Govt plans sops for making small modular N-reactors

The push for nuclear—a cleaner fuel—could help India meet its ambitious net zero goals

- Rituraj Baruah

The Centre is looking at offering sops along the lines of a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing small modular reactors (SMR), aiming to increase the share of nuclear power in India’s energy basket.

Two people in the know said the department of atomic energy (DAE) is working on the scheme with inputs from the NITI Aayog. SMRs are smaller reactors that can be factory-built, unlike conventional nuclear reactors that are built on site.

They have a power capacity of up to 300 MW per unit—which is about a third of the capacity of traditional nuclear reactors. But, being a mobile and agile technology, they can be set up in locations not suitable for larger plants.

“Several clean energy technologies have grown in the country with initial support from the government and in the case of SMRs too a similar scheme is required to attract private investments and scale up production to lower the cost," said one of the two people mentioned above.