Pokhlebaev, Mikhail Ivanovich General Director of PA "Mayak": about himself, the plant and the future of the "closed" Ozersk Federal State Unitary Enterprise po Mayak Pokhlebaev

09 August 2017

The office of the general director of the Mayak Production Association, at first glance, bears little resemblance to the workplace of the first head of the city-forming enterprise of the nuclear ZATO. Sports cups are on cupboards and on tables, hockey uniforms are in a conspicuous place and sticks autographed by famous players of the Metallurg hockey club ... Yes, and Mikhail Ivanovich himself does not strive to give the impression of a closed person. He talks a lot about his vision of what to be like in Ozersk and the Urals, where the Pokhlebaev family has been living for almost three centuries, the Mayak Production Association and all of Russia, led by him today. Mikhail Pokhlebaev, a FederalPress journalist, surprised more than once during the conversation with his openness and readiness to express his personal view on far from production issues. Details - in an exclusive interview of the General Director of the Mayak Production Association to the expert channel.

Mikhail Ivanovich, when you first came to Mayak in 2014, some media wrote that the decision to change the post of head of the Instrument-Making Plant in Tryokhgorny to the chair of Mayak's general director was not easy for you. And they even quoted your words: “I won’t go there voluntarily if they only order ... The question is what is required of me there and how much it corresponds to my foundations as a manager and citizen ...” The journalists didn’t misinterpret it, was it?

Yes.

That is, it was a difficult choice for you then. Why?

Well, can you imagine: Tryokhgorny - 30 thousand people, the plant is ten times smaller than Mayak, everything is fine with production. There are no environmental problems. My house is built, age is 60. In principle, for an ordinary person - everything, what else?

And then an offer comes from Kiriyenko, right?

I regarded the proposal from Sergei Vladilenovich as a combat order. And there were no more applicants for this place. Either they did not fit in the opinion of the head of Rosatom, or they themselves refused. But I made the decision only after talking with Kiriyenko.

At that meeting, you could not help but discuss the future of the plant. Tell me, how do you see Mayak in a few years?

This is an enterprise that produces half of the world's isotopes for various irradiators. This is an enterprise that processes up to 1000 tons of fuel per year, produces all components for ammunition and has a revenue of 50 billion rubles a year. Where smiling staff and people live in nice houses. Of course, to have a spiritual life and better ecology.

And these are not dreams. Our prospects are good. "Mayak" is in demand not only within the nuclear industry, but also outside it, in the field of high technologies. And when you are financially and economically stable, when you have a high scientific and technological potential, you can outdo any competitor.

Does the company also operate on the foreign market?

Yes. We will process fuel from Bulgaria. They fought for this echelon for almost three years. They thought for a long time: to take out the fuel or to store it. Fuel from nuclear power plants is stored in many places in Europe. But even our Russian market with its number of Mayak reactors is quite enough. Plus, there is Bushehr (a nuclear power plant in Iran near the city of Bushehr, built with the participation of Russia. - ed.), and there are many power units under construction around the world, the fuel of which we will have to process. In two or four years we will have a lot of this work. The fuel will lie in the on-site pools, it can be transported for processing. Plus, we will further confirm our refining capabilities for the secondary involvement of fuel [into production].

Tell us how the project of obtaining the status of TASED (Territory of Advanced Socio-Economic Development. - Ed.) is going on in Ozersk?

In short, now everything rests on legal casuistry, because today the status of TASED and the status of a single-industry town seem to be incompatible. Our readiness is great. It is possible, roughly speaking, to organize a new production in two months.

And why does the city need the status of PSEDA at all?

It so happened that the closed cities of Rosatom were created for nuclear industry enterprises under construction. The best specialists from all over the country were selected here. And the next generations after them are the gene pool of those best specialists. In the 90s and subsequent 2000s, many people left here. And last year, for the first time, the outflow of the population turned out to be less than the inflow. But the question arises: what to do with [those who come]? That is why, in addition to Mayak and the enterprises existing in the city, we need new companies with new jobs, intellectual and science-intensive, attractive to young people and everyone who comes. This is why we need TASED.

Do you want to make Ozyorsk not just a closed city that was once built around a top-secret enterprise, but a territory attractive for business?

Yes. And it will also be a business incubator, an incubator of ideas. The brains are good. The people are correct. They need hard tasks, and they will get them. In particular, thanks to TASED projects.

It’s clear about business, but what is the interest of ordinary Lakers here, can you explain? Why should they?

