Rs 2 Lakh Crore Boost: New Bill To Revamp India's Nuclear Power Sector By Tapping Private Players

The government has introduced a bold reform in the use of atomic energy, a hitherto secretive sector that is likely to be opened to private players. The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025 or the Atomic Energy Bill, 2025 marks the most sweeping overhaul of India’s atomic energy framework since 1962.

The legislation creates a single, comprehensive statute to enable private participation in civil nuclear power, codify a modern liability regime, centralize ownership and control of strategic materials, and strengthen regulatory oversight while aligning policy with India’s long‑term goal of reaching 100 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2047.

Once passed, it will repeal the older Acts the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. This new SHANTI Act, a massive 60 pages long legislation, will be the new omnibus law governing all nuclear activities for India. The two houses of Parliament will now debate over the Bill.

After many delays, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, PMO and India’s science minister introduced the Atomic Energy Bill, 2025, branded as SHANTI—Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India in Lok Sabha. It hopes to open the secretive Atomic Energy sector to the private sector and take India to 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047.

Private sector entry: licensing open to “any… company”

For the first time, the Bill explicitly permits non‑government companies to apply for licences to “build, own, operate or decommission a nuclear power plant or reactor”. Clause 3(1) lists eligible applicants as “any Department of the Government of India… any Government company; any other company; a joint venture… or any other person expressly permitted by the Central Government,” while 3(2)(a) makes a licence mandatory for owning/operating reactors. This decisively opens the door to private power producers and industrial consortia to develop nuclear capacity under the Centre’s supervision.

At the same time, certain sensitive activities remain exclusively with the Union government—enrichment, spent-fuel management and reprocessing, and heavy water production—under section 3(5), preserving sovereign control over the nuclear fuel cycle’s most strategic segments.

Central ownership of fissile material and spent fuel

The Bill vests tight, centralised control over nuclear materials. Clause 3(4)(a) mandates that “the source material and fissile material in any form, produced within India or imported, shall remain under the surveillance and control of the Central Government for the purposes of accounting; and shall be subject to such safeguards…”.

On spent fuel, 3(4)(b) is categorical: after cooling under Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) direction, “[spent fuel] [shall be] delivered to the Central Government for its subsequent management or repatriated to the country of origin”; and clause 3(5)(b) of the Bill reserves all spent fuel management, including reprocessing and high‑level waste, exclusively to the Centre.

Beyond plant‑site operations, the Centre’s acquisition and requisitioning powers are sweeping. Clause 33 (vesting of acquisition rights) and 34 (requisitioning of certain substances) reinforce that prescribed substances, radioactive substances, and plants/equipment integral to nuclear energy can be acquired by the Union, with compensation principles set in 36.

Liability architecture: Rs 100–Rs 3,000 crore operator caps; 300 million SDR overall ceiling

The SHANTI Bill aligns India’s liability regime with global practice while clarifying operators’ exposure. Clause 13(1) sets the maximum amount of liability per nuclear incident at the rupee equivalent of “three hundred million Special Drawing Rights” (SDR), with scope for a higher notified limit and recourse to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation if needed.

Operator‑specific caps vary by plant size. Here's how they are specified in the Bill:  

• Reactors >3,600 MW(th) – Rs 3,000 crore

• 1,500–3,600 MW(th) – Rs 1,500 crore

• 750–1,500 MW(th) – Rs 750 crore

• 150–750 MW(th) – Rs 300 crore

• ≤150 MW(th), fuel‑cycle facilities (other than reprocessing) and transport – Rs 100 crore

To ensure financial readiness, Clause 15(1) requires operators to maintain insurance or other financial security covering these caps (government‑owned installations are exempted from this insurance obligation).

Right of recourse: only 'by contract' or intentional individual act

The operator’s right of recourse is narrowly tailored. Clause 16 permits recourse only where “such right is expressly provided for in a contract in writing” or when the incident resulted from “commission or omission of an individual with an intention to cause nuclear damage.” This will be read as limiting after‑the‑fact claims against suppliers to what is explicitly contracted, addressing long‑standing investment concerns while preserving recourse in cases of deliberate harm. This is a transition from the people-friendly liability regime to a more industry-friendly liability regime.

