Jan Kysela was one of the leading scientists and technology experts in the area of nuclear fission and fusion research in the Czech Republic. He passed away in December 2015.
Jan’s contribution to nuclear water chemistry, utilization of research reactors, and nuclear fusion research strongly impacted the technology development on both the national and international scientific scenes. Working in Řež, the nuclear research valley located in the outskirts of Prague, there was hardly a place that was not, in one way or another, influenced by the spirit and doings of Jan Kysela. He worked in Řež for almost 50 years as a researcher, research reactor services director, and scientific director in the Nuclear Research Institute (ÚJV Řež) and in the Research Centre Řež. Jan Kysela introduced fusion research and supported the expansion of activities related to generation IV research to the portfolio of research priorities.
Jan Kysela studied at the Faculty of Inorganic Chemistry, the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, and graduated from the Department of Nuclear Chemistry in 1967. At the same university, he received his PhD in 1981. After graduation, he began to work at ÚJV Rež. He was first employed as a chemist in the LR-0 research reactor, responsible for heavy-water coolant technology. After the heavy-water program was replaced by the light-water one, he began working on water chemistry in studies related to the usage of boric acid to manage water-water energetic reactor (VVER) reactor reactivity.
In 1992, Jan became the Director of the UJV Research Reactor Division. Around the same time, he gradually transferred his focus to pressurized water reactor technology, particularly to the experimental programs supporting the development of this technology and new water chemistries for VVER reactors. These programs were concentrated on the 10-MW LVR-15 research reactor, where an experimental loop was operated and gradually built for the study of water chemistry and corrosion. The experimental facilities for the in-pile testing of materials at simultaneous active loading and water chemistry conditions developed under Jan’s leadership are still the state-of-the-art. A number of extensive experimental programs were put in place, such as zinc injection for PWR reactors, corrosion cracking of internal BWR components, and comparison of various VVER reactor water chemistries. In this, Jan was closely cooperating with major world institutions in the area—e.g., Electric Power Research Institute and Vereinigung der Großkesselbesitzer e.V.
One should not neglect Jan’s involvement and credit in the utilization of research reactors for human medicine. The research reactor LVR-15 under his supervision became a leading facility for the boron capture therapy technology and particularly for the production of radiopharmaceuticals.
In early 2000s, Jan’s visionary nature brought him and his team to working in new power-generation technologies. Jan made use of his past experience to prepare facilities and experimental programs for Generation IV reactors and fusion research, particularly supercritical water reactors or helium-cooled reactor technologies. He was active on the international level as well and was a member of F4E Governing Board; the Chairman of the Project Management Board of GIF SCWR (supercritical water-cooled reactors) program for fuel qualification tests; and a member of European Consortium for research, development, and manufacturing of the test blanket module for ITER and EUROFUSION. He also directly influenced the progress of the new technologies. Dr. Jan Kysela was always both a realistic and optimistic promoter of new technologies and he saw them as real new opportunities for the future energy production for humankind.
Jan Kysela was not only an accomplished scientist and research manager but also a supporter of modern art. He was a very good sculptor and wood carver, and was also a founding member of the DOX Friends Club, one of the trendiest Prague modern-art galleries. Art and the gallery were places where he accumulated energy for his scientific work.
The international research community lost in Jan Kysela a visionary colleague and a bright researcher. He will always be remembered by his peers and friends as very active, full of energy and inventions.