- Mayak is not the whole of Ozersk. But we want those who do not work for us to live as well as possible. We feel responsible for life in the city and the region. If we wait for someone to come and do it, then we will not wait for anything. Everyone should still contribute little by little. I don’t feel this responsibility on paper, it’s just that I have a certain energy, and it pushes me to action.

Now the city is headed by people from Mayak, your recent subordinates are the head of the administration, Yevgeny Yuryevich Shcherbakov, and the chairman of the meeting of deputies, Oleg Vyacheslavovich Kostikov. In fact, the plant assumed political responsibility for the city. Doesn't it carry such a load?

The load does not press at all. You see, if you are weak, then you will never grow up to responsibility. If you are strong, then this corresponds to your life, pace, efforts. Of course, it takes a lot of time to overcome the resistance of people who would like to interfere with us. Unfortunately, there are such people in Ozersk.

Where does this resistance come from?

Maybe because of my conviction that in our current situation, businessmen in the local government cannot actively participate. Because they immediately begin to solve their problems. How was it recently? They went into any office and, hiding behind the status of a deputy, solved their problems. This situation must be stopped. It is necessary that people [in power] be relatively independent, who do something not for the sake of their business.

- Does Mayak take part in city programs today? I know that the plant is actively helping the city in the construction of roads.

Last year, the picture in the city was not the most favorable: the budget of Ozyorsk was reduced, the overall dynamics was negative. And in order to somehow improve life - roads were in the first place among other problems - we decided that we could take on city roads and make them for little money. We also have our own asphalt and bitumen plant and road equipment. We did not need any profit from these works.

Does Mayak keep social programs? How much are they valued today?

Even when the situation was rather bad, we did not reduce the amount [of aid]. There is a main social program, let's call it Mayakovskaya. Its size is a little less than 400 million rubles. This includes assistance in purchasing housing in the form of an interest-free subsidy, and compensation for half the mortgage rate, various payments to pensioners, preferential vouchers for children and pensioners to a dispensary, and a voluntary medical insurance program for all employees. There are various sponsorship programs. There can be a variety of reasons and circumstances. Someone needs help with a trip to the world checkers championship, someone with expensive medicine. Not only Mayakovo workers and veterans, but also any resident of the city can get into this program.

Mikhail Ivanovich, Mayak remains the flagship of scientific and technical thought for everyone, it is one of the largest, most powerful enterprises. But many people, after the well-known events of 1957, continue to associate it with an environmental problem. Tell us what is being done to overcome the consequences of those years?

You see, our problems are all in sight. The largest of them is Karachay, where in the first years of the implementation of the nuclear project waste was dumped in large quantities. Two Chernobyls rest there. There is the Techa cascade of reservoirs, where waste was also dumped, at that time not knowing and not understanding what to do with it. In the West, by the way, in those years they acted in much the same way: they poured waste into full-flowing rivers, and then it was all carried away into the ocean and dissolved there. And the Techa River turned out to be not such a suitable body of water into which waste could be dumped relatively painlessly. We completely closed the water area of Karachay. But this is like a sleeping tiger, with which you will have to live for tens and hundreds of years, and which you must constantly monitor.

That is, Karachay, despite the fact that he was bombarded, should be watched? And this period will be indefinitely long?

We cooperate with various organizations that are great experts in the field of hydrogeology, because a lot of us [waste from the plant] really lies underground. And on the basis of [their recommendations], we organize our activities to ensure a secure environmental future. We control not only Karachay. The territory that we have covered by monitoring is larger than the Leningrad Region. Sensors are installed in 1.5 thousand special wells, the readings of which are monitored around the clock. So environmental control in our vast territory is set at the highest level.

I know that you were interested in the history of your family, even compiled a genealogical tree of your family. If I am not mistaken, a significant part of your ancestors is connected with the Urals.

