Private capital to revive nuclear agenda

When Homi Bhabha unveiled India's nuclear programme in the 1950s, the vision was profound: An indigenous path to energy independence built on pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs), fast breeder reactors (FBRs), and ultimately, thorium-based systems to unlock the country's vast reserves.

- VINAYAK CHATTERJEE

This early promise unfolded slowly. The Tarapur Atomic Power Station, India's first, was commissioned in 1969, but progress stalled under the weight of post-1974 sanctions, limited uranium reserves, technological hurdles, and policy caution. Even today, nuclear power accounts for just 8.8 GW of India's 466 GW installed power capacity.

It has now been 20 years since the announcement of the historic US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement. This high-profile deal, signed in 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush, dominated Indian politics through the late 2000s. It involved bitter infighting between the government and the Left parties, with the Left adamantly opposed to the deal, and Singh, who personally shepherded it, risked his own, as well as the Congress Party's future.

Cut to the present, India's nuclear journey is all set to enter its most transformative phase—that too by inviting private capital to participate in scaling up nuclear power to 100 GW by 2047. This goal is intimately tied to India's net-zero emissions pledge for 2070, which depends on decarbonisation of the power sector. At the heart of this renewed push are small modular reactors (SMRs): Compact, factory-built units under 300 MW that can be quickly deployed at industrial zones or repurposed coal plant sites. The 2025-26 Budget allocated ₹20,000 crore for a research & development mission to commission five indigenous SMRs by 2033.