Operations have been suspended at Poland’s Maria nuclear research reactor after its operator the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) failed to secure a licence on time.

Maria is part of the NCBJ’s research facility at Świerk-Otwock, near Warsaw. It is Poland’s only research reactor and one of only seven in the world that produces crucial medical radioactive isotopes (radioisotopes) used in medicine.

In a statement on 31 March Poland’s nuclear regulator, the National Atomic Energy Agency (Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki, or PAA), said it will issue a new permit for the operation of Maria after the NCBJ “demonstrates that the facility meets the requirements for nuclear safety, radiological protection and physical protection”.