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Nuclear 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

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Prelims 2023: why India depends on coal despite having uranium deposits

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The SHANTI Act

Prelims 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.

Open the lead on its own page

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

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