CEMA COMMISSION ON FERROUS METALLURGY (QUALITY OF HUNGARIAN STEEL, NEW STEEL WORKS IN BULGARIA, USE OF ELECTRIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A028200400001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 15, 1960
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTEL66EN AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Dotenieof $$Re Uni$s !ties within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, V.B.Q. Seca. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of `which in aay'm u to an unauthorized person Is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY USSR/Soviet Bloc REPORT
SUBJECT CEMA Commission
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
A report on recent meetings of and operational prodedures of the CEMA Iron
and Steel Committee (presumably the . Permanent. Commission on Ferrous
Metallurgy
Note is made or two committee plenary sessions held in
Moscotii in October and December 1959 at ch general-interest topics were
discussed rather than specific technical issues. The latter were taken up
at technical sub-committee meetings Meld independently of the plenary
sessions. During September,.Octobem and.November 1959 a number of bilateral,
and occasionally mulitalateral meeting' took place: e.g.,a Czech-Hungarian
meeting on stainless steel productionand aSoviet-Hungarian meeting on
the outlilok for coking coal supplies and' on coke - sa+btthng measures. Details
on the technical sub-committee meetings are given.
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SOVIET BLOC
Econouic/Poitical
ACTIVITIES OF THE IRON L\D STEEL COMMITTEE OF C.M.E.A.
I. WORKING METHODS OF THE COWIITTEE
in the Iron and Steel Committee of the Council for Mutual Fconomic
Aid (C.M.E.A.) the method of work as operated during the latter half of
1959
is that problems are handled first at the
lowest level, and are referred stage by stage to the next higher level.
There is no question of decisions being taken first at the top, and then
passed down to the lower committees and sub-committees for execution.
2. The lower level of the C.M.E.L. machinery in the iron and steel
sector consists of seven sub-committees, each having a corresponding
national sub-cemrittee in each of the member countries. They discuss
matters concerning respectively:
7)
Basic materials, excluding coke.
C oke.
Raw iron.
Steel.
Rolled products.
Foundry technology.
ReseLrch.
These sub-committe s work, in the first instant-e, independently
other, both at the national and international (or, as the, term
used,"central") level.
3. Matters first come to the notice of the national sub-committee
corresponding to the above seven divisions. For exa::tple, if an export
corporation receives En order, and. to fulfil this order requires the
manufacture of a special type of steel, this p 11 b'~d
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first to the national research institute for the iron and steel industry.
This Institute will consult with the correspondi.ne institutes in other
C.11.E.1.. countries to see whether the particular steel in question has been
manufactured in any of these countries. If not, an experimental method of
raking the steel will b worked -Dut in the Institute, and subsequently the
task of large scale production will be given to the steelworks -,rhich is
mostt si:ita ly equipped to carry it out.
4.. A report is then made to the relevant national sub-committee
corresponding t:- zhe (international.) sub-committee of the C.M.E.L. Iron and
Steel Committee. This national sub-co,:_:ni.ttee will then (if th" matter is
considered of sufficient importance) inform the Central Secretariat Df the
(international) sub-comittee in l'tMOSCO-:. If the matter --,ram-ants it, this
report will be presented to, and discussed by, the (international) sub-committee.
5. 12 the matter is considered cf sufficient importance, the (international)
sub-nommittee nay decide that a report, stating that the steel in question has
been successfully rianufaotured, and describing the processes adoptua., will be
sent to the Central Secretariat of the Plenary Session of the Iron and Steel
Committee. If any wider issues arise, e.g. as regards the desirability of
making this particular stool in one C.M.E.1. country only, the. natter may
be placed on the agenda for discussion by the Plenary Session of the Iron
and Steel Cor121ittee. It is, however, nom .ally the practice for areemunt
to be reached at sub-committee level, so that the Plenary Session merely gives
formal ratification to decisions agreed on previously.
6. Supposing, however, th-it there is a difference of view e.~;. if the
Czechs think that a particular type of steel could be butter ranufactu_'ed in
CZECHOSLOVt.X,. than in HUNGI;RY, then there may be two separr..te re parts
presented to the Plenary Session of Iron and. Steel Co-__Littee, :,skin,', for a
final decision. But since the delegates to the sub-cor: _:!ittees
technicians (not politicians or salesmen) , kn.-wing each others' pl,,blens and
anxious to be helpful to each otheer, it is very rare that agreement e snot be
reached amicably in the sub-comkiitteos. .,
v k.
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7.
As regards iron and steel matters at least, there is no question
of C.M.E.A. decisions being imposed from above. The resolutions of the
Iron and Steel Committee are generally a more ratification of decisions
agreed on previousJ,y in private discussions. Moreover, they are only
recommendations, not commands, but as they have been worked out in
consideration of the circumstances of each country, there is little likelihood
of their being "disobeyed" by any member country.
8. At the Committee and sub-committee meetings, all delegates have
equal status, and there is no auestion of the Russians laying down the law
to the others. There is no longer ary question of decisions being taken
unilaterally by the Russians and then Leing forced on to the East European
satellites. As one
put it, the method of "imperatives", which uperated up to four or five years
ago, has completely disappeared.
