Legislation includes plans to open up sector to private participation
India’s Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, has passed a landmark bill that aims to repeal existing legislation and open India’s highly restricted nuclear power sector to private participation.
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill 2025, known as the Shanti bill, was passed on 17 December despite demands by several opposition parliamentarians that it should be referred to a parliamentary panel, raising concerns around safety, accountability and the implications of opening the sector to private companies.
The bill now moves to the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, for discussion following which it can become law.
The bill proposes a unified law governing the production, use, regulation and expansion of nuclear energy and ionising radiation in India. Its scope goes beyond electricity generation to include non-power applications of nuclear technology in areas such as health care, agriculture, industry and scientific research.
Currently, nuclear activity such as licensing, safety regulation and liability are governed by separate laws. The bill seeks to replace this structure with a single statutory framework covering licensing, safety authorisation, regulation, liability, compensation and oversight.
The proposed legislation aims to encourage participation in the nuclear industry by public and private players, including through public-private partnerships and joint venture, and promote the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) at scale.
The bill is also aimed at the formation of a robust regulatory framework for the use of nuclear energy.
The cabinet, which is responsible for formulating major policies, approved the bill last week.
The legislation is expected to help India meet its target of installing 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047, up from 7.5 GW today.
The bill will repeal the Atomic Energy Act 1962, which prohibited participation of private players in the nuclear sector. It will also repeal the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, which holds plant developers and equipment suppliers liable for damages in case of a nuclear incident and exposes them to civil law suits.
This has blocked a number of projects, including a longstanding initiative for France’s EDF to build six EPR nuclear power plants at Jaitapur in the Maharashtra region of western India.
India is bullish on nuclear power to meet its rising energy demand without compromising on its net-zero commitments.
Plans For 18 New Reactors By 2032
State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation Of India Ltd (NPCIL) said recently that India plans to add 18 more nuclear reactors to its national energy mix by 2031-32, bringing the total nuclear power capacity of the country to more than 22 GW.
In January NPCIL issued a request for proposals for the deployment of Bharat SMRs, opening the doors of the nuclear sector to Indian private companies for the first time.
Until now, only state-owned NPCIL has been allowed to build and deploy commercial nuclear power plants in India.
The deployment of the Bharat SMR – Bharat being the Hindi for “India” – form part of the country’s plans under ‘Viksit Bharat’, which is Hindi for “Developed India”.
In her budget speech in February, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to open up the nuclear power sector for private sector participation.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reactor database India has 21 commercial plants in operation and six under construction. The agency puts total net installed capacity at about 7.5 GW with about 4.7 GW under construction.
India wants to build new nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand from a growing economy, provide baseload, low-carbon electricity to complement intermittent renewables and reduce its reliance on coal.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reactor database India has 21 commercial plants in operation and six under construction. The agency puts total net installed capacity at about 7.5 GW with about 4.7 GW under construction.
