Atommash

ZAO Energomash–Atommash

Company type	Private
Industry	Nuclear engineering
Founded	1973 (1973)
Headquarters	Volgodonsk , Russia
Products	Equipment for nuclear power plants, electrical distribution, electric motors, energy, gas, locomotives, oil, space
Number of employees	21,000 (1989) 2,900 (2009)
Website	www.atommash.ru

Atommash (Template:Lang-ru) is a multidisciplinary engineering company located in Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia. It was established in 1973 as a nuclear engineering corporation. Following privatization and bankruptcy in 1995, the industrial facilities of the enterprise are owned and managed by ZAO Energomash–Atommash, a part of the diversified engineering company Energomash.

History

Soviet period: 1975-1991

1977, builders of the future industrial giant

On May 22, 1970 a state committee for the construction of the plant was assembled. On July 8, 1972, official hiring process for workers and engineers willing to take part in the construction was kicked off. On August 30, 1975 the first stilt of the Production Facility #1 was erected. In 1973 the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union made a decision to establish a major nuclear engineering enterprise in Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast. There were several reasons for choosing Volgodonsk, and above all, the town's proximity to the country's southern deposits of iron and steel. Equally important was the opportunity to utilize the Tsimlyansk Reservoir and the Volga-Don Canal (which connects the reservoir to the Volga) for shipping raw materials, components and assemblies to the plant and delivery of manufactured goods. Russia's internal waterway system made transportation of heavy and bulky items to the regions of the country and the world through the Sea of Azov, the Black and Caspian seas easier and cheaper. Roads, railways and an airport were created in order to support the plant.

1981, a USSR postage stamp: "From Congress to Congress, the production of Atommash goes on"

Capacity utilization planning revealed that electricity generated by three hydropower stations of Volgodonsk is not sufficient. Therefore, it was decided to build the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant. In November 1974, the USSR Council of Ministers approved the technical design of the first stage of the industrial complex, which was originally called "The Volgodonsk Heavy Machinery Plant" (VZTM). Main tasks for the construction of VZTM (renamed to Atommash in March 1976) for the period from 1976 to 1980 were determined. Atommash started producing equipment for the nuclear energy industry in 1977. The cumulative power capacity produced by the company reached 3 million KW by 1978 and 4 million KW by 1979. In 1981, Atommash produced its first reactor for the second unit of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant.

According to the plan of socio-economic development of the region, a whole new city area (the so-called "New City") was built in Volgodonsk in order to support industrial and economical activities of Atommash. Before the construction of Atommash, the population of Volgodonsk was 35 thousand people; in 1981 there were about 135 thousand people living in the city. The expansion of the city area came together with modern residential areas, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, shopping centers, cafes and restaurants, laundries, sporting and fitness facilities, theatres, cinemas and more.

The Chernobyl disaster on 1986 and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union decreased the number of orders for the nuclear equipment, and the company had to expand the assortment of manufactured goods.

First years of the post-Soviet period: 1991-1994

Like most Russian industrial enterprises, Atommash suffered greatly from the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1991, the enterprise did not have enough finances to pay salaries to the 20,000-man staff. The Chernobyl disaster caused decrease of orders for the nuclear equipment: orders dropped to 15% of the Soviet era volume. The company had two options for survival: find customers outside Russia and/or adopt manufacturing of a broader scope of goods.

Bankruptcy of 1995-1999

According to Decree #1546-p of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation Government Viktor Chernomyrdin dated 30.08.1993, in order to preserve unique facilities of Atommash and other industrial companies of Volgodonsk, low-interest earmarked loans were allocated. However, in 1994 those loans were redirected to commercial structures and only then offered as loans to Atommash, but this time at exorbitant interest rates. For example, from July to August 1994, Atommash OJSC was forced to take commercial loans issued by Commercial Bank Doninvest at 216% interest per annum.

The financial recovery plan introduced as of November 29, 1995 by the decision of the arbitrary court, brought no results as jobs continued declining and social tensions were increasing. The Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy proposed the following measures to save the enterprise, but the measures were not taken:

• Write off the debt on loans of Atommash owed to the Ministry of Finance of Russia (22 billion rubles), as well as respective interest and penalties as of September 1, 1996.
• Release Atommash from paying all kinds of taxes to the federal and local budgets from September 1, 1996 to December 31, 1997.
• Offer an installment plan (layaway) from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2000 for the current accruals to the budgets of all levels.
• Sell the unsold 30% shares of Atommash to private shareholders under investment conditions. The company was formally liquidated on November 25, 1999. Its assets were taken over by Energomash.

Modern period (2000-2012)

The restructured Atommash became multidisciplinary. The company started manufacturing technical equipment including the single, one-of-a-kind items. For example, a 140-ton vehicle for lifting the rocket and putting it on a launcher for the Sea Launch project was manufactured on Atommash.

The footing for a reactor at Bushehr was manufactured at Atommash in 2001.

Since 2002 the facilities are utilized for mass production of gas turbines for small capacity CHP plants (up to 36 MW). By 2003, the number of employees on the company shrunk to 4,300 with the volume of output of 1.4 billion rubles. In 2004, the company's management announced a four-fold reduction in output for the nuclear energy and the orientation of the main production to consumers in the gas industry. In 2009 Atommash re-initiated the manufacturing of equipment for nuclear power plants.

