Poland’s only nuclear reactor halts operation amid licensing delay

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s only nuclear reactor has been forced to suspend operation after failing to secure a required licence on time. It is part of a research facility, rather than a power station. However, it is one of only seven in the world that produces a crucial radioactive isotope used in medicine.

The reactor – named Maria in honour of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, the Polish scientist and double Nobel laureate known for her work on radioactivity – will remain offline until at least 8 May.

The National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), which operates Maria, says the shutdown was planned in any case and that it aims to obtain the necessary licences before the end of upgrade work on the reactor. However, experts see it as a result of systemic neglect, while the opposition blames the government.

Maria serves as both an experimental and production reactor, supporting nuclear medicine through isotope production. It accounts for 10% of the world’s production of molybdenum-99, a key isotope used in radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosing conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

The National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) said in a statement today that the shutdown stems from an expired licence, with the renewal process still incomplete.

“Due to the lack of a licence, from 1 April until a new licence is issued, it will be necessary to stop operation of the reactor,” wrote the agency. “It will be possible to resume its operation once a new permit has been obtained.”

The PAA said that a new licence will only be issued once the NCBJ demonstrates compliance with nuclear safety, radiological protection and physical security requirements. It also confirmed that the NCBJ submitted its licence application in August last year.

Addressing the licensing delay on Friday, industry minister Marzena Czarnecka said she expected the reactor to meet safety requirements and receive the necessary approvals by mid-May, reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The NCBJ claims that a shutdown from 31 March to 8 May 2025 was in any case planned in advance and related to a necessary upgrade of the reactor.

“The pause…should not cause any disruptions in the supply of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine,” Krzysztof Kurek, NCBJ’s director, told Radio357 in an interview last week.

Despite such assurances, the shutdown has sparked controversy and drew criticism from experts – who highlighted other issues facing Poland’s sole reactor – and the opposition, who saw the pause as a result of the government’s failures.

“The biggest problem with this reactor is that Poland, as a country, does not support it on a systemic level,” Jakub Wiech, editor-in-chief of industry news service Energetyka24.com, wrote on the social media platform X.

He highlighted Maria’s lack of stable funding, noting that it is likely the only reactor of its kind without a permanent financial structure. Instead, it relies heavily on grants, with support from the ministry covering only 10% of operational costs.

Wiech also noted that the “salaries of the employees (first and foremost operators) are drastically out of line with the private sector, so we risk losing these highly educated and experienced people”. He called for a clear long-term strategy and criticised politicians for neglecting the reactor.

Wiech noted that “politicians from the left and right” have been eager to push ahead with plans to build Poland’s first nuclear power stations. Yet at the same time, they “pay no attention to Maria, which has been in operation for 50 years”.

Likewise, Wojciech Jakóbik, an energy analyst, tweeted that “Poland wants to build dozens of reactors [in nuclear power plants], but it has not taken care of the one that helps fight cancer on a daily basis and is now stopping working”.

Meanwhile, politicians from the largest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), have blamed the current coalition government, led by Donald Tusk, for the suspension of the Maria reactor.

“How is it possible that the state has failed to safeguard the functioning of such a strategic unit,” asked PiS MP Katarzyna Sójka, a doctor by training, on X. “Why has the government led to a situation where patients and medical facilities may be left without key life-saving substances?”

Another MP, Przemyslaw Czarnek, who served as education minister in a former PiS government, cited the shutdown of Maria as an example of “the collapse of the state under Tusk”.

The news about Maria’s licencing issues comes amid reports that the existing contract for the design of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, to be build in Choczewo, also expired yesterday.

While a bridging agreement between Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) – the state-owned firm responsible for building the plant – and a consortium of American firms Westinghouse and Bechtel, who are partners in the project, was expected to be concluded by the end of March, the two side have not reached an agreement.

However, the government’s plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure, Wojciech Wrochna, claimed that the end of the pre-existing contract would not affect the overall progress of the project, stating that it “changes nothing in our cooperation,” reported industry news service WNP.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: NCBJ

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.