MP: additional outage of MARIA research reactor

Due to the ongoing procedure for obtaining a permit for the operation of the MARIA research reactor, the reactor will begin an additional period of downtime from Friday, May 9; it will last until the permit is obtained from the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministry of Industry announced on Thursday.

At the end of April this year, the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) announced that it would issue a permit for the reactor's operation once the National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) had submitted the appropriate documents. NCBJ announced at the time that the deadline for responding to additional questions from the nuclear regulator was May 15.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Industry, responsible for overseeing the nuclear sector, issued a statement on the status of the MARIA reactor. It recalled that the end of the technical break in the reactor's operation, which had been ongoing since April 1, and the date of which was linked to the permit renewal process, was scheduled for May 8.

The current permit expired on March 31, 2025.

"Currently, the administrative procedure for obtaining a permit for the operation of the reactor is still underway on the basis of the provisions of the Atomic Law and implementing regulations, taking into account the recommendations contained in the International Atomic Energy Agency's guides on the safety of nuclear reactors," MP noted.

"In connection with the above, from 9 May 2025, the MARIA reactor will begin an additional period of downtime, which will last until the permit from the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency is obtained," the ministry said.

He assured that the NCBJ team is conducting intensive substantive consultations with PAA experts in order to introduce the expected modifications to the submitted documentation and complete the procedure as soon as possible. He also emphasized that in some thematic areas, NCBJ's explanations have already been accepted by PAA.

"What is particularly important, the aforementioned interruption does not currently pose a threat to the security of radiopharmaceutical supplies to domestic nuclear medicine facilities, because since mid-April this year, radioactive material purchased from external suppliers has been used for their production," MP assured.

It added that deliveries to domestic customers are treated as a priority, but that "some adjustments to shipping schedules" are possible. In the case of export production, changes to deliveries are individually consulted with individual customers.

NCBJ, as the entity operating the MARIA reactor, applied for a new permit to operate the reactor in August 2024, submitting an application with 53 attachments - a total of about 1.5 thousand pages of documentation. Since then, the documentation has been supplemented several times.

NCBJ indicates that during the proceedings, in response to PAA's requests, it received nearly 1,000 questions regarding the submitted documentation. In response, approximately 50 additional attachments were provided. The last series of NCBJ questions covered over a hundred issues, and according to NCBJ, the answers to them require additional analyses and are provided immediately, in accordance with the set deadlines.

"The final deadline for responding to the current last series of inquiries, set by the supervision authority, is May 15, 2025," the National Center for Nuclear Research announced at the end of April this year.

At the beginning of April, Paweł Gajda, head of the Ministry of Industry's Nuclear Energy Department, assured that intensive work was underway to supplement the documentation needed to issue a permit for the operation of the MARIA reactor. He reminded that the reactor license must be renewed every 10 years.

In early April, the Minister of Industry, Marzena Czarnecka, dismissed the director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research, Prof. Krzysztof Kurek. She justified the decision with the need to improve the functioning of the NCBJ, and in particular to prioritize the operation of the MARIA reactor.

The MARIA nuclear reactor is a research reactor that produces radioisotopes and is used for research. (PAP)

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