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Two PIB Backgrounders issued on 28 August 2026 set out India's nuclear energy programme in full — the safety and regulatory architecture in one, the indigenous technology roadmap in the other.
India operates 24 nuclear power reactors across seven sites with an installed capacity of 8.78 GW; nine reactors totalling 7.5 GW are under construction, preparations continue for 10 more units, and 10 indigenous PHWRs have been approved in fleet mode.
The Nuclear Energy Mission for Viksit Bharat targets 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047; the Union Budget 2025-26 allocated ₹20,000 crore for indigenous Small Modular Reactors, with at least five to be operational by 2033.
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam attained first criticality in April 2026, formally opening the second stage of the three-stage programme Homi Bhabha proposed in 1954.
Nuclear technology now also feeds healthcare, crop breeding, food irradiation, rare-earth analysis, semiconductor-grade materials and, since 2026, hydrogen production using nuclear process heat at Kalpakkam.
Homi J. Bhabha proposed the three-stage programme in 1954 to work around a hard geological fact: India's uranium reserves are low-grade and have to be supplemented by imports, while the country holds abundant thorium (Th-232) in the coastal sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand. The catch is that Th-232 is fertile, not fissile — it cannot sustain a chain reaction by itself. Inside a reactor it absorbs a neutron and transmutes into Uranium-233, which is fissile. Stage I uses natural uranium in Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, which need no enrichment; the spent fuel is reprocessed to recover plutonium. Stage II feeds that plutonium into Fast Breeder Reactors, which generate electricity while breeding more fissile material and converting thorium into U-233. Stage III runs thorium-based reactors on that U-233. Each stage supplies the fuel for the next, which is why India follows a closed fuel cycle rather than a once-through one.
Simple Analogy: Think of it as a relay in which each runner has to manufacture the baton for the next one. India cannot start with thorium because thorium is not a fuel until a reactor turns it into one — so uranium runs the first leg, plutonium the second, and only then can thorium run the third.
| Stage | Reactor type | Fuel | What it delivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage I | Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) | Natural uranium (no enrichment needed) | Electricity; spent fuel reprocessed to recover plutonium |
| Stage II | Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) | Plutonium, with thorium in the blanket; PFBR uses MOX fuel | Electricity plus more fissile material than it consumes; breeds Uranium-233 from thorium |
| Stage III | Thorium-based reactor | Uranium-233 bred in Stage II | Long-term energy security from India's abundant thorium |
Established by Presidential Order on 3 August 1954; covers the full spectrum of nuclear science and technology — power generation, research, safety, security, safeguards and societal applications. It leads technical preparedness for nuclear emergencies through a dedicated Crisis Management Plan.
Constituted on 15 November 1983; the nuclear and radiation safety regulator. It prescribes dose limits and site-specific discharge limits, approves on-site and off-site emergency response plans for every plant, and oversees radioactive waste management. The SHANTI Act, 2025 gives it statutory status.
Public sector undertaking under DAE, established in 1987, responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of India's nuclear power plants. It co-designed the BSMR-200 with BARC.
DAE undertaking incorporated on 22 October 2003 to construct and commission India's first 500 MWe Fast Breeder Reactor and future fast breeder power reactors.
Led the design, development, testing, safety assessment, commissioning and indigenisation of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, achieving nearly 90 per cent domestic manufacturing of its equipment and systems.
India's premier nuclear research centre. It developed indigenous vitrification technology for high-level waste, 70 crop varieties through radiation-induced mutagenesis, the Ferrocarbonatite rare-earth reference material and the Talcher Boron-11 facility, and runs the Environmental Survey Laboratories.
Founded in 1957; India works with it on nuclear safety, security and safeguards. It is the source of the international safety standards Indian plants are benchmarked against.
DAE undertaking that mines uranium; it runs continuous health monitoring, environmental surveillance and community welfare programmes around its Jharkhand mining areas with BARC and the regulators.
Passed by the Lok Sabha on 17 December 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 18 December 2025, with Presidential assent on 20 December 2025. It repeals and replaces the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010; grants statutory status to the AERB; opens the sector to private participation; aligns India's nuclear liability regime with international practice; and creates a dispute-resolution mechanism.
Governed India's atomic energy programme, including the constitution of the AERB in 1983, until it was replaced by the SHANTI Act, 2025.
Set out liability for nuclear damage and was long cited as a barrier to foreign and private participation; also replaced by the SHANTI Act, 2025.
The rules under which radioactive waste treatment and disposal is carried out, read with the AERB Safety Code on Radioactive Waste Management.
Nuclear and radiological emergencies are covered under it and integrated into district disaster management plans, alongside plant-level on-site and off-site emergency plans approved by the AERB.
Take India's nuclear capacity to 100 GW by 2047 and make nuclear power a pillar of the Viksit Bharat and Net Zero 2070 goals.
Key: Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 with ₹20,000 crore earmarked for indigenous Small Modular Reactors; accompanied by legislative change through the SHANTI Act, 2025 to allow private participation.
