Nuclear power represents an unfulfilled promise in India, but ambitious plans to add 22 GW of installed nuclear capacity by 2030-2031 might be beyond the country’s reach, analysis by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has suggested.

Ashley Tellis a senior fellow at the Washington-based thinktank and a former US Department of State as senior adviser involved in negotiating a 2005 US civil nuclear agreement with India, said in a report that India’s ambition to become a developed economy by 2047 and achieve net zero emissions by 2070 will require large investments in nuclear energy – which in turn demand bold reforms in India’s nuclear estate and greater foreign participation in its nuclear industry.

He said increased investment in nuclear energy will be best realised by inviting private participation in India’s nuclear power sector.

Tellis called for a “legal transformation” to accommodate the entry of the private sector into India’s nuclear power generation programme. Existing laws mean all activities in the nuclear industry are exclusively for government companies.