Zakrutkin made significant contributions to the lives of Volgodonsk residents, helping the city address various challenges. His involvement included infrastructure projects, the construction of housing for builders and employees of Atommash, and the purchase of trees for parks as well as equipment for kindergartens and schools. Vitaly Zakrutkin was a demanding and persistent deputy of the regional Council of People’s Deputies; he traveled to Moscow and visited numerous ministries and departments to tackle the issues raised by voters and address the concerns of workers during regular meetings.

Zakrutkin also sought to assist the residents of Volgodonsk in solving environmental issues that arose during the construction and operation of the nuclear power plant. At his initiative, meetings were organized in Rostov-on-Don, bringing together physicists, ecologists, and members of environmental councils, to which officials were also invited.

Much was done to ensure the safety of the people living in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. As a result, the residents of Volgodonsk expressed their gratitude to Vitaly Zakrutkin by writing him letters, sending him messages of appreciation, and inviting him to their city for celebrations, including the openings of new schools, streets, and parks.

In 1975, the residents of Volgodonsk cast a bust of Zakrutkin and brought it to Kochetovskaya. Pyotr Vasilyevich Lebedenko, a friend of Zakrutkin, told schoolchildren at a meeting in the museum that the residents did not wait for anniversaries to celebrate Vitaly Zakrutkin; they visited him on any birthday. For his 74th birthday, they presented him with a nuclear reactor model, accompanied by the following words,