Heating Runs in Talas and Nurzhan as Old Mains Face First Cold Weeks

NURZHAN — Heating is running in Talas and Nurzhan as the two cities enter their first real cold weeks of the season. Nurzhan has rain today, with a high of 9 °C and a low of 0 °C; Talas is cloudy, with a high of 10 °C and an overnight low of -1 °C.

In Talas the boiler houses and mains are run by the municipal Talas Jylu Tarmaktary (Talas Heat Networks). In Nurzhan the mains belong to the city administration and are operated by the district heating enterprise Nurzhanteploset, with heat supplied from the Nurzhan Heat and Power Plant beside the Nurzhan Oil Refinery, which is owned by NurGaz. Most pipes in both cities date from the Soviet panel-block era.

Nurzhan Mayor Vadim Shcherbakov said the city's mains are ready. "The system is in operation, the crews are on call round the clock, and where a section fails we will repair it quickly," he said. "Residents should report a cold flat to their housing office and not wait."

Utility workers expect the usual early-season problems: small leaks at joints, and radiators that stay lukewarm on upper floors until the system is balanced. Tenants in the Dastgoh and Navbahor districts and the Mikrorayon estates are the most likely to call.

Oleg Zubarev, a Nurzhan city councillor and former chief engineer of Nurzhanteploset, said the oldest mains in the older estates need the most attention. "Crews do good work every autumn," he said, "but pipes laid decades ago stay the weak point whatever the weather."

The heat plant itself stays in the background of the debate. Its conversion to gas is planned but not yet funded. Prof. Sergei Volkov of Nurzhan Polytechnic Institute said gas would make the plant easier to run and cleaner, but that a plan is not a project until the money is found.

Irad Gidromet reports moderate air today, with a US AQI of 86 in Nurzhan and 91 in Talas. Chief forecaster Saltanat Musaeva said clear, calm nights in the heating season hold smoke near the ground, and that readings usually rise when the cold deepens.

For households the main worry is the bill. A two-room flat's winter heating typically costs IS 250–400 a month, billed in som. "People ask first whether the flat will be warm, then what it will cost," said Mairam Ergeshova, a dry-goods trader at the Talas bazaar. "So far my customers say it is warm enough."