Develop compact, factory-manufactured reactors for faster construction and phased deployment, including at sites where coal plants are retiring.
Key: BSMR-200 of 220 MWe designed jointly by BARC and NPCIL, a 55 MWe SMR-55, and a High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor for hydrogen production; at least five indigenous SMRs to be operationalised by 2033.
Add indigenous pressurised heavy water reactor capacity at scale through standardised, repeat construction.
Key: Ten indigenous PHWRs approved in fleet mode; pre-project activities approved for two 500 MWe Fast Breeder Reactors.
Produce hydrogen without fossil fuels by using nuclear electricity and high-temperature process heat.
Key: In 2026 India inaugurated at Kalpakkam what PIB describes as the world's first hydrogen production facility using nuclear process heat, built on indigenous technology.
Extend the shelf life of mangoes, onions, potatoes, fish, grains and spices, cut post-harvest losses and meet phytosanitary requirements for exports.
Key: Radiation processing of food is approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India; 17 MoUs signed in 2025 and six new gamma facilities commissioned, taking the operational total to 40.
Reduce import dependence for critical electronic materials.
Key: India's first electronics-grade Boron-11 Enrichment Facility (99.8% purity) at Talcher, whose enriched output has been converted into purified enriched boric acid.
Department of Atomic Energy established by Presidential Order on 3 August; Homi J. Bhabha proposes the three-stage nuclear power programme.
International Atomic Energy Agency founded, headquartered at Vienna.
Tarapur Atomic Power Station begins operations — the start of nuclear electricity in India.
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board constituted on 15 November.
NPCIL established; Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules notified the same year.
BHAVINI incorporated on 22 October to build the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam.
After the Fukushima accident, every Indian nuclear power plant undergoes a comprehensive safety review; all short- and medium-term upgrades have since been completed.
Nuclear Energy Mission announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 with ₹20,000 crore for Small Modular Reactors.
SHANTI Act, 2025 receives Presidential assent, replacing the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam attains first criticality, opening Stage II of the three-stage programme.
World's first hydrogen production facility using nuclear process heat inaugurated at Kalpakkam.
PIB issues two Backgrounders — 'Nuclear Energy in India' and 'Nuclear Energy Technology in India' — consolidating the programme's safety and technology picture.
Nuclear is India's most carbon-efficient clean source per unit of installed capacity — about 5.4 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent avoided per GW in FY 2025-26 against 0.9 million tonnes for solar — and it supplies baseload power that variable renewables cannot.
BARC's Ferrocarbonatite (FC) - BARC B1401, India's first Certified Reference Material for Rare Earth Elements and only the fourth in the world, underpins reliable geochemical analysis for rare-earth exploration and extraction.
The electronics-grade Boron-11 Enrichment Facility at Talcher supplies a high-purity isotope needed in semiconductor manufacturing, cutting import dependence for the India Semiconductor Mission.
Nuclear plants can supply both carbon-free electricity and high-temperature process heat for hydrogen; the Kalpakkam facility inaugurated in 2026 is the first application of nuclear process heat to hydrogen production.
Radiation-induced mutagenesis has given BARC 70 crop varieties with higher yields, earlier maturity and tolerance to drought, heat, salinity and disease, developed with ICAR and agricultural universities.
Nuclear and radiological emergencies sit inside the National Disaster Management Plan and district plans, with mock drills run jointly by plants, district administrations and District Disaster Management Authorities.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Awareness in the field of nuclear energy; Infrastructure > Energy
General Awareness > Science and Technology; Static GK on national institutions
General Awareness > Science and Technology
General Knowledge > Science and Technology
In India, why are some nuclear reactors kept under "IAEA Safeguards" while others are not?
Answer: Some use imported uranium and others use domestic supplies
Nuclear energy, the three-stage programme and DAE institutions are perennial UPSC Prelims topics; the 2025-26 legislative overhaul makes this a high-probability year.
A material such as Thorium-232 that cannot itself sustain a chain reaction but becomes fissile — in this case Uranium-233 — after absorbing a neutron inside a reactor.
A reactor that produces more fissile material than it consumes while generating electricity; India's PFBR at Kalpakkam is the first of the type here.
A fuel cycle in which spent fuel is reprocessed to recover usable material for future reactors instead of being treated as waste — essential to India's three-stage design.
The unit measuring the biological effect of radiation on the human body. India's public dose limit is 1 mSv per year.
The globally accepted design philosophy of stacking independent safety layers — ceramic fuel pellets, zirconium alloy cladding, pressure tubes or vessel, and a reinforced concrete containment — so no single failure releases radioactivity.
Converting high-level radioactive waste into a stable glass form for safe storage, transport and eventual disposal; India is among the few countries with indigenous vitrification technology.
A reactor generating up to 300 MWe, built in factory-made modules for faster deployment; micro reactors go up to 20 MW.