II. ENT MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE
On occasions when Plenary Sessions of the Iro.i and Steel Committee
are announced as having taken place (as for example the meeting in MOSCOW
in December 1959) there are in fact a large number of separate meetings of
sub-co-zuni,tees on a bilateral and multilateral basis, and the Plenary Session
merely ratifies the decisions reached at these working meetings. For example,
in MOSCOW in December 1959 there were separate meetings of the Research
Committee, the Coke Committee, and the Basic Materials Committee. Similar
meetings took place at the time of the meeting of the Plenary Committee in
MOSCOW in October 1959. In so far as the Plenary Co,-.rittoe "discusses"
anything, it d1socu~sses wider problems of general interest rather than specific
technical issues.
10. Meetings of the technical sub-commiittees are held from time to time
independently of the meetings of the Plenary Committee. ;airing September,
October and November 1959 a number of bilateral, and. occasionally multi-
late:?al, meetings took place. In November, for example, a meeting of the Czech
and Hungarian delegations to the Research Sub-Committee exchanged experiences
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in the production of various types of stainless steel. At a meeting of
Russian and Hungarian delegates to the Foundry Technology Sub-Committee,
methods of coke-saving were discussed (see para.18 sqq.).
III. C.M.E.A. MEETING AT SOFIA
11t the C.M.E.A. Plenary Session in SOFTL in December X959
certain iron and steel questions were on the agenda, but only in order to
ra-cify and publicise decisions already taken at meetings of the Iror. and
Steel Committee. Nothing, is icnown of any decisions affecting the iron
and steel industry having been taken at SOFA, other than those to which
reference was made in the official oommuniquds. At this Plenary Session
of the C.M.E.A., the same absence of "imperati-res" could be observed as
at the meetings of the Iron and Steel Committee.
IV. SPECIAL STEELS
12. A problem on which considerable work has been done in HUNGi,R.Y,.
and which was reported on at the meeting of the Research Sub-Committee of
the Iron and Steel Committee in MOSCGGI in December 1959, was the production
of various special steels.
13. As a result of extensive work done on this-problem, Hungarian
steelworks were able, in the first manufacturing operations, to produce
MTA steels with a breaking point beyond the acceptable r-ini rein Of 12 }moo..
grams per square millimetre, and achieved strengths up to 16 dlograms per
square millimetre. Sub sequently,by means of improved structure of the
steel, this has been raised to 22 kilograms per nm2 at Hthler 3 stre s while
retaining a fusion strength of over 40 kilograms per :mn2. The use of
these MT'11 (Manganese, Titanium) Aluminium) steels has achieved material
savings up to 334 per cent. Those fin ti-skr ture steels have perfect
'veldability and with either are welding; or ace-tyiene welding there are no
transition zones, the original material and the welded areas having exactly
the same structure. During the last few months trials with these steels
have been made in shipbuilding and have been entir~ss~ ~ ~ ~~
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14.
The ni^.kel content of fully stainless steels has been reduced
to less than 3-21,per cent. By the use of nitride alloys, phases of
manufucturp which previously had to be carried out in a va*uum or in
inert gas can now be done under normal conditions, thus making manu-
facture considerably cheaper -,rd allowing these stainless steels, which
have good welding properties,to be used more widely.
15. Another special requirement which has now, after long research,
been successfully met was for special steel for magnetic purposes (similar
to the "PER11ALLOY" steel mane in the West) with induction capacity up
to 26,000/27,000 gauss.
This steel has met an outstanding requirement
of the T&'u'VSFORR .TOR enterprise in BUDL.PEST.
V. PROF.iLE a;LNUFLCTURE
16. !,t the meetings in MOSCOW in December 1959, the national steel
industries of all the East European industries were asked to investigate
the conclusions of an article)
17. This article attracted considerable interest in all the East
European countries, and tie Iron: and Steel Committee asked each of the
member countries to make a detailed aj*raisal of it, to see whether or not
its conclusions corresA onded vv-ith the true state of affairs in the Last
European -tool industries, and whether further improvements in profile
Production could not be achieved.
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VI. USE OF OIL '1'\'D N~-.TUTU L G. LS
18. The possibilities of saving coke in the iron and stool
industry by usiLig crude oil and natural gas have been the subject
of a great deal of research and trials.
19. During the previous year, experiments had been made in
hLTI;GL":,EY in the use of crude oil, but without success. Injection
of crude oil led to endothermic effects, so that the material in
the zone cf incar.descence cooled considerably. Eren when various
methods of blowing in oxygen were tried, continuous working was
impossible. It has therefore been decided that no further attempts
will be made to inject crude oil into blast furnaces.
20. The use of natural gas has, however, been developed with
considerable success. In HUNGL:RY, a pipeline had been built from
ROUIEM. to supply the Hungar-.an chemical combine at TISZA with natural
gas, but it was found that the chemical combine was not able to use
all the natural gas. An extension pipeline was therefore built
It
to carry the unwanted gas to the steelworks at DIOSGYOR.
