India’s Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Minister of State for Atomic Energy Dr Jitendra Singh jointly convened a high-level meeting in parliament to discuss the nuclear development plans. This followed up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious target of expanding India’s clean energy basket and reaffirming the country’s commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions.

During the meeting, a thorough review was conducted on the roadmap to increase India’s nuclear energy capacity from the current 8.8 GWe to 22 GWe by 2032, through the addition of 14 GWe from various ongoing and upcoming projects, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said. Khattar and Dr Singh discussed plans to increase the nuclear power capacity to 49 GWe by 2037, scale it up to 67 GWe by 2042 and reach the 100 GWe target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by 2047.

Dr Singh highlighted the government’s initiative to open the nuclear sector for private sector participation, emphasising its pivotal role in strengthening India’s energy security. He also noted a strong and vibrant response from industries with respect to the Bharat Small Modular Reactor (SMR) programme, leading to an extension of the Request for Proposal (RFP) submission deadline from 30 June to 30 September to encourage wider participation.

Khattar and Dr Singh outlined several key directives to expedite progress, including:

  • streamlining regulatory clearances, standardizing documentation;
  • optimising processing timelines, emphasising generic proposals;
  • synchronising licences, and investing in technical upgradation and capacity building.

Dr Singh stressed the government’s commitment to handholding and creating awareness among private sector players, many of whom were pleasantly surprised by the opening of the nuclear sector tp private participation.

Senior officials present at the meeting included Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) & Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC); Pankaj Agrawal, Secretary, Power; Gurdeep Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC Limited; Bhuwan Chandra Pathak, Chairman and Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL); along with other senior officials from the Departments of Power and Atomic Energy.

India is developing three different types of small modular reactors (SMRs). These include the 200 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR), the 55 MWe SMR and the 5 MWt High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor for the production of hydrogen, all of which are being designed and developed indigenously.

Presently, the installed nuclear power capacity in India comprises 25 reactors with a total capacity of 8,880 MWe, including RAPS-1 (100 MWe), which is under long-term shutdown. Two new units of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) with a generation capacity of 700 MWe each and one 700 MWe unit at Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP-7) have already begun commercial operation. Currently, 18 reactors with a total capacity of 13,600 MWe, including the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor implemented by BHAVINI, are at various stages of implementation.