2025-05-02 06:00
publication
2025-05-02 06:00
The State Atomist Agency will issue a permission to operate the research reactor Maria, when the National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) submits relevant documents – the president of the agency Andrzej Głowacki told PAP. NCBJ said that until May 15 he is to answer additional nuclear supervision questions.
March 31 this year After 10 years, the current permission of the President of the State Nuclear Study Agency for the operation of the nuclear research reactor Maria in NCBJ Świerk has expired, and the new license has not yet been obtained. The reactor had to be turned off. This coincided with the planned cyclical break in the reactor's work.
Andrzej Głowacki, the president of the State Atomicism Agency, pointed out in an interview with PAP that “at the time when the National Nuclear Research Center will submit appropriate documents that will confirm the fulfillment of all, including the latest safety requirements in the country, after the assessment we will be able to issue a permit (on the operation of the Maria – PAP reactor)”.
Głowacki added that The agency still cannot confirm the fulfillment of all security requirements in Poland for this reactor. Reminded that NCBJ as an entity operating this reactor applied for a new permit to operate the reactor in August 2024 and supplemented the documentation several times.
The head of nuclear supervision, asked how long over the 50-year-old reactor Maria will be able to be exploited, he pointed out that “as long as it is safe.” He pointed out that there were no specific time restrictions, and the NCBJ applied for an indefinite period.
The National Center for Nuclear Research provided PAP that it submitted an application for a new permission to operate the research reactor Maria on August 20, 2024.
“From that moment, the State Atomic Energy Agency is conducting administrative proceedings, which aims to obtain a new permit for the Maria research reactor. We have forwarded the application to PAA together with 53 attachments, which in total constitutes about 1,500 pages of documentation” – explained.
NCBJ added that in the course of the proceedings, in response to PAA calls, nearly 1,000 were received. questions about complex documentation. In response to them, about 50 additional attachments were delivered.
The center has reported that nuclear supervision recently turned to the NCBJ with a series of questions that concerned over a hundred issues. “These are detailed questions about the procedures described in submitted documents and theoretical scenarios of equipment and staff in the conditions specified by PAA. The answers to these questions require additional analyzes and are transferred immediately after their completion, in accordance with the deadlines” – states in response to PAP's questions.
“The final date of response to the currently the last series of queries, designated by the supervision, falls on May 15, 2025” – informed the National Center for Nuclear Research.
At the beginning of April, the head of the Nuclear Energy Department of the Ministry of the Industry Paweł Gajda assured that intensive work was underway to supplement the documentation needed to issue a permit to operate the reactor Maria. At the same time, he assessed that there was a very good chance that until the end of the technical break (May 10 this year), the PAA permission and reactor Maria will resume the activity. The reactor license must be renewed every 10 years.
At the beginning of the month, Minister of Industry Marzena Czarnecka dismissed the director of the National Nuclear Research Center prof. Krzysztof Kurek. The decision was justified by the need to improve the functioning of the NCBJ, and especially the priority treatment of the operation of the Maria reactor.
The Maria nuclear reactor is a research reactor that produces radioisotopes and is used for testing. (PAP)
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