
WHERE
PUBLISHED
NO. OF PAGES 5
DATE
PUBLISHED 1930,
3 Oct 195
2 - 26 Jan 1953
LANGUAGE Czech
, German, F
rench
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
.,.., a .. ~.,,~?~ , .. ~.. .., ,.....~:~o ... .
FURTiGR DEVELOP.`4ENTS IN CZECHOSLOVAK ELECTRIC POWF.'R TCDUSTRY
Jomment: The following presents information on Czechoslovak
power production, consumption, and shortages, difficulties en-
countered by the power industry, and construction of new power
plants, taken from Czechoslovak, German, and Iranian sources for
the period 3 October 1952 - 26 January 1953.
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended sources./
According to an article in the Berlin ncwspapor Aussonhandrl:, :;3chrtchten
for 26 November 1952, consumption of electric power in Czechoslovakia is In-
creasing constantly at such a rate that production is no longer ah - to keep
pace with the demands of industry; the extremely rapid increase in rower con-
sumption can be seen from the following table:
Consumption
Year (million kw-h)
1.929
1933 200
7940 29-
1946 500
1947 boo
1951 750
L9 2 (estimated) 1,000
STATE
ARMY
NSRB
FBI
DISTRIBUTION
_T i
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Although the production plan for electric power was surpassed for the
third'quarter of 1952, the article stated, the quantity of power produced was
inadequate: thus, It
stated that the difficulties encountered in producing quantities ua Office
power could be attributed to delays in initiating construction q of ng plants and to delays in acco lishi generating
a
(
a
ment and transmission lines. (
l) ThegPrague
b periodical,oEnergetika,~ofgNovem-
er 1952 stated that electric power consumption during 1952 increased in the
various regions of Czechoslovakia as follows:
Region
Bohemia
Moravia
Slovakia
20
On the other hand, the article said, stoppages decreased from 19.6 per-
cent for the months of August and September 1951 to 11.7 percent for the same
period in 1952.(2) E_nergetika for January 1953 stated that existing steam-
electric plants were heavily taxed; the increase in the number of hours they
operated is shown below:
Year Avg No of Hours Operative
1950 4,515
1951
4,624
1952
5,100
LIn spite of the better exploitation of eteam-electric plants, as well
as other sources of electric power, the power industry has reiterated its
criticism that industrial enterprises were not cooperating sufficiently and
were behind in staggering their peak load hours and in switching over to more
nighttime operations in order to alleviate the power shortage-7
According to this same source, during the second half of 1952, Hower
shortages occurred rather frequently in Bohemia, although the loss in power
production was offset to some degree by the output from new plants completed
during this period. The situation was less favorable in Slovakia, the peri-
odical said, where power had to be rationed during periods of peak load demand;
but regardless of the power shortages frequency was maintained at 50 + n.5
cycles per second throughout the Czechoslovak power network. Energeiil-ka
stated that this is an important achievement and differs from practice in
capitalist countries, where tension is often reduced during periods of peak
load demand.
During 1952, according to this source, for the first time in the history
of Czechoslovak power engineering, a sector of the power network was activated
on 220 kilovolts.(3) The Czechoslovak National Encyclopedia states that
originally Czechoslovakia had made provisions for piping 100 kilovolts of
power along its major networks, although later shorter distances were sup-
plied with as much as 110 and 170 kilovolts.(h) he introduction of 220
kilovolts of power in certain sectors of the country would seem to indicate
that power is being transmitted over to er distances, or that intermediate
booster stations are being discontinued
50X1-HUM
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Jiri Brauner, Czechoslovak Deputy Minister of Fuel and Power, in an
article in the January 1953 Energetika discussing the shortages in the power
industry, expressed concern about the lack of skilled labor, the poor train-
ing of workers, and the shortage of adequate repair facilities and spare
parts. He asserted that it may become necessary to employ women in the power
plants during 1952. He further stated that coal deliveries to power plants
were very irregular and the quality of coal far from constant. In the last
quarter of 1952, Brauner said, some coal mixtures fi7 were frequently de-
livered and caused disturbances in the production process. According to
Brauner, less than one half of the power plants planned for completion in
1952 had actually been completed; some machines and equipment for these plants
had failed to arrive from heavy industrial enterprises, and some equipment did
not function properly on arrival, either after a trial run or following brief
use. Brauner said that machines and equipment delivered to power plants were
not inspected prior to shipment and frequently failed to function even after
having been returned for repair.(3)
The 30 December 1952 issue of Prace, Prague daily, stated that the Czecho-
slovak Five-Year Plan calls for the completion of electric power plants with
a combined capacity of more than 527,000 kilowatts.(5) Rude Pravo of 20 Le-
cember 1952 said that since many of the projected plants are not yet in op-
eration, various attempts are being made to exploit smaller, less efficient
power installations to augment lagging production. In Ceske Budejovice Kraj,
for example, according to this paper, a small power plant is undergoing re-
pair to supply the town of Kaplice with electricity; in Oteva, Sobeslav Okres,
a generator and a diesel motor were put into operation to produce power for
this area; in Bozejovice the water of a mill drives turbines which produce
electricity for the local bakeries.(6) Prace of 14 November 1952 stated that
this exploitation of minor power sources will continue until the large hydro-
electric power plants are operative and until certain other plants are adapted