In May 2010, VTB bank (Russia, Moscow) filed a petition with the court, asking to initiate bankruptcy proceedings for "Energomash-Atommash" LLC. As per the petition, the debt of the enterprise to the Bank is 356,5 million rubles (about $12 mln). The total debt of Energomash Group to VTB exceeds 1 billion rubles ($30 million). The total debt of Energomash Group to all Russian banks combined is estimated at nearly 30 billion rubles ($1 billion). Liquid assets, primarily, production facilities of "Energomash-Atommash" LLC were transferred to a new legal entity - "Energomash-Atommash" JSC.

In his reply from 06.04.2012 №1-13/12160 to the letter that YACONTO LLC (Russia, Moscow), the legal successor of Concern YACONTO JSC and the majority shareholder of Atommash OJSC, sent to President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on 27.02.2012, (ref. №120227-А01) the Deputy Chief of Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation Kirill Komarov says that Rosatom shares the shareholder's concern about the current state of Atommash, since the facilities of the latter, still one of the biggest power engineering companies in Russia, are used to produce equipment for the nuclear industry.

Ownership

After privatization, Atommash was a joint-stock company; 30% of the shares were controlled by the state. The remaining 70% interest belonged to private persons and companies. Concern YACONTO JSC (an industrial conglomerate headquartered in Moscow) was the second largest shareholder of Atommash OJSC after the State itself, holding 28.5% shares as of 1997. The Board of Directors included 9 members.

Manufacturing

1982, Treatment of the interior part of a VVER-1000 reactor frame.

Being one of Russia's biggest industrial complexes and having 6 million m² of production facilities, Atommash was equipped with unique imported modern equipment, over 80% of which was purchased in Germany, Japan, France, UK, Italy, Austria, Sweden, USA and other countries, from concerns like Italimpianti, ESAB, Varian Associates, Mannesmann AG. In addition to nuclear machinery equipment, Atommash was capable of producing over 1000 kinds of products. Those types of products included, but were not limited to: non-standard metal equipment of large sizes, various metal containers for energy systems (heat-, hydro-, wind power), metallurgical, mining, oil and gas production and processing systems, including ready for use plants for deep processing of petroleum and its residual fractions on the basis of cleaner technologies and processes, compact mini oil refineries with a capacity of 50 to 500 thousand tons per year, and mini-factories for recycling and processing of by-products and waste oil, equipment for the construction industry, including equipment for launch pads for missiles and spacecraft, for sea water desalination plants, containers for transportation and disposal of nuclear waste, railroad tank cars for transportation of liquid gas, etc.

Atommash was capable of producing equipment and products with a wall thickness of 1 to 400 millimetres (0.039 to 15.748 in), diameter up to 22 metres (72 ft), length up to 80 metres (260 ft) and weight up to 1000 tons. Atommash practiced electron beam welding, automatic welding in narrow cutting, automatic welding of nozzles, welding of large-sized products with wall thickness up to 600 millimetres (24 in). It possessed high-end equipment for heat treatment, welding, non-destructive testing (NDT), laboratories for exceptionally complex material testing and test facilities for finished products.

Atommash exported its production to Germany, USA, France, China, Japan, India, Singapore, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Cuba, Indonesia and others. The company has its own heavy duty mooring berth on Tsimlyansk Reservoir, which allowed shipping bulky and heavy products, which used to be a natural advantage of Atommash over its domestic competition.

In 2009 Atommash re-initiated the manufacturing of equipment for nuclear power plants. It is the Russia's monopolist for manufacturing of melt localization devices for nuclear power plants.

Volume of production and # of employees / Year	1989	1997	2003	2006	2007	2008	2009
Volume of production, mln. rub.	-	-	-	3137,3	3666,4	3451,8	3800,0
Number of employees	21000	5109	4300	2732	2733	2885	2900

Some of the products currently manufactured by Atommash are: refueling equipment and manipulators, spent fuel storages (dry and wet), depleted uranium shielding, lead shielding, condensers, cranes and lifting equipment, specialised doors, heat exchangers, large ferrous components, pool water purification systems, pressure vessels, storage tanks, pumps, valves, nuclear steam supply systems, pressurizers, reactor control rods, drives and mechanisms, reactor internals, reactor pressure vessel seals, containers/casks handling equipment, hydraulic integrated circuits, packaging design and engineering and more.

Interesting facts

• Vladimir Vinogradov, an oligarch who was ranked 12th in the list of the top 20 richest Russians in 1996, worked on Atommash as a construction engineer from 1979 until 1985.

Gallery

Works on the enterprise

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  1982
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  1989

Atommash merchandise of the 70-80-s

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  1978, USSR postage stamp featuring four biggest industrial endeavors of the time in USSR: Atommash, BAM, Kamaz, Nechernozemye
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  A metal badge (pin) with an "Atommash" sign (70-80-s)
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  A metal badge (pin) with an "Atommash - Volgodonsk" sign (70-80-s)