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The Department of Atomic Energy issued draft rules under the SHANTI Act, 2025 on 14 August 2026, setting out how private and foreign players may enter nuclear power.
The SHANTI Act repealed the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, ending roughly six decades of exclusive state control.
A single composite licence will cover construction, ownership, operation and decommissioning, and cannot be split; foreign-designed reactors must be certified in their country of origin.
Foreign direct investment of up to 49% is permitted through joint ventures, and operators must hold insurance or financial security against nuclear damage.
The government told the Lok Sabha on 12 August 2026 that India is targeting 100 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2047 under the Nuclear Energy Mission.
Atomic Energy Act enacted, keeping nuclear energy under exclusive state control
Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act passed, setting out liability after a nuclear accident
President Droupadi Murmu gives assent to the SHANTI Bill, which repeals both earlier laws
Supreme Court hears a petition challenging the Act's liability caps and transparency provisions; advocate Prashant Bhushan appears for former civil servant E.A.S. Sarma
Adani Power incorporates two nuclear-dedicated subsidiaries for potential projects in Rajasthan and Maharashtra
Government tells the Lok Sabha that India is pursuing a two-pronged expansion towards 100 GWe by 2047
Department of Atomic Energy issues draft rules under the SHANTI Act
Repealed by the SHANTI Act. It reserved the generation of nuclear power to the Union government and its undertakings, which is why India's reactor fleet was built almost entirely by public-sector NPCIL.
Also repealed. It governed compensation after a nuclear accident, and its supplier-liability clause was long blamed for deterring foreign reactor vendors from Indian projects.
The new governing statute. It allows private companies to build, own and operate nuclear facilities under a regulated approval system, and permits up to 49% FDI through joint ventures.
The operating detail: in-principle approval before licensing, a single indivisible composite licence, mandatory insurance or financial security, certification requirements for foreign reactor designs, and regulator power to halt a project at critical stages.
Apex department for atomic energy; issued the draft SHANTI rules
Enforces nuclear and radiation safety standards and issues regulatory clearances
Public-sector operator of most of India's commercial nuclear power plants, under the DAE
An SMR is a nuclear reactor of deliberately small output whose components are built in a factory and assembled on site, rather than poured and welded in place over a decade like a conventional gigawatt-scale plant. Two things follow from that. First, capital cost per project falls sharply, which matters enormously to a private investor who cannot absorb a ten-year construction overrun. Second, because units are small and modular, capacity can be added one block at a time and sited where a large reactor would never fit — next to an industrial cluster, or on the site of a retiring coal plant that already has grid connections and cooling water. That is precisely why SMRs sit alongside the big indigenous 700 MWe units in India's two-pronged strategy: the 700 MWe fleet supplies bulk baseload, the five SMRs planned by 2033 test a model the private sector can actually finance.
Simple Analogy: A conventional reactor is a house built brick by brick on the plot. An SMR is a prefabricated unit trucked in and bolted down — and if you need more space, you bolt down another one.
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An electric iron of 1kW power operating on 220V requires a fuse of what rating to prevent short-circuiting?
Answer: 5 A
Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act — the law that replaced the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, and allows private and foreign participation in nuclear power.
A single authorisation covering construction, ownership, operation and decommissioning of a reactor, which under the draft rules cannot be divided or severed into separate licences.
A preliminary clearance allowing a developer to begin site preparation, land acquisition and vendor selection before the formal licence is granted.
A compact, factory-built nuclear reactor of lower output than a conventional plant, designed for modular deployment.
Gigawatt-electric — the electrical output of a power plant, as distinct from its thermal output.