Josef Mitáš

* 1942

  • “Because I spent my whole working life in uranium, apart from the momentary activity at school, I am quite sorry that mining is almost non-existent. Mining College, which spewed super specialists, so I do not know how many students there are now. But I think it is a pity that mining has dropped into such a terrible downturn, because there is still much into the industry. I wish it was restored. Because, for example, in our tailings pond, where only uranium was extracted from ore and everything else remained, so there are a number of accompanying elements, starting with silver and zinc and non-ferrous metals, which I think would be useful to return to that, as I think some guys are thinking about it, and even here again the accompanying elements that would be useful for industry. For me, as a creed, I would like the raw material that is now waste to become, for example, a feedstock to produce something useful that the industry will need in our economy.”

  • “The decisive point was that the saline radioactive water could not be discharged anywhere, and it had to be treated by purification to the quality of the water, which could then be released into the watercourse. So we managed to solve the purification of these waters. The first stage here was the construction and commissioning of an eight-stage evaporation station, from which we obtain vapor condensate, which after cooling was discharged into the water stream as pure water. The eluate of this was then returned to the process and processed because there was a concentrated uranium element in it. So it was the first and then, after ten years, we began to think about progressive things, especially electrodialysis. The Uranium Research Institute was within the uranium industry. We acquired the first model electrodialysis, which was tested, and it was established that the technology here was operational. Meanwhile, we bought three electrodialysers from the Japanese company Asahi Glass. The Japanese, four experts, came and worked with us for about a month, that was in 1985.”

  • “So when I go back to whether it would be better to stay in school, to be there among the youngsters and teach them something interesting, I have to say that I don't regret it at all. Because our treatment plant, which we still call ours, it had so many technical problems that just fit into the knowledge of chemistry and chemical-technological processes that one could use there. So it was an extremely interesting activity. Because I really had extraordinarily clever people around me, both high school and college students who didn't mind the working hours, but stayed there when needed. And we have managed to solve so many interesting things that today, as I have already said, our plant in the locality in which it is built, is truly unique, if not world-wide, and European. Because it worked, today it is history, in a completely closed cycle of technological water, because it is in the basin of the river Svratka, which is a reservoir of drinking water for the whole of South Moravia and Vysočina.”

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    Brno, 15.10.2019

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The world is looking for people who can do something, not people who can explain why they didn‘t

Josef Mitáš was born on March 19, 1942 in Lhota (today Lísek) near Bystřice nad Pernštejnem. He grew up in a peasant family and helped his parents in agriculture since childhood. At the eleven-year high school in Bystřice nad Pernštejnem, he began to enjoy chemistry, so he decided to continue his studies at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Pardubice. After graduating in 1964, he briefly worked as an assistant at the Department of Processes and Chemical Production. Uranium ore began to be mined in his native region and the witness decided to engage in the uranium industry. He gained the position of laboratory manager in Jáchymovské doly Rožná and two years later he became laboratory manager at the newly established DIAMO Chemical Treatment Plant. They obtained ammonium diuranate from uranium ore in the treatment plant, which was processed into fuel for nuclear power plants. In 1970 Josef became Chief Engineer of the Chemical Processing Plant. During his professional life, he faced a number of difficult technical problems that he and his laboratory team had solved. In particular, they had to figure out how to clean the excess radioactive water from the tailings ponds. They managed to create a unique system that cleaned the water so that they could release it back into nature. Josef Mitáš worked in the uranium industry until 2001, when he left for the private sector and continued his professional work.