I was able to document the history of the family on the paternal side until the 1740s, where there is a clear birth record. Accordingly, the father of this child was born around 1707-1708. In general, my father is from the village of Karaulovka, Katav-Ivanovsky district. And to this day, all my ancestors along his line are from there. It is curious that the village of Karaulovka was taken from somewhere in the central part of Russia back in the 16th-17th centuries. Maybe someone lost to the peasants in cards, I don’t know. They all said “ts” instead of “h”: “Let's go, let's have a cup of tea” - such a dialect was interesting. I was so surprised: I used to come to them as a kid in Soviet times, and they had a “tsai” there ... The village was big: 1,700 people, of which 900 men and 800 women were parishioners. That is, almost everything. And some sect was there, 17 people. Now there is nothing in that place, only Christmas trees in the fields.
My grandfather was accused of being a kulak. Those who dispossessed him walked in rubber boots on bare feet in winter. And my ancestors, as I read, were respected for diligence and ingenuity: my grandfather had either a seeder, or a winnowing machine, which he himself built, and several horses and cows. And for this, his family was considered fists and destitute.
And my mom doesn't know where she's from. During the war, children from the frontline areas were taken to the Urals, so she ended up in the Chelyabinsk region, in the Katav-Ivanovsky district. As I later found out, there was at first one adoption, then another. She even has a random date of birth in the documents: as they appointed November 7, they wrote it down.

Have you been in the archives yourself?

Wife. Well, you can imagine: if the husband is a director, then wherever the wife gets a job, they will definitely say, they say, by pull. Therefore, we cut it all off at the very beginning, so that there would not even be any talk. The wife takes care of the house, if necessary - grandchildren, and that's all. Well, more research. And my wife also has friends who work in the Aksakov Foundation in Ufa (the memorial house-museum of the writer Sergei Aksakov in Ufa - ed.) They helped read and disassemble old documents.

Member of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Transport.
Member of the All-Russian Political Party "United Russia".

Mikhail Pokhlebaev was born on May 25, 1958 in the city of Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Region. In 1981 he graduated with honors from the Moscow Higher Technical School named after N.E. Bauman, having received the specialty "radio engineer". He was drafted into the armed forces of the Soviet Army, where from 1982 to 1985 he worked as an engineer of the Military Assembly Brigade Group in the city of Zlatoust-36 at the Instrument-Making Plant.

Subsequently, Pokhlebaev successively held the positions of district engineer, senior expert of the special department, head of the general technical and conversion departments of the enterprise, deputy head of the Department of Nuclear Warfare Industry of the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia. He retired in 2004 with the rank of Colonel.

From 2005 to 2008, he took a course of study under the EMBA program "Strategic Finance" at the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Subsequently, Mikhail Ivanovich served as deputy head of the Department of Nuclear Warfare Industry of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency. He was Deputy Director and then Acting Director of the Department of Nuclear Warfare Industry of the Rosatom State Corporation.

In the period from 2009 to 2014, he was the General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Instrument-Making Plant" in the city of Tryokhgorny. Then Pokhlebaev acted as general director, and from April 2015 became the general director of the Mayak Federal State Unitary Enterprise.

Mikhail Pokhlebaev was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region of the VI convocation on September 13, 2015. He is a member of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Transport. He is a laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology, the state adviser of the Russian Federation of the 3rd class.

Married. He has two daughters and seven grandchildren.

Mikhail Pokhlebaev awards.

Order of Honor.

Medal "300 Years of the Russian Fleet"

Badge “E.P. Slavsky.

Jubilee medal "50 years of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Russia".

Medal of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia "Participant in the elimination of fires in 2010".

Medal "55th Anniversary of Military Unit 3442"

Badge "90 years of the Military Commissariats of the Ministry of Defense of Russia".

Medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "For merits in nuclear support"

Medal of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia "XX years of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia"

Medal of the FSTEC of Russia "For strengthening the state system of information protection".

Jubilee medal "200 years of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia"

Medal of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia "For Commonwealth in the Name of Salvation"

Badge of the RP RAEP "For interaction and social partnership" II degree.

Commemorative medal of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia "Marshal Vasily Chuikov".

Badge of distinction "For services to the nuclear industry" II degree.

Medal of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.

Jubilee medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "100 years of the Air Force".

Laureate of the All-Russian project "Effective personnel management".

Mikhail Ivanovich Pokhlebaev(May 25, 1958 Trekhgorny, USSR) - statesman, general director of the Rosatom Instrument-Making Plant and, since 2014, Mayak Production Association. Laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology.

Biography

Born on May 25, 1958 in the city of Zlatoust-36, Chelyabinsk Region. In 1981, after graduating from Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman was drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces and worked as an engineer at the NIIEMI in Moscow.

From 1982 to 1985 he worked as an engineer of the Military Assembly Brigade Group in the city of Zlatoust-36 at the Instrument-Making Plant. From 1985 to 2002, he successively held the positions of district engineer, senior expert of the special department, head of the general technical and conversion departments of the enterprise.

