Asbest (russian: Асбе́ст) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in Sverdlovsk Oblast,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, located on the Bolshoy Reft River (right

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Pyshma) on the eastern slopes of the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, northeast of

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

. Population: It was previously known as ''Kudelka'' (

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) (until 1928).

Etymology

The town is named for its

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

industry.

History

It was founded in 1889 as Kudelka (). It was given its present name in 1928 and granted town status in 1933.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of the administrative divisions, it is, together with the work settlements of Malysheva and

Reftinsky Reftinsky (russian: Рефтинский) is an urban locality (a work settlement) under the administrative jurisdiction of the Town of Asbest in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. Population: Administrative and municipal status Within the framewor ...

and five rural localities, incorporated as the

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

of Asbest—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.Law #30-OZ As a municipal division, Asbest and two rural localities are incorporated as Asbestovsky Urban Okrug.Law #85-OZ The urban-type settlement of Malysheva, together with three other rural localities, is incorporated separately as Malyshevsky Urban Okrug, and the urban-type settlement of Reftinsky is incorporated separately as Reftinsky Urban Okrug.

Economy

Today's Asbest is a large industrial center. Joint-stock company Uralasbest is the main industrial enterprise. The chrysotile (asbestos) mine adjacent to the town is the subject of published, peer-reviewed scientific investigations about its detrimental health impact on the local population, and is said to be the world's largest. The adjacent open-pit Uralasbest mine is said to be "seven miles (11 km) long and 1 to 1.5 miles (2.5 km) wide, (and) it is nearly half the size of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

— and more than a thousand feet (300 meters) deep". Other factories include ''UralATI'', ''Zarechny'', ''Asbostroy'', ''Asbestovskaya'' poultry processing plant, and a ferroconcrete production factory.

Asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

, bricks,

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

, furniture, metal constructions, and other products are produced in Asbest.

Education and recreation

The town is home to the ''Uralasbest'' stadium, which seats ten thousand people. Educational facilities include music schools, a school of art, an Olympic school, an institute of science and research, professional schools, and colleges of mining and economics. There are two museums: a geological museum and a museum of local lore.

History

Walter Arnold Rukeyser, an electrical engineer with extensive experience with asbestos in Quebec, worked in Asbest in 1929, and again in 1930. His memoir of his times there, "''Working for the Soviets ; an American engineer in Russia,''" was published in 1932 and reprinted in 1952. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Soviet Union operated the

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

s 84 and 314 near Asbest. In addition, from May 1950 until April 1953, up to 7700 inmates were imprisoned in the Bazhenovsky ITL

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

. Inmates had to work for the local asbestos industry; more than 15,000 died due to the conditions, including asbestos-related diseases and lack of clean water.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *Kopyrin, Alexander Leonidovich (2012): Асбест. Куделька. Копи.

External links

Official website of Asbest

Directory of organizations in Asbest
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Sverdlovsk Oblast