SHANTI Bill | India’s Nuclear Nudge: Statutes shift, safeguards soften

New law opens atomic energy sector to private investment, spares suppliers from liability in case of disasters.

A global demand for artificial intelligence, data processing and high-end computation, coupled with climate change concerns, has renewed interest in nuclear energy as a 24-hour source of clean electricity. Tech giants like Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are exploring the option of having captive nuclear power plants, thanks to the advancement in the design and development of small modular reactors or SMRs that have lower upfront cost and advanced safety features.

In recent years, private investment in advanced nuclear technologies — especially SMRs, micro-reactors, and next-gen designs — has surged, with 2024 registering a record high as private equity and venture capital flows into advanced nuclear companies reached $783.3 million. This is more than 13 times the investment made in 2023, and more than the previous 15 years combined, as investors bet on clean, scalable nuclear solutions. The momentum continued in 2025 with equity touching the $1.3 billion mark.

With the passage of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) bill by Parliament, India hopes to jump onto the bandwagon. The government has set a target of 100 GW of nuclear power by 2047, and the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited could supply 50%. For the rest, the government would turn to the private players.

Since the private sector was barred in the Atomic Energy Act of 1962, the law was to be changed. Also, the last time, when an effort was made to bring foreign nuclear majors to India after the 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, a clause on the supplier’s liability in the Civil Liability to Nuclear Damage Act 2010 turned out to be an irritant. Both issues have been taken care of in the new Bill that opens up the doors to private business and does away with the contentious clause.

Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh says the government set targets of achieving 22 GW of nuclear energy by 2032; 47 GW by 2037, 67 GW by 2042 and 100 GW by 2047, contributing nearly 10% of India’s total energy needs. Indigenous SMRs are being developed under the Rs 20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission, and the first five SMRs are to be ready by 2033.

The Indian legal position under the 2010 legislation brought by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government was a rare one among countries with nuclear power. But it received political support from the opposition parties, including the Left block and the BJP, with late Arun Jaitley and Jaswant Singh arguing in its favour in Parliament. Congress’s Jairam Ramesh now accused the Narendra Modi-led government of making a U-turn, but Jitendra Singh said the modification was necessary because the “country lost on international collaboration”. The UPA government promised 63 GW of nuclear capacity by 2032 with foreign collaboration. It never happened.

Armed with the new law, the government will scour for private funding, and a few big private companies have evinced interest. According to the Department of Atomic Energy, to operate a nuclear power plant, a private firm must demonstrate “robust financial capacity” and will have the capacity to follow stringent safety measures put forward by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which received legal backing under the new law. The stringent screening of applications will ensure only the most capable organisation runs the nuclear power plants.

Despite the law, what will haunt the civil nuclear power is its negative public image. Atomic energy is associated with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, as well as Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. Over the years, the DAE didn’t do much to engage with the public and communicate. Barely any public consultation on the new law and the U-turn by the government in the Parliament may add to the negativity.

SHANTI Bill snapshot.