21. The natural gas is first subjected to a cracking process, and is
then blown in to the blast furnaces. In order to obtain a significant
saving in coke it has been found necessary to blow in large additional
supplies of oxygen, not only at the point where formerly air, and-n-ow
air mixed with natural gas,is blown in, but at a further point higher
up, in the upper layers of the incandescent zone. There is still an
endothermic effect caused by the use of the natural gas, but this is
compensated by the introduction of the additional oxygen, and cooling
off of the material is kept under control. The Russians have had
similar results in their trials with natural gas.
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22. This use of natural gas together with oxygen has led to
a saving of coke of the order of over 112 per cent, though against
this must be counted the disadvantage of having; to supply large quantities
it
of oxygen. At DIOSGYOR, it has been decided to build a large plant to
generate the oxygen required for this process.
23. Attempts to use natural gas in Martin furnaces have also bean
it
successful. In DIOSGYOR 4 Martin furnaces are now fired exclusively
with natural gas, and it has been found unnecessary to supplement this
with heating by blast furnace gas or generator gas. Here too, the Russians
have been working on similar lines and have also had successful results.
An ultra-modern steelworks with blast furnaces and Martin furnaces which
is being built N.N.E. of LENINGRAD on the line from LENING111 to 2.RC&^.NGELSK
is to use natural gas in all furnaces in order to save coke. This steel-
works will be the first fully automated steelworks to be brought into
production in the U.S.S.R. The site was visited at the end of October
and early November 1959 by delegates to the Iron and Steel Committee meet-
ing which had taken place in MOSCOO;.
24.
Coke supplies have been the subject of various discussions,
incluiing a series of meetings of the Coke Sub-Committee: hold by delegates
from various countries during the end of October and beginning of November
1959.
25. One of the conclusions of these discussions was that, after
taking into account all planned development and expansion of the iron and
steel industries throughout the C.M.E.X'.. area during the next seven years,
coke supplies are definitely assured to meet all requirements.
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26. It was also decided that in the future the U.S.8.I.. will
not only deliver coke to the East European countries in the form of
ready-o(ked ocke, but to some extent will also deliver cclcing coal
for coking at the East European steelwor:,.cs. This is be,eause it has
been found that by coking all the coal in the U.S.S.R., more gas was
produced than the Russian steelworks could use, while the East European
steelworks hac. insufficient supplies of gas. 1,s from 1 .1 .1960, HUNG".RY,
for example, is to receive over 400,000 tons of coking coal per annum
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which will be mixed with coal from KOMLC and coked in HUNGILRY, the
resultant gas being used at steelworks which are not yet connected up
(as is DIOSGYOR) with the natural gas pipeline system.
VIII. STI,LINV.AROS
27.
Construction at STLLINVId.OS is going ahead well, at least
very nearly to schedule. Present calculations are that:
(a) By the end of 1960, or early 1961 at the latest, the
hot rolling section will be in operation, producing
hot-rolled plates down to 2 mm. thickness.
(b) By 1963, or at the latest 1961+, the cold rolling section
will be finished, producing cold rolled plates from 2 mm.
to 0.3 mm. thickness.
(0)
By 1963, the total annual production will be 400,000 tons
of all types of material.
IX. NEW STEEL1:7ORXS IN BULGIdRIL
28. L new steelworks new being erected in BULG,PLLi is intended to
be a "model" up-to-date steelworks, incorporating all the Latest
production methods and technical developments available in the Soviet
Bloc. till. the member countries of the Iron and Steol Committee have
contributed to the design of this steelworks.
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X. ELECTRICITY SUPPLIES
29. Since the coming into operation of the new turbines at
TISZAPI;LKONYA (the steelworks in Upper HUNGLPI.Y now have priority
fcr the supply of c-lrrent from this power station) xnd the
completion of the over-land transmission lines from CZECHOSLOV.,YIA,
there have been no difficulties over electric power supplies at
the Hungarian steelworks.
XI. RELLTIVE IMPORTI,NCE OF HUNGI:RY
30. Hungarian are aware thrLt HUNGI;R.Y produces
only a negligible proportion of the steel output of the Soviet
Bloc, and that HUNGARY is entirely dependent on other
countries for supplies of basic materials and fuel. The
annual. output of the Hungarian steel industry is only 1.7 million
tons per year, rising to 2.5 million tons is 1965, equivalent to
250 kilograms of iron per head of the pooulrtion per year,
compared with planned Russian production in 1972 of 130 million
tons.
31. i,ny new plant planned by HUNGI.RY must have the full cooperation
of C.M.E.L. and of HUNGr:RY's neighbours, since unle3s these countries
and especially the U.S.S.R., accept commitments to supply the
required quantities of basic materials and fuel, the capacity
of the plants cannot be utilised.
32. However, Hungaricnl (consider that their
contribution in terms of theory, research and manufacturing
techniques gives HUNGRY a considerable importance in the iron
and steel indtz try of the entire Soviet Bloc.
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