Template:Short description Template:Expand RussianTemplate:Infobox Russian inhabited locality Asbest (Template:Langx) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshoy Reft River (right tributary of the Pyshma) on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, Template:Convert northeast of Yekaterinburg. Population: Template:Ru-census It was previously known as Kudelka (Sliver) (until 1928).
EtymologyEdit
The town is named for its asbestos industry.
HistoryEdit
It was founded in 1889 as Kudelka ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).Template:Citation needed<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was given its present name in 1928 and granted town status in 1933.Template:Citation needed
Administrative and municipal statusEdit
Within the framework of the administrative divisions, it is, together with the work settlements of Malysheva and Reftinsky and five rural localities, incorporated as the Town of Asbest<ref name="OKATO">Template:OKATO reference</ref>—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.<ref name="SverdlovskO_adm">Law #30-OZ</ref>
As a municipal division, Asbest and two rural localities are incorporated as Asbestovsky Urban Okrug.<ref name="SverdlovskO_mun">Law #85-OZ</ref> 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.<ref name="SverdlovskO_mun" />
EconomyEdit
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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 — and more than a thousand feet (300 meters) deep".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Other factories include UralATI, Zarechny, Asbostroy, Asbestovskaya poultry processing plant, and a ferroconcrete production factory. Asbestos, bricks, porcelain, furniture, metal constructions, and other products are produced in Asbest.Template:Citation needed
Education and recreationEdit
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.Template:Citation needed
HistoryEdit
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, the Soviet Union operated the prisoner-of-war camps 84 and 314 near Asbest. In addition, from May 1950 until April 1953, up to 7700 inmates were imprisoned in the Bazhenovsky ITL gulag. 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.Template:Citation needed
ReferencesEdit
NotesEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:RussiaAdmMunRef
- Template:RussiaAdmMunRef
- Kopyrin, Alexander Leonidovich (2012): Асбест. Куделька. Копи. Template:ISBN
External linksEdit
Template:Sverdlovsk Oblast Template:Use mdy dates Template:Authority control