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The Nuclear Energy Mission, announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, carries a budgetary provision of Rs 20,000 crore for the design, development and deployment of Small Modular Reactors.
The Mission targets at least five indigenous SMRs operational by 2033 and a nuclear power capacity of 100 GW by 2047.
BARC is developing three demonstration units - the 220 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR-200), the 55 MWe SMR-55, and a High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor of up to 5 MWth for hydrogen production.
The Atomic Energy Commission has approved Tarapur, Maharashtra as the site for both BSMR-200 and SMR-55; the HTGCR is proposed at BARC, Visakhapatnam.
The SHANTI Act, 2025, notified on 21 December 2025, opens the nuclear sector to private participation, accords statutory status to the AERB and reforms the liability regime with graded liability.
Notified on 21 December 2025 by the Ministry of Law and Justice as a single, coherent legislation for the nuclear sector, enabling the 100 GW by 2047 target.
Opens the sector to public and private entities for research and innovation in peaceful applications of nuclear energy, under licence and safety authorisation, while retaining sovereign control.
The single most significant institutional change. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board was constituted on 15 November 1983 by the President under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 - an executive creation. The SHANTI Act gives it statutory status, addressing a long-standing criticism that India's nuclear regulator lacked independence from the department it regulates.
Aligns the liability framework with international conventions and practice, and fixes graded liability based on the nature of the facility and the power of the reactor - opening the door to wider participation.
The parent statute under which the Atomic Energy Commission, DAE and AERB have operated, and under which nuclear activity has been a state monopoly.
A Small Modular Reactor is a nuclear reactor of small output - typically under about 300 MWe - whose components are built in a factory and assembled on site, rather than constructed piece by piece in place. That changes the economics and the siting. Factory fabrication compresses build time, which is why these units are quoted at 60 to 72 months against the 10 to 12 years the same reply gives for conventional nuclear projects. Small size also allows siting where a full-scale plant cannot go - notably at retiring coal plants, which already have grid connections, cooling water and a trained workforce. India's SMR effort sits alongside, not inside, Homi Bhabha's three-stage programme conceived in the 1950s. That programme runs: Stage 1, Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors on natural uranium, producing plutonium; Stage 2, Fast Breeder Reactors using that plutonium with a thorium blanket to breed uranium-233; Stage 3, a closed thorium-232 / uranium-233 cycle. Its logic is resource endowment - India holds only about 1-2 per cent of global uranium reserves but roughly a quarter of world thorium, concentrated in the monazite sands of the southern coast. The SMRs here are Pressurised Water Reactors, a distinct line aimed at rapid capacity addition rather than at closing the thorium cycle.
Simple Analogy: A conventional reactor is a cathedral built on site; an SMR is prefabricated and delivered - and can be dropped where a coal plant used to stand.
The administrative department for nuclear energy, functioning directly under the Prime Minister.
India's premier nuclear research facility and a constituent unit of DAE; designing and developing BSMR-200, SMR-55 and the HTGCR.
The apex policy body for atomic energy; cleared the administrative and financial sanction proposal for BSMR-200 and approved Tarapur as the site for both PWR-based SMRs.
The nuclear safety regulator, which specifies safety requirements for light water reactors, pressurised heavy water reactors and sodium-cooled fast reactors, aligned with IAEA standards. Its licensing processes are largely technology-neutral, so they can be applied to SMRs.
Sets the international safety benchmarks that AERB's requirements take into account.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology: Nuclear Technology, Indigenisation; Infrastructure: Energy; Environment: Clean Energy
General Awareness > Science and Technology, Government Schemes
General Awareness > Economy and Energy
General Knowledge > Nuclear Programme and Strategic Technology
It is possible to produce algae based biofuels, but what is/are the likely limitation(s) of developing countries in promoting this industry? 1. Production of algae based biofuels is possible in seas only and not on continents. 2. Setting up and engineering the algae based biofuel production requires high level of expertise/technology until the construction is completed. 3. Economically viable production necessitates the setting up of large scale facilities which may raise ecological and social concerns. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 2 and 3 only
Nuclear energy policy, SMRs and the three-stage programme are asked almost every year in UPSC Prelims and Mains, and increasingly in SSC and Defence papers.
Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, notified 21 December 2025 - opens the sector to private participation, gives AERB statutory status and reforms nuclear liability.
A reactor of small output whose components are factory-built and assembled on site, cutting construction time to 60-72 months against 10-12 years for conventional projects.
Bharat Small Modular Reactor - a 220 MWe indigenous Pressurized Water Reactor sited at Tarapur, with augmentation to 300 MWe envisaged.
High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor of up to 5 MWth, to be coupled with a thermochemical cycle such as copper-chlorine for hydrogen production.
Advanced Purified Reactor Vessel Alloy - the indigenous special material developed with Indian industry for SMR reactor pressure vessels.
Liability calibrated to the nature of the facility and the reactor's power, introduced by the SHANTI Act to align with international conventions.