Maria Nuclear Reactor in Poland Receives an Unlimited License

The National Atomic Energy Agency of Poland has issued an indefinite permit for the operation of the Maria nuclear reactor. About said on the agency's website.

The research reactor has been shut down since early April, when the previous 10-year permit expired.

"Maria can return to operation, and the priority is to implement a modernization program that will allow it to operate for another 20 years," said Polish Energy Minister Milosz Motyka.

The Maria reactor is located in the research center in Otwock near Warsaw. It was launched 51 years ago, at the end of 1974. Before that, there was another reactor in Poland, Ewa, but it was shut down 20 years ago, in 1995.

Maria is a research, not a commercial nuclear reactor with a capacity of 30 MW.

This reactor is crucial for some isotopic drugs designed to fight cancer. It is a significant global producer of iodine-131, which is used to diagnose and treat thyroid diseases.

Maria supplies 100% of Poland's iodine-131 needs and approximately 10-20% of the world's demand for molybdenum-99, which is used in oncology diagnostics and therapy.

• In July, Ukraine signed an agreement with the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche to localization of cancer drugs production lungs and breast.