to operate on coal dust. The paper added that power production by the smaller
plants is costly; at present, to produce one kilowatt-hour of electric power,
an inefficient power plant uses 12 kilograms of coal (4,000-5,000 calories).(7)
The 20 November 1952 Journal de Te'heran reported that several large,
new power plants are in various stages of construction throughout Czechoslo-
vakia. Among these, the paper said, the Vir dam or, the Bohemian-Moravian
Highland is in a fairly advanced stage. It added that approximately 7,700
cubic meters of concrete have already been poured in the construction of this
dam, and that the pace of concreting operations is soon to be accelerated by
the addition of a new, modern cement plant, equipped with powerful crushers,
to be erected in the vicinity of the dam. The paper said that the 5-ton
sluice gates for the dam have already been installed and the 12,000-horsepower
turbines are to be installed soon.(8)
The paper also said that another dam, under construction or. tile Moravice
River at Kruzberk, is designed to supply the entire Ostrava region with elec-
tric power; work on this project has been under way for a number of years and
necessitated the construction of a completely new road network, to give access
to the site of the dam. According to this source, the dam, with a large
causeway on its crest, is to be 40 meters high and about 300 meters long; the
width of the foundation is about 30 meters. The paper stated that the con-
struction of the upstream wall will require about 100,000 cubic meters of con-
crete; the 39 million cubic meters of water to be retained eventually by the
completed dam will form a lake 10-12 kilometers long.(8)
An important hydroelectric power plant is to be located on the Vltava
River at Lipno, according to Aussenhandels Nachrichten for 26 January 1953,
which said that more than one million cubic meters of earth and rock are to
be moved in its construction. This plant, it was added, will supply power to
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factories in southern Bohemia; a new town will be built near the site of the
dam, complete with hotel and sanatorium. This source said that the estimated
time required for the completion of this entire project is 3 years.(9) Mean-
while, according to Prace of 5 December 1952, work has continued on this dam
throughout the winter months, despite subzero temperatures; although previously
it was not considered standard practice, concreting is now carried on at the
lowest temperatures.(10) Prace for 9 December stated that a new method,
evolved by Jaroslav Novotny, calls for the pouring of concrete into metal
molds to prevent freezing, and that other methods, such as heating the water
to be mixed with the concrete and heating the concrete itself to prevent
cracking, are also widely used to accelerate building schedules.(ll)
machinery can be installed during the early part of 1953; it,is estimated
that by that time a road, at present under construction, will enable the
approach of heavy equipment. Prace said that this project has been severely
criticized for lagging in construction, and that some absenteeism has im-
proved as a result of this criticism.(12) The Slnpy power plant is to house
Prace for 23 December 1952 stated that construction of a new hydroelec-
tric plant was begun in 1948 at Krizanovice, and that on 19 December 1952
preparations for a trial run were completed.(14) The 3 October 1952 issue
of Prace reported that a new hydroelectric power plant began operating at
Smirice pad Labem, that another was scheduled for completion in Hradek ,raj
by the end of 1952, and that the two plants are expected to achieve an annual
savings of some 10,000 tons of coal each Lthe estimated quantity used for
equal power output by thermal electric power plants?7.(15)
The 6 December 1952 issue of Aussenhandels Nachrichten reported that
another type of power plant, to operate on lignite, is under construction at
Hodonin. The abundant deposits of lignite in this area were previously con-
sidered worthless for this type of operation, it stated, because of high
water content (as high as 40 percent). The periodical added that a new
process, however, permits successful extraction of the water and makes the
lignite ideal for firing in this power plant. After completion, this source
said, the Hodonin plant will fn-ot only meet do-.estic requirements, bug also
export electric power to flungary.(16)
The 12 December 1952 issue of Prace reported that boiler repairs are
being generally accelerated, to boost power production; recent repairs to the
boilers at the Ervenice power plant took only 13 days, the shortest time on-
record for such an operation.(17) A Czechoslovak tourist guidebook of 1930
states that the Ervenice power plant was built in 1923 - 1925 and supplies
100,000 volts of electric power to Prague, over an 86-kilometer-long line,
via Louny and Slany.(18) The power plant at Oslavany shortened. the tine for
performing boiler overhauls by 61 days and for overhauling the turbogenerator
by 35 days, according to Prace of 3 January 1953, which added that the annual
power output of this plant has been increased by 17 million kilowatt-hours,
to a total of 79,791,000 kilowatt-hours.(19) The 1930 guidebook says that
the Oslavany plant supplies Brno and Southwest Moravia with nover..(18)
1. Berlin, Aussenhandels Nachrichten, 26 Nov 52
2. Prague, Energetika, Nov 52
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coNFnENT
3. Ibid., Jan 53
4. Prague, Ceskeslovenska Vlastiveda (Czechoslovak National Encyclopedia)
Vol IX, Sfinx, 1929
5. Prague, Prace, 30 Dec 52
6. Prague, Rude Pravo, 20 Dec 52
7. Prace, 14 Nov 52
8. Teheran, Journal de Teheran, 20 Nov 52
9. Aussenhandels Nachrichten, 26 Jan 53
10. Prace, 5 Dec 52
11. Ibid., 9 Dec 52
12. Ibid., 4 Oct 52
13. New York, FBIS Economic Survey, 25 Feb 53
14. Prace, 23 Dec 52
15. Ibid., 3 Oct 52
16. Aussenhandels Nachrichten, 6 Dec 52
17. Prace, 12 Dec 52
18. Prague, Pruvodce po Ceskoslovenake Republica (Tourist Guide for Czecho-
slovakia) Part I, Orbis, 1930
19. Prace, 3 Jan 53
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