INRTU’s Museum of History opened the exhibition dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Irkutsk aluminium plant
Irkutsk Aluminium Plant is one of the largest and eldest aluminium smelters in Russia. The company, which located in the industrial zone of the town of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region, is a part of the United Company RUSAL.
According to Anna Shaikhlislamova, Director of the INRTU History Museum, the first aluminum melting in Eastern Siberia was performed on February 10, 1962, at 1 p.m. It was done from bath No. 415 of the fourth electrolysis building by Stepan Vladimirovich Golubtsov’s shift. The melting was accepted by Pavel Rosliakov, head of the electrolysis workshop. This day went down in history as the birthday of the first-born of non-ferrous metallurgy in Eastern Siberia. This significant event was reported in all-union newspapers Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Sovetskaya Rossiya, as well as on radio and television. An interesting story was prepared by the East Siberian studio of newsreel.
«Our exhibition presents an individual exposition dedicated to Albert Ivanovich Begunov, whose fate is closely connected with the plant. From 1962 he was a senior craftsman at Irkutsk Aluminum Plant and at the same time entered the postgraduate program of the Irkutsk National Research Technical University, upon completion of which he defended his PhD thesis on firing and start-up modes of electrolysers.
Professor Begunov’s inventions were successfully implemented into production. The invention of the firing mode of new electrolysers was used in the start-up of the Irkutsk, Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk plants," said the director of the museum.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see Professor Begunov’s patents, his books, photos and the samples of raw materials and products from the Irkutsk Aluminium Plant. The samples were provided by the State Museum of Mineralogy named after A.V. Sidorov.
The pupils of school № 4 of Shelekhov, who visited the Museum of History INRTU and the State Museum of Mineralogy on 25 March, showed a particular interest in the exhibition.
It should be noted that as part of the jubilee celebrations the company has cast a cup «IrkAZ — 60 unique years». It is made from an aluminium alloy required for the production of cars. Last year, the Irkutsk aluminium plant set a record in alloys production — 158 thousand tons and rod — 161.7 thousand tons. This is more than 75% of the total production.
