Sat Feb 01 17:37:25 UTC 2025: **India Announces ₹20,000 Crore Nuclear Energy Mission Focused on Small Modular Reactors**

NEW DELHI, February 2, 2025 – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a ₹20,000 crore ($2.4 billion USD) “Nuclear Energy Mission” aimed at developing indigenous Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The ambitious plan calls for at least five reactors to be operational by 2033. However, this year’s budget contains no immediate financial allocation for the project.

While the Department of Atomic Energy’s 2025-26 budget remains relatively unchanged at ₹24,049 crore, similar to the previous year, the absence of specific funding for the new mission in the current fiscal year’s budget documents is noteworthy. Typically, flagship programs announced in the budget speech receive at least a nominal allocation.

The mission underscores a shift towards private sector involvement in India’s nuclear energy sector. The government plans to partner with private companies to build and operate Bharat Small Reactors (BSR), a modified version of existing reactors, and to conduct research and development on Bharat Small Modular Reactors (BSMR), a more advanced technology. This strategy reflects a departure from the current government-dominated model.

This initiative is crucial to India’s goal of achieving 100 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2047. Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act are planned to facilitate this transition.

R. Srikanth, a nuclear policy expert at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, commented that the increased private sector involvement signals a recognition of limitations in the existing, solely government-run approach. While the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) is expected to initially build and operate the BSRs, private funding will be crucial, with the expectation that private sector participation will eventually extend to SMR development.

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