India can't expect to go into nuclear overdrive

Conditions have been created for a ramp-up of nuclear energy. While it can help clean up the country's electricity grid, government policy will need to go by a complex cost calculus

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With the passage of a law that not only opens the door for private participation in India's nuclear power industry but also promotes it, the government hopes to meet its target of 100GW in generation capacity by 2047.

Currently, it accounts for a mere 2% of our grid capacity, and given India's demand projection for 2047 and the electricity required to meet it, that goal implies a share of 5% by then. Today's tiny share is explainable. Nuclear plants have a notoriously long gestation period before they can supply power. They often face resistance on the basis of safety concerns, with accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima embedded in public memory. And India's indigenous technology has made little progress, with the second of our three-stage programme yet to fructify before it can transition to the use of thorium, which is easier to find in the country than the right kind of uranium.