From 2004 to 2009, he was Deputy Head of the Nuclear Warfare Industry Department of the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia, Deputy Head of the Nuclear Warfare Industry Department of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency and Deputy Director of the Nuclear Warfare Industry Department of Rosatom

Since 2009, he was appointed General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise of the Rosatom Instrument-Making Plant in the city of Tryokhgorny.

On November 5, 2014, Rosatom announced a competition to fill the position of General Director of Mayak Production Association, this position was offered to M.I. I won’t go if I’m only ordered to, forced to - there’s still to see ... The question is what is required of me to do there, how much it corresponds, probably, to my foundations as a manager and a citizen ”

Awards

Laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation (2012);
Order of Honor;
Medals.

“I won’t go there voluntarily…”

- Mikhail Ivanovich, when you first came to Mayak in 2014, some media wrote that the decision to change the post of the head of the Instrument-Making Plant in Tryokhgorny to the chair of Mayak's general director was not easy for you. And they even quoted your words: “I won’t go there voluntarily if they only order ... The question is what is required of me there and how much it corresponds to my foundations as a manager and citizen ...” The journalists didn’t misinterpret it, was it?

- That is, it was a difficult choice for you then. Why?

- Well, can you imagine: Tryokhgorny - 30 thousand people, the plant is ten times smaller than Mayak, everything is fine with production. There are no environmental problems. My house was built, age is 60. In principle, for an ordinary person - everything, what else?

- And then an offer comes from Kiriyenko, right?

– At that meeting, you could not help but discuss the future of the plant. Tell me, how do you see Mayak in a few years?

– This is an enterprise that produces half of the world's isotopes for various irradiators. This is an enterprise that processes up to 1000 tons of fuel per year, produces all the components for ammunition and has a revenue of 50 billion rubles a year. Where smiling staff and people live in nice houses. Of course, to have a spiritual life and better ecology.
And these are not dreams. Our prospects are good. "Mayak" is in demand not only within the nuclear industry, but also outside it, in the field of high technologies. And when you are financially and economically stable, when you have a high scientific and technological potential, you can outdo any competitor.

– Does the company also operate on the foreign market?

- Yes. We will process fuel from Bulgaria. They fought for this echelon for almost three years. They thought for a long time: to take out the fuel or to store it. Fuel from nuclear power plants is stored in many places in Europe. But even our Russian market with its number of Mayak reactors is quite enough. Plus, there is Bushehr (a nuclear power plant in Iran near the city of Bushehr, built with the participation of Russia. - ed.), and there are many power units under construction around the world, the fuel of which we will have to process. In two or four years we will have a lot of this work. The fuel will lie in the on-site pools, it can be transported for processing. Plus, we will further confirm our refining capabilities for the secondary involvement of fuel [into production].

“I have a certain energy, and it pushes me to action”

– Tell us, how is the implementation of the project for obtaining the status of TASED in Ozyorsk (a territory of advanced socio-economic development. - Ed.) going?

- In short, now everything rests on legal casuistry, because today the status of TASED and the status of a single-industry town seem to be incompatible. Our readiness is great. It is possible, roughly speaking, to organize a new production in two months.

- Why does the city need the status of PSEDA?

– Do you want to make Ozyorsk not just a closed city that was once built around a top-secret enterprise, but a territory attractive for business?

- Yes. And it will also be a business incubator, an incubator of ideas. The brains are good. The people are correct. They need hard tasks, and they will get them. In particular, thanks to TASED projects.

- It’s clear about business, but what is the interest of ordinary Lakers here, can you explain? Why should they?

“Businessmen cannot participate in local authorities”

- Now the city is headed by people from Mayak, your recent subordinates are the head of the administration Evgeny Yuryevich Shcherbakov and the chairman of the meeting of deputies Oleg Vyacheslavovich Kostikov. In fact, the plant assumed political responsibility for the city. Doesn't it carry such a load?

- The load does not press at all. You see, if you are weak, then you will never grow up to responsibility. If you are strong, then this corresponds to your life, pace, efforts. Of course, it takes a lot of time to overcome the resistance of people who would like to interfere with us. Unfortunately, there are such people in Ozersk.

Where does this resistance come from?

- Does Mayak take part in city programs today? I know that the plant is actively helping the city in the construction of roads.

