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Is India's Nuclear Energy Sector Poised for a Renaissance?

Addressing Critical Institutional Bottlenecks: A Key Strategy to Attract Foreign and Domestic Participation in India’s Nuclear Energy Programme

By K Ramanathan, 360info
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India's nuclear energy

For India's nuclear energy sector, the road to nuclear self-sufficiency remains bumpy. | Lukáš Lehotský | Credits: Unsplash

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Removing institutional bottlenecks will attract foreign and domestic participation in India’s nuclear energy programme.

India’s nuclear energy expansion programme turned ambitious over the past ten years. 

During this time, it took significant strides towards needs-based expansion of its clean energy basket, focusing on energy security, reliability and sustainable development.

As a relatively clean source of stable energy, nuclear power emerged as a potential option, especially given the advances in the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and Advanced Small Modular Reactors (ASMR) alongside a favourable international environment.

In September 2023, 22 countries called for “unprecedented collaboration between government and industry leaders to at least triple global nuclear capacity by 2050”. 

Then in December 2023, this was officially endorsed at COP28 held in Dubai, while recognising the “critical role of nuclear energy for reducing the effects of climate change”. 

A nuclear renaissance is thus on the horizon.

India also enjoys a degree of competitive and comparative advantage on the nuclear energy front since the Department of Atomic Energy (DoAE) has been working on a three-stage development strategy for over 60 years, which has led to significant advances in technology and human resource development. 

The nuclear power programme is largely indigenous and it aims to utilise India’s vast thorium reserves, estimated at 1.07 MT, to achieve energy independence.

But the road now and in

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