Regulatory governance: AERB under AEC’s institutional umbrella

The Bill confers statutory status on the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and embeds governance linkages to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Clause 17(4) stipulates that the search‑cum‑selection committee recommending AERB appointments is constituted by the AEC, and 79(2) requires the AERB’s annual report to be forwarded to the AEC, reflecting continued oversight/reporting relationships:

“The Chairperson and Members of the Board shall be appointed… on the recommendations of a search‑cum‑selection committee to be constituted by the Atomic Energy Commission…” 

“The Board shall prepare, once in every year, an annual report… and copies of the report shall be forwarded to the Atomic Energy Commission.”

The AERB also gains wide‑ranging powers to set safety standards, exposure limits, certify personnel, and direct licensees (24), while the Centre may constitute special regulatory bodies for strategic programmes.

This still provides a level of functional autonomy to AERB but not full autonomy as many experts have been seeking.

Penalties and offences

To deter violations, the First Schedule of the Bill provides graded monetary penalties (Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 crore depending on severity), and prescribes imprisonment of up to five years (ten years for unauthorised removal of nuclear materials or disclosure of restricted information).

India’s 100‑GW nuclear ambition—and where the fleet stands today

The Bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons anchors policy to a roadmap for 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047, underscoring nuclear’s role in decarbonisation and baseload reliability for data centres and industry.

India has set an ambitious target: 100 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power capacity by 2047, nearly an eleven fold increase from current levels. Today, the country operates 25 reactors with a combined installed capacity of 8,880 megawatts (MW), and 17 more reactors are under various stages of construction. The roadmap aims to reach 22,000 MW by 2032, before scaling up to 100 GW by 2047—an essential step toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and realizing the vision of Viksit Bharat. India’s base load power can only be met with atomic energy once the coal and gas based thermal plants are decommissioned to fight climate change.

Meeting these targets will require massive capital infusion, cutting-edge technology, and faster project timelines—conditions that cannot be fulfilled by government funding alone. By inviting private players into the nuclear ecosystem, the SHANTI Bill seeks to unlock investment, spur innovation, and position nuclear energy as a central pillar of India’s clean-energy future.

What changes on the ground?

Project development: Private developers can partner under clear licencing and safety authorisation, with the Centre retaining control over materials, safeguards, and strategic facilities. Tariffs for nuclear power will be fixed by the Central Government with explicit consideration of fuel, spent‑fuel management, and decommissioning costs, improving bankability and predictability for investments.

Fuel cycle and waste: Operators focus on safe plant operation; the Union handles reprocessing and high‑level waste, and spent fuel must be delivered to the Centre after cooling.

Safety and transparency: The AERB gains statutory powers to enforce safety and conduct inspections and investigations with planned public outreach while protecting restricted information.

Liability clarity: Clear operator caps, SDR ceiling, and contract‑based recourse aim to de‑risk supplier participation—vital for attracting domestic and foreign technology providers.

SHANTI sets a pragmatic path to scale nuclear power safely and competitively, opening the sector to private capital under robust federal control of fuel and waste while modernising liability to catalyse supply chains and technology partnerships. With the fleet now at ~25 reactors with an installed capacity of about 8.8 GW, ongoing builds and sanctioned PHWRs could double capacity over the next decade, and the Bill’s policy architecture squarely targets the 100‑GW milestone by 2047—a step change in India’s clean baseload ambitions.

In her last Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the creation of a ‘Nuclear Energy Mission for Viksit Bharat’ and emphasized the need to amend laws that have constrained growth. She declared:

“Development of at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047 is essential for our energy transition efforts. For an active partnership with the private sector towards this goal, amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act will be taken up.” Now this promise has begun to be fulfilled.

The Finance Minister had also unveiled a Rs 20,000 crore outlay for research and development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), with a target to operationalize at least five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033. These compact reactors are expected to play a key role in industrial decarbonisation and grid flexibility.

The Road Ahead

NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) plans to contribute at least 50% of the 100 GW target, while the rest will come from private players and imported reactors. NPCIL CMD Bhuwan Chandra Pathak told NDTV that the corporation will commission at least one reactor every year, signalling a steady ramp-up.

However, challenges remain. Nuclear projects are capital-intensive and complex, requiring robust safety oversight and public engagement. Fuel security, liability clarity, and regulatory capacity will be critical to success.

The Bill is designed to unlock investment at scale while keeping sovereign control of strategic parts of the fuel cycle.