- Last year, the picture in the city was not the most favorable: the budget of Ozyorsk was reduced, the overall dynamics was negative. And in order to somehow improve life - roads were in the first place among other problems - we decided that we could take on city roads and make them for little money. We also have our own asphalt and bitumen plant and road equipment. We did not need any profit from these works.

- Does Mayak keep social programs? How much are they valued today?

“We still have to live with Karachay for thousands of years…”

- Mikhail Ivanovich, Mayak remains the flagship of scientific and technical thought for everyone, it is one of the largest, most powerful enterprises. But many people, after the well-known events of 1957, continue to associate it with an environmental problem. Tell us what is being done to overcome the consequences of those years?

“You see, our problems are all in sight. The largest of them is Karachay, where in the first years of the implementation of the nuclear project waste was dumped in large quantities. Two Chernobyls rest there. There is the Techa cascade of reservoirs, where waste was also dumped, at that time not knowing and not understanding what to do with it. In the West, by the way, in those years they acted in much the same way: they poured waste into full-flowing rivers, and then it was all carried away into the ocean and dissolved there. And the Techa River turned out to be not such a suitable body of water into which waste could be dumped relatively painlessly. We completely closed the water area of Karachay. But this is like a sleeping tiger, with which you will have to live for tens and hundreds of years, and which you must constantly monitor.

- That is, Karachay, despite the fact that he was bombarded, should be watched? And this period will be indefinitely long?

"Let's go and have a drink!"

- I know that you were interested in the history of your family, even compiled a genealogical tree of your family. If I am not mistaken, a significant part of your ancestors is connected with the Urals.

I was able to document the history of the family on the paternal side until the 1740s, where there is a clear birth record. Accordingly, the father of this child was born around 1707-1708. In general, my father is from the village of Karaulovka, Katav-Ivanovsky district. And to this day, all my ancestors along his line are from there. It is curious that the village of Karaulovka was taken from somewhere in the central part of Russia back in the 16th-17th centuries. Maybe someone lost to the peasants in cards, I don’t know. They all said “c” instead of “h”: “Let's go and have a drink of tsika” - such a dialect was interesting. I was so surprised: I used to come to them as a kid in Soviet times, and they had a “tsai” there ... The village was big: 1,700 people, of which 900 men and 800 women were parishioners. That is, almost everything. And some sect was there, 17 people. Now there is nothing in that place, only Christmas trees in the fields.
My grandfather was accused of being a kulak. Those who dispossessed him walked in rubber boots on bare feet in winter. And my ancestors, as I read, were respected for diligence and ingenuity: my grandfather had either a seeder, or a winnowing machine, which he himself built, and several horses and cows. And for this, his family was considered fists and destitute.
And my mom doesn't know where she's from. During the war, children from the frontline areas were taken to the Urals, so she ended up in the Chelyabinsk region, in the Katav-Ivanovsky district. As I later found out, there was at first one adoption, then another. She even has a random date of birth in the documents: as they appointed November 7, they wrote it down.

- Did you sit in the archives yourself?

- Wife. Well, you can imagine: if the husband is a director, then wherever the wife gets a job, they will definitely say, they say, by pull. Therefore, we cut it all off at the very beginning, so that there would not even be any talk. The wife takes care of the house, if necessary - grandchildren, and that's it. Well, more research. And my wife also has friends who work in the Aksakov Foundation in Ufa (the memorial house-museum of the writer Sergei Aksakov in Ufa - ed.) They helped read and disassemble old documents.

– While still working in Trekhgorny, you supported the construction of a local church and the creation of a Sunday parish school. Is it that important to you?

“People are increasingly coming to understand that patriotism always goes hand in hand with spirituality. When we left Trekhgorny, there were not enough places for children in the parish school. And the same thing is happening here. Here, look: Andrey Ilyich Komarov (co-owner of ChTPZ, a native of Ozyorsk. - Ed.) Built a temple here, which is fully equipped. And there is a temple school, the flock is growing. Of course, here we will contribute to these processes to the best of our ability. Because all our work, both through social programs and through the support of people's religious self-awareness ... everything should work for the mill of Russia's revival. This sounds grandiloquent, but we all need to work hard in order to become better ourselves and revive Russia.

