New legal architecture for nuclear power sector

Comprehensive legislative changes can facilitate investment in the sector and create a broader pool of developers and operators and accelerate industrialisation

- Akshay Jaitly

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's new emphasis on nuclear power is in line with renewed global interest in this clean and stable source of electricity, which also supports India's quest for energy sovereignty, independence and security. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), demand for electricity is growing at twice the rate of other forms of energy—and six times faster in the developing world—due to urbanization, prosperity, transportation, air conditioning and the exponential growth in demand from data centers. Globally, nuclear power contributes to 9% of power generated, second behind hydropower as a source of non-fossil fuel. According to IEA, 63 reactors with a capacity of 70 GW are under construction—25 are of Chinese design and 23 of Russian design. After decades of standstill, countries like France and the US are resuming capacity addition.

There is new excitement on the prospects of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). SMRs have many advantages—shorter construction time, lower risk of cost and time overruns, better grid stability, manageable project costs, a payback period of 10–15 years, which is half that of large nuclear reactors, and amenability to project financing and refinancing. The US and China lead SMR development, with technology expected to mature by early 2030s.