Ushering in reforms, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to open up the nuclear power sector for private players and announced a Rs 20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission for research in the field, with an aim to set up five small and modular reactors by 2033.
Construction major L&T is gearing up to expand its footprint in the global nuclear supply chain, a senior company official has said, while calling for amendments to key legislations on the domestic front to pave the way for the entry of private players and foreign capital necessary for capacity enhancement.
The Indian government has introduced a bill to overhaul the civil nuclear sector, allowing private participation and establishing a new liability regime. The SHANTI Bill, 2025, aims to repeal existing acts and address industry concerns.
India's target of nuclear power generation of 20,000 megawatt by 2020 has been quietly lowered by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the only government agency setting up the nuclear power plants in the country, to 11,080 MW.
Fuel loading at India's first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Kalpakkam is expected to start next week, marking a significant step in the country's nuclear program.
Government sources said amendments were being considered to the Atomic Energy Act to allow private sector participation and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to limit the liability on suppliers of equipment to build atomic energy plants.
Under the defence partnership, India and the UAE are eyeing defence industrial collaboration and cooperation in advanced technologies, cyberspace training, special operations, interoperability of their militaries and counter terrorism.
The Union Budget for 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, which was a first, had an excellent domestic macro backdrop. According to the first advance estimates, gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices is projected to grow 7.4 per cent in the current financial year, against 6.5 per cent in 2024-25.
Modi has made nuclear power a key element of his clean energy strategy
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
The exit of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) from the Hyderabad Metro is a long-term positive for the stock. It could be a bullish trigger, alongside higher international orders, and new opportunities in segments like defence and data centres.
After Donald Trump became president of the United States, he unleashed economic weaponisation, upsetting the old world order, leading to much unrest. If that wasn't all, the threat of an imminent nuclear war was issued by the US, Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan. In today's fractious times, Dr Paulos Mar Gregorios would have made a dent, notes His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews III.
'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
India is working on new technologies such as the small modular reactors that can be factory-built and help make clean energy transition, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said in New Delhi.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and French company Areva signed an agreement RPT signed an agreement for building two European Pressure Reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The move by Westinghouse, which is to build six reactors in India under the Indo-US civil nuclear deal inked in 2008, has raised uncertainties over the future of the implementation of the historic pact.
The National Thermal Power Corporation would shortly undertake work for site selection to set up nuclear power projects in Madhya Pradesh and other states.
NPCIL executive director (corporate planning) S Thakur said fuel supply to its plants is now much better compared to the situation 2-3 years ago.
Not taking any chance of India facing Fukushima-type nuclear disaster, the government is gearing up India's nuclear power plants and other reactors for automatic shutdown, requiring no human intervention, if any earthquakes of the least intensity strikes.
India's nuclear regulator on Friday said it has granted permission for loading of fuel into the much-delayed Kudankulam atomic power plant.
Bogged down by the over month-long agitation by local people led by anti-nuclear activists, commissioning of the first reactor of the controversial Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project has been delayed by three months.
Clearing the decks for early commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Madras high court on Friday held that its two units did not suffer from any infirmity for want of approvals and rejected safety fears as 'unfounded'.
Officials of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited are inspecting the first unit of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli district after removing dummy fuel from the reactor prior to getting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory board to upload the real fuel.
Controversy-embroiled Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project will once again miss the target as the time frame of commissioning of the first unit has now been revised to the new year.
The plant was earlier scheduled for commercial operations in December but it was deferred to March next due to the stir by locals and resultant stand-off between them and government. The commercial operation of the second unit to produce another 1000 mw is now expected by February 2013, the NPCIL said.
With the standoff over the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant issue continuing, top atomic scientists will meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday to discuss ways and means to allay the fears of the locals who are insisting on scrapping the project.
The Nuclear plants in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan remained unaffected by the earthquake that hit the Pakistan-Iran border region this evening, impact of which was widely felt in northwest India.
The first unit of the controversy-hit Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, with a capacity to produce 1,000 MW, is expected to start commercial operations in August. The first unit has attained 99.3 per cent of physical progress as on April and commercial operation is likely by August, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said.
Preparations are on in full swing by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to receive the plants and all them will most likely be of the European Pressurised Water Reactor type, a third generation design.
Superintendent of Police (Uttar Kannada) Rama Gupta had sensed this problem almost a year ago and had shot off two letters in March and July to the plant authorities as well as the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited stating that an inter-union rivalry could lead to the security of the plant being compromised.
India and the United States have reached the first commercial agreement on civilian nuclear power, five years after a landmark deal between the two countries was clinched.
The total nuclear power generated in the country would now increase to 3310 MW.
India's first 1000 MW atomic power plant built with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam is just two steps away from going critical, a top official said on Friday.
President A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday said people must unite to root out cross-border terrorism, which was a hurdle for economic prosperity and development of the country.
Telecom monolith Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is the top profit-making public sector unit, while steel giant Steel Authority of India Limited had the dubious distinction of topping the list of loss making state-owned enterprises.
The Rs 500 crore cap in the event of an accident, proposed in the controversial nuclear liability bill, could be raised as part of government's efforts to address concerns of the opposition over the issue. Indications to this effect were given by government officials at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology and Environment on Tuesady.
'Decisions on nuclear power have so far been taken by a small select group, primarily interested in profiteering from their actions, stating 'secrecy' as necessary from the national security point.' 'This argument is false, because we are dealing with the 'civilian' nuclear power sector, which is open even to the IAEA,' says Dr A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Scientists are puzzled by what caused the mysterious nuclear leak at the Kakrapar Nuclear Power Plant in Gujarat last year, reveals Pallava Bagla.
Lokanath Mahalingam, an employee at Kaiga Atomic Power Station, who has been missing for the past four days, was not in possession of any classified information, said Nageshwar Rao, director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, Operations.
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