Photo by Evgeny Potorochin

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https://www.site/2016-09-29/generalnyy_direktor_po_mayak_o_sebe_kombinate_i_buduchem_zakrytogo_ozerska

“This is a place that can be managed and developed”

General Director of Mayak Production Association: about himself, the plant and the future of the “closed” Ozersk

Since the end of 2014, Mikhail Pokhlebaev has been heading one of the most strategically important industries in the Chelyabinsk region - the well-known (including infamous) Mayak chemical plant. The phrase Pokhlebaev said before this appointment went down in history: "I will not go there voluntarily." What has changed in less than two years in the work of "Mayak", in the life of the satellite town of Ozersk, in relations between the centers of power in the "ban" and, finally, in the perception of Pokhlebaev himself of a new place of work? The publication of the interview unwittingly turned out to be timed to coincide with two dates that are next to each other on the calendar: this is the Day of Nuclear Industry Workers, which was celebrated just yesterday, and the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Radiation Disasters, which are remembered today.

In "Rosatom" called a rebel

- Still, what meaning did you put into those words before the appointment?

The words that, as you said, went down in history, were spoken in a very specific situation. I worked in my hometown, at a factory to which a lot was given. At the same time, the point of no return - a certain boundary beyond which I imagined a more stable position of the enterprise - has not yet been passed, I see and understand this very well now. In a good way, it still needed two years, and I just didn’t want to leave something that had not yet been completed. As it is now, by the way, here at Mayak. I can't even imagine a situation where I myself would want to go somewhere. Because this is the cause you serve. There is so much more to be done here. Moreover, you know, as in any business: the more you know it, the more it begins to seem that you are still at the very beginning of the path ...

On the other hand, one should not think that we ourselves are sitting here and deciding: I will go there to work, but I will not go there. We're in the wrong system. Yes, at PSZ (Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Instrument-Making Plant", ZATO Trekhgorny - ed.) Much has not been done. But even here, apparently, a leader was needed to help the plant, the city. This is what we are doing now.

In general, in a good way, I took this transfer and moving as a challenge. And this is just normal for a leader to take such challenges and respond to them. I remember my wife helped me get ready before talking with Sergei Vladilenovich<Кириенко>. And suddenly he asks: “And if they don’t take it?” Well, why not take it?! No, you need to take it. With such a mood, I entered the office.

Mikhail Ivanovich, they say that in your incomplete two years, a cult of Pokhlebaev's personality began to take shape at the plant. On the other hand, you do not give the impression of a "bronze" and even an authoritarian leader. You even got accounts in in social networks and methodically answer the questions of Mayak workers and residents of the city. So what kind of leader is Pokhlebaev really? Or, at least, what kind of leader would you like to be?

The cult of personality, unlimited power - all this is nonsense. Here they try to sit on my ears, they say something, but they don’t get closer to the body. I draw information, but no more. In boundless glory, I also do not bathe. I always invite my colleagues to a dialogue, I try to stir things up. Yesterday there was a meeting on the production system of Rosatom. Reports are all like that ... Ordinary, ordinary Soviet reports, like at party meetings. Reported, and all is well. And nothing like that, I say, nothing is good. Let's talk, I say. Argue with me, because I can be mistaken. In the end, I created a team, and I need to consult!

But there are such phenomena as clans, placing orders somewhere behind a fence... It has been here for years, decades. Such things can only be dealt with in an authoritarian way. At such an enterprise as ours, there is no way without an authoritarian style.

And then, what is considered an authoritarian style? Ability to make a decision? To take responsibility? Lead people and become a leader? Substitute your body in the fight against the outside world? If so, then I am an authoritarian leader, although by nature I am calm, somewhere even soft. But if they begin to undeservedly cling to me or cling to my enterprise, I become different. And this, by the way, appeared in me after I became a director, when I felt the plant behind me (I was appointed director of the PSZ in 2009 - ed.). Sometimes in Rosatom they call me a rebel ...

- Kiriyenko calls?

No, Sergei Vladilenovich just does not name. They call others. Let it go. I know that I would not be a rebel - the plant in Trekhgorny would now sit without a state order.

- And if in 10-15 years they say about the “people's director” Pokhlebaev, will that suit you?

Certainly.

You have introduced the practice of corporate project sessions - a kind of brainstorming, when the heads of departments, together with you, in an informal setting, are looking for answers to some important questions. Did your subordinates accept it, got involved?

I'll probably say no. We sat, talked, and then ... Then it goes weakly. Yes, and there it is difficult to swing them into conversation. On the one hand, it is clear that we are all in different positions. And here the question is not about hierarchy, not about the fact that it might be difficult for someone to admit the very idea of arguing with the boss. The issue is that your position, whatever one may say, often speaks of your ability, in principle, to grow up to such a conversation. Small-grass, it is often visible. But there is another thing - this is when specific actions are required from everyone in the future. And they are not there or they are not enough. It turns out a step back or standing still. And we are fighting with this, and here we have to return to the topic of authoritarianism in management...

