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हिन्दी — Read in HindiNuclear power programme
India's nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, uranium and the fuel cycle, waste, and the law on liability and private participation. Prelims has asked why India depends on coal despite having uranium deposits.
Foundation note: The three stage nuclear programme
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2023: why India depends on coal despite having uranium deposits
Showing 4 of 7 articles, those that changed from 1 July to 30 September 2026.Show all
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor
Copy link to The Prototype Fast Breeder ReactorPrelims and Mains
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam is a 500 MWe sodium cooled fast reactor, about 90 per cent Indian built, run by BHAVINI.
- It burns mixed oxide fuel of uranium and plutonium with no moderator.
- A blanket of uranium 238 around the core absorbs neutrons to become plutonium 239, more than the core consumes.
- Liquid sodium carries heat well but is opaque, so the reactor is inspected by ultrasonic imaging and robots rather than by eye.
- It reached first criticality on 6 April 2026, about two decades late, and opens Stage 2 of the programme.
What changed
29 Jul 2026
- With the fast breeder critical, India has entered the second stage. Thorium will be used at scale only after enough breeder capacity exists.
- Uranium-233 bred from thorium already fuels KAMINI at Kalpakkam, the only reactor in the world to run on it, and a molten salt reactor is being developed for thorium.
- High level liquid waste is fused into glass, and separating caesium-137, ruthenium-106 and strontium-90 for medical use shrinks what remains.
PIB, 29 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: RADIOACTIVE WASTES (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 23 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: NUCLEAR FUEL PROGRAMME (opens in a new tab)
The SHANTI Act
Copy link to The SHANTI ActPrelims and Mains
LeadNuclear power: the liability cap before the Supreme CourtAugust 2026
Why in news
The Supreme Court on 17 August 2026 issued notice on a challenge to the liability caps in the SHANTI Act, 2025. It asked whether a cap written into a statute can stop a constitutional court from awarding fair compensation to the victims of a nuclear accident.
Background
- Nuclear liability is the question of who pays the victims after an accident, and how much.
- Until 2025 the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 governed it. It let an operator recover money from an equipment supplier, which kept foreign reactor vendors away.
- Nuclear power was a government monopoly under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
- India's programme has three stages: heavy water reactors on natural uranium, fast breeder reactors on plutonium, and finally reactors on thorium, of which India has large reserves.
What the SHANTI Act changed
- The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 replaced both earlier Acts.
- Private companies may own and run nuclear plants under licence.
- The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board became a statutory body.
- An operator's liability is graded by reactor size up to ₹3,000 crore; the Centre's liability beyond that is capped at 300 million Special Drawing Rights; suppliers are exempt.
The case
- The petitioners set the caps against the estimated costs of Chernobyl and Fukushima, which ran far higher.
- The argument for a cap is that it makes the risk insurable, and no private operator or supplier would come without it.
- The argument against is that victims bear whatever lies above the cap, which touches the right to life under Article 21.
Where the programme stands
- India has 24 reactors with about 8.8 GW, and the target is 100 GW by 2047.
- Ten indigenous 700 MW pressurised heavy water reactors are being built together, to take capacity to about 22.5 GW by 2031 to 2032.
- The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam reached first criticality in April 2026, which opened the second stage.
- At least five indigenous small modular reactors are to run by 2033; India is designing three kinds, among them the 220 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor.
The way forward
- Settle the liability question early, since investors and suppliers will wait for the Court.
- Frame the rules under the Act, which are still being drafted.
- Keep the regulator independent of the operators it licenses, private or public.
- Plan for spent fuel and waste as private plants come in.
Prelims facts
- The SHANTI Act replaced the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
- Under it suppliers are exempt from liability.
- A pressurised heavy water reactor uses natural uranium and needs no enrichment.
- The fast breeder reactor uses liquid sodium as coolant and belongs to the second stage.
- A small modular reactor is of up to about 300 MWe.
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, notified on 21 December 2025, replaces the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. It lets private companies own and run nuclear plants under licence, makes the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board statutory, and rewrites liability: an operator's liability is graded by reactor size up to Rs 3,000 crore, the Centre's residual liability is capped at 300 million Special Drawing Rights, and equipment suppliers are exempt, removing the supplier recourse that kept foreign vendors away under the 2010 Act. A cap is what makes the risk insurable, which is the argument for it and, to its challengers, the argument against.
- Its rules are still being drafted.
What changed
18 Aug 2026LeadNuclear power: the liability cap before the Supreme Court
The Nuclear Energy Mission
Copy link to The Nuclear Energy MissionPrelims and Mains
The Nuclear Energy Mission, announced in the 2025 to 2026 Budget with Rs 20,000 crore, sets the target of 100 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2047, more than ten times what runs today.
- About half is to come from indigenous pressurised heavy water reactors, a fleet heading toward 50 to 60 GW.
- The rest is to come from imported large reactors, small modular reactors and fast breeders.
- The SHANTI Act is its legal half, because the capital has to come from private and foreign investors and the liability terms decide the pace.
What changed
30 Jul 2026
- Installed capacity is 8.78 GW against a target of 100 GW by 2047.
- Twenty reactors are under implementation, including two 500 MW fast breeder reactors at Kalpakkam.
PIB, 30 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: EXPANSION OF NUCLEAR POWER CAPACITY (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 29 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: NUCLEAR ENERGY MISSION (opens in a new tab)
Uranium from Australia
Copy link to Uranium from AustraliaPrelims and Mains
Uranium from Australia is the supply India can buy under the civil nuclear cooperation agreement the two countries signed in 2015.
- Australia holds more than a quarter of the world's uranium reserves.
- It long refused to sell to countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; India is outside the treaty but was exempted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008.
What changed
14 Jul 2026New
- India and Australia finalised the arrangements for uranium exports under their 2015 agreement, for peaceful use under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
- Private Australian miners can now contract with Indian private firms, which the SHANTI Act allows into the sector.
The Hindu, 14 Jul 2026: What is the India-Australia uranium supplies agreement? (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 15 Jul 2026: Australia agrees to supply uranium to India, reversing its long-standing non-proliferation objection (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- Green status for nuclear power · on Climate finance, carbon markets and carbon pricing
Green status for nuclear power would class nuclear energy as green, so that nuclear projects could raise money through green instruments.
- Monazite and the beach sands · on Critical minerals and rare earths
The sands of India's southern coast carry monazite, the mineral that holds both thorium and rare earths.