- Private companies can import and process uranium under the new bill.
- Foreign companies that are part of joint ventures can apply for a license.
- The new bill requires approval from both houses of parliament.
NEW DELHI: India launched measures Monday to end decades of state control over nuclear power, introducing a bill in parliament that would allow private companies to build and operate plants as the government seeks to make atomic energy a central element of its clean energy drive.
Foreign companies in a joint venture with Indian companies could apply for a license if the government selects them to do so.
India’s nuclear sector has been tightly monitored since its first reactor came online in 1969, shaped by Cold War politics and restrictions on fuel technology after its 1974 nuclear test.
The state-owned Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) owns and operates India’s current fleet of nuclear power plants, but Reuters reported last year that India was looking to invite domestic private companies such as Tata Power, Adani Power and Reliance Industries to invest around $26 billion in the sector.
The new bill, which must be approved by the lower and upper houses of parliament to become law, would allow any “person expressly authorized by the central government” to apply for a license to enter the nuclear sector, a major change from decades when only state-owned companies could operate reactors.
India plans to expand its nuclear power capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) in the next two decades, more than 12 times the current 8.2 GW.
The new bill, called the Sustainable Harnessing of Nuclear Energy Advancement to Transform India Bill, 2025, removes a rule that allows operators to sue suppliers for equipment defects, a provision that foreign suppliers have long opposed. Foreign suppliers include General Electric Co, Westinghouse Electric Co and France’s EDF.
The bill doubles the liability of large reactor operators to 30 billion rupees ($330.75 million), maintains the overall compensation limit at previous levels and proposes a nuclear liability fund to cover accident claims in line with global standards.
Under the bill, private companies will be able to import and process uranium. The government has kept strategic activities such as uranium mining, nuclear fuel enrichment and fuel reprocessing under government control, and all operators would require licenses.