We see a giant market ahead

- What impression did you get from Mayak when you received it?

I came in November (2014 - ed.), I looked. Then he flew around in a helicopter, although, of course, you won’t see everything from a helicopter ... Seriously, everything - that says it all. But this is the place that can be controlled, maintained in the state that is necessary for nature, for man. And, of course, develop, build the economy. Sergei Vladilenovich said in his interview for a reason that Mayak has a great future. He has new interesting products, heavy construction projects behind him.

- What are the construction sites?

Let's just say, objects that have been built for many years. The economy there was bad, the contractors were bad. A difficult legacy, in general... But this year we will level it all, pull it up to the point where it will no longer be a problem.

- "Mayak" is historically called a chemical plant, but what is "Mayak" today in reality? What is the ratio between defense programs and "peaceful atom" now? What are the company's immediate prospects?

We really have a lot to do with chemistry. But we still say that we are strong in physics - mainly in the physics of nuclear materials. And within the framework of these competencies, we will remain, developing both the defense industry and civilian life. The defense part is our traditional or, I would say, stable niche, where development is also taking place, but with its own logic, at its own pace. The state's need for this part has long been determined, and we all, of course, hope that nothing will change in this regard. Although, if you ask me about it, I will answer: "Mayak" will certainly respond to any challenges, will give the country what the country needs both in terms of quality and quantity. For this, in fact, the state created us.

The ratio you are asking about is dominated by the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel and the production of isotopes. This is our reserve on the way to improving the economy of the enterprise. In a year, we will become the only enterprise in the world that will be able to accept all types of fuel, all fuel compositions for processing. We only have to master one of them, and we will do it somewhere in a year.

Plus to it - various new intellectual products. These are new devices, new devices that are needed and in demand on the market. And here I would like to mention the machine tool industry. Of course, it is unlikely that we will become some kind of leaders in this part - rather, for us it will be some kind of side job. But this is a very good direction, not only in terms of the need to earn money. Here we attract those intellectual resources that are not and cannot be employed in radiochemical production. In Ozersk, around Ozersk, there are many young and not so young people who are competent in the same computer technologies. They can be in demand in instrument making, machine tool building. And in this production we will take them. We need to find our own zest, which will bring us both income and moral, so to speak, satisfaction - from the fact that we are doing something here that not everyone is doing. And we will definitely find such a zest in the machine tool industry.

But the most important and basic are isotopes. Here we will increase both the range and volumes. We are still one of the world leaders in this market, about 20% are behind us, and we still have reserves. New, as they say now, designs, new proposals for the market. An isotope by itself is just an isotope. But including it in different products is already a matter of adequate positioning in the market.

- Have the sanctions affected you?

Hardly ever. At least in this area.

Under the previous governor, there was talk of creating a cluster of nuclear medicine in the Middle and Southern Urals, and you, as producers of isotopes, seemed to have your own significant role in it. Now the talk about it has somehow subsided ...

At the same time, we are waiting for the opportunity to integrate into the medical cluster of Rosatom, talk about it is also going, so to speak, along a sinusoid. Potentially we will provide everything you need. And the inter-regional cluster, if one does appear, too. I'll even tell you more - Mayak came out to obtain a unique raw material for such a drug, which will be a breakthrough in the fight against cancer. Now we are finalizing this work so that it would be possible to bring this drug to the market, and this market will be gigantic and all over the world.

At one time, thanks to the moratorium on the import of spent nuclear fuel into the country, Mayak was pushed out of the reprocessing market. Have you managed to regain the lost positions by now?

- Rosatom introduces the service of integrated work with nuclear energy to the world market. Such, you know, a full cycle. The plant will be designed, built, launched, and serviced for you, including solving the issue of SNF handling. And Mayak, with its competencies and experience, will, of course, participate in this work. When concluding contracts - I will not name the countries yet, but there are contracts - we will participate in the processing of spent nuclear fuel, and return the products of processing to fuel compositions. The second way to deal with spent nuclear fuel today is to send it to long-term storage. Today, many countries are following the latter path. But this is not our path, not the path of Mayak, and it is important for us to confirm our competences, and to show an economy that will outstrip the economy of long-term storage. We are distinguished by a diversified, diversified nature of the economy. We have many different businesses, areas of work where we learn how to make money. And due to this, we will push competitors.

