The Maria reactor may soon resume operation. There is a declaration

• On March 31, 2025, after 10 years, the permit issued by the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) to operate the Maria nuclear research reactor expired.
• On Monday, June 30, the new director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Otwock-Świerk is to be presented.
• The thing that has the greatest impact on the schedule for consent to operate the Maria reactor is the issue of NCBJ’s preparation of a plant emergency procedure plan.

On March 31, 2025, after 10 years, the previous permit issued by the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) to operate the Maria nuclear research reactor at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Świerk (NCBJ) expired.

The reactor has been shut down since April 1. This is set to change soon.

Maria reactor could be allowed to start operating in July

- Maria is doing well despite press speculation that we are closing the only nuclear reactor in Poland - we are not closing it - said Marzena Czarnecka, Minister of Industry, at a meeting with journalists.

As she explained, the reactor downtime was caused by safety reasons, and the consents must be given by, among others, the Mazovian Voivode and the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration.

- These decisions are in the process of being issued, in the final phase. The National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) expects to allow the reactor to operate in July - declares Marzena Czarnecka.

We will meet the new director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research

On Monday, June 30, the Ministry of Industry announced a conference during which the new director of the National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Otwock-Świerk is to be presented. The Maria reactor belongs to NCBJ.

As of April 4, 2025, Prof. Krzysztof Kurek, PhD, DSc, Eng. was dismissed from the position of Director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Otwock-Świerk.

Minister of Industry Marzena Czarnecka justified her decision with the need to improve the functioning of the facility, and in particular to prioritize the operation of the Maria nuclear reactor.

Shortly afterwards, a competition for the position of director of the Centre was announced.

The problem of the company's emergency plan

Let us recall that on March 31, 2025 - after 10 years - the previous permit of the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) to operate the Maria reactor expired.

The new license has not yet been obtained, although the relevant application was submitted on August 20, 2024. At that time, NCBJ submitted an application with 53 attachments - a total of about 1.5 thousand pages of documentation. Since then, the documentation has been supplemented several times.

During the proceedings, in response to PAA's requests, NCBJ received nearly 1,000 questions regarding the submitted documentation. In response, approximately 50 additional attachments were provided.

The nuclear regulator has six months to review the documents, but if it requests additional documents or analyses, this deadline may be extended. This is what happened, and as a result the reactor had to be shut down on April 1.

- The key thing that has the greatest impact on the schedule is the issue of NCBJ preparing a plant emergency plan. In order to prepare such a plan, it is necessary to designate emergency planning zones and distances. These zones and distances result from safety analyses that NCBJ presents to the president of the PAA for approval. And these analyses are the subject of current arrangements - said Paweł Gajda, director of the Department of Nuclear Energy at the Ministry of Industry, in an interview with WNP.PL.

Several years of delays in preparing nuclear documentation

As he explains, only on the basis of approved zones, depending on their range, can a plant emergency procedure plan be prepared. This plan of procedures in the event of emergency situations, as well as the method of cooperation with services. It is also one of the mandatory attachments to the application for a permit to operate the reactor.

- NCBJ did not approve these zones and distances before submitting the application for a permit to operate the reactor. This happened only during the procedure, at a time when it was already quite advanced - and this is a necessary element - added Paweł Gajda.

Elements concerning the designation of impact zones are also approved at the governor level. This is an additional element, which means that the entire procedure will take some time, which is why it cannot be completed within two weeks. After the approval of the size of the impact zones, the plan of the plant emergency procedure plan can be approved, and after the approval of the plan, there will be a path to obtaining permission to operate the reactor.

- In 2019, there was a change in the regulations, resulting from the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which are the aftermath of the accident at the Fukushima power plant. These regulations contain additional requirements regarding the procedure in emergency situations, including the approval of the aforementioned zones. They were introduced in 2019 to Polish nuclear law. Unfortunately, NCBJ did not comply with these requirements earlier, before submitting an application to the PAA for a permit to operate the reactor. Therefore, now these two procedures must be carried out simultaneously, which is why the matter is being delayed - said Paweł Gajda in an interview with WNP.PL.