- Mayak remains state-owned?

Yes, we do not observe and do not expect any encroachments on our state status. Now another federal state unitary enterprise, Bazalt, in the Saratov region, is joining us as a branch. Their specialization is beryllium products, their products are combined with ours. Recently, a team of tops examined this enterprise, got acquainted with the specifics and problems. I think that already in 2018 they will start working as part of Mayak. The company is small, with just over 300 employees. Nice, well maintained business.

The issue of building the South Ural nuclear power plant has always been of particular importance for the residents of lakes. Do you have fresh information about the prospects of this project?

The idea of returning to the old site with a couple of reactors is being discussed. This would allow the formation of a research and production energy cluster in which Mayak could play a key role. Look: the unit is working, generating energy, and we supply fuel assemblies for it, then we reprocess the spent fuel. And all this is here, in one territory, with decent volumes. If an appropriate decision is made, we will support it in every possible way. Moreover, if our construction and repair department is not busy, we will take part in the construction, we will make structures. Maybe we can help design.

In the zero years, Mayak put the Techa cascade of reservoirs in order, helped the region with the resettlement of the village of Muslyumovo. Last year, Lake Karachay was hidden under a concrete sarcophagus. Are there comparable conservation projects pending or planned?

There is a federal target program "Nuclear and Radiation Safety", and "Mayak" is built into it. In practice, there remains a gigantic set of measures aimed at monitoring the environment and maintaining the ecological balance in the area where we once appeared and where in different years and in different situations, performing certain state tasks, in a certain way "inherited". No one refuses this heritage, all this remains under our close control.

More optimism

A year ago, the next municipal elections marked the return of Mayak to the management of the Ozersky urban district. Is Mayak able to do this, because Ozersk, which is 90,000 strong, is far from being a satellite village of a regime enterprise? In general, in your opinion, is the model of the relationship between the city and Mayak as a city-forming enterprise still relevant? Maybe it's time to open the city and let it float freely?

Well, look. The city is home to 37 thousand pensioners, most of whom are ours. Now there are 12 thousand people who have families. If you count everyone, you get about 70 thousand people - out of 90 thousand living in the city. Agree, this is why Mayak cannot stand aside. We are a city-forming enterprise, and looking at these figures, it is difficult to say otherwise. I'll add more. The projected revenue of Mayak this year is about 20 billion rubles. Of these, 8 billion, plus or minus, is the wage fund. That is, wages, the consumer market. It turns out that in the economy of Ozersk, the economy of our entire district, a lot depends on us. And the closed perimeter of the city does not interfere with this in any way.

Probably, in order for us to work well, we must live well. This is the meaning of our return to the city government. Not to find a place for someone, to attach. I don't have enough people, just like everywhere else. And it was still necessary to find literate and sensible people so that they would agree to go to work for a salary that was half the previous one ... They found them, brought them to the city leadership. They work, begin to take on such problems that previously seemed unbearable.

- Is the city administration a workshop outside the industrial site? A detached unit?

Of course not. But we live in the same city, we just go to work in different places, we receive salaries at different cash desks. Between the city and the plant, finally, harmonious, business relations have developed again, which are already showing results. Someone doesn't like it? Perhaps, to those to whom we crossed the road, and in the literal sense, when we undertook, for example, to make the roads themselves again in the city - without profit, but to do it. And if you calculate, then in this season alone there are already 30 million for the effect. Can you imagine how many Mercedes would be bought, how many trips abroad would be paid for? But not destiny...

What problems do you see in Ozersk at the moment? What solutions do you propose? What do you think the city lacks?

Lack of social optimism. This is a very important thing, a lot depends on it in the city, starting with the population. While the population in Ozersk is decreasing. And it should grow, and qualitatively. Young people and students should come here. Come and stay.

- So, maybe, take a swing at your university, like in Dubna? There were such proposals.

We already have our own university, it needs to be fine-tuned so that it is attractive not only for students of technical specialties, but also for those who are more in the humanities. This is what they are doing right now. But most importantly, we need beautiful jobs - beautiful both in form and content. To be a beautiful, cozy, safe city. Of course, you also need quick access to big cities, where you could go to hang out, and then back to yourself. These are the tasks we will solve with the whole team that has developed in the city. And we decide it's a must. I measured the time lag for all of us from 3 to 5 years. It was my authoritarian decision.