AEC formulating safety standards before allowing private players in nuclear power sector in India

The Atomic Energy Commission of India (AEC) is formulating safety standards and other rules to allow private players to produce nuclear power, according to Chairperson Ajit Kumar Mohanty.

“Earlier, only government and public sector undertakings were producing nuclear power. From now on, the government has allowed companies and private institutions to generate nuclear power. We are formulating safety standards for such ventures,” Dr Mohanty told reporters in Karwar on March 1.

He said that the country has a target of generating 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2047, for which NPCL has a target of generating 54 gigawatts.

“To streamline and regulate power players, the government has introduced the ‘Sustainable Use and Progress of Atomic Energy for India Bill, 2025’. The safety standards that will be framed will be the same as that the NPCL follows. Private players will have to obtain permission for the establishment of nuclear power units from appropriate authorities. They can operate the units after receiving safety clearances. Some companies have already shown interest in investing in such ventures,” he said.

“The PHW (Pressurized Heavy Water) reactor units being built in the country, including those in the Kaiga atomic power centre, have been completely developed using indigenous technology. These are a part of the steps being taken towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat. These are safer and less expensive,” he said. “The 5th and 6th units of Kaiga were hi-tech, 700 MW PHWR power producing centres. They are being built with the safest technology in the world. Three other such units are already operational in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Currently, the four units at Kaiga produce 880 megawatts. With the two new units, capacity will increase to 2,280 megawatts,” he said.

“An experiment is being conducted to generate nuclear power through small modular units with a capacity of 55 to 200 megawatts. This attempt has been made at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. An experimental unit is being examined in Tarapur in Maharashtra. A company called Rosatom in Russia has used this technology. Now, India will be the second country to use this technology,” he said.

“Experimental use of fast breeder reactor technology is also being performed. Currently, most plants are being run using uranium. But in the new technology, uranium is extracted naturally from thorium. Electricity is generated using sodium liquid instead of water. Such a unit has been built in Kalpakam, Tamil Nadu. Power generation experiment will be conducted in two months,” he said.

NPCL Chairperson Bhuvan Chandra Pathak said that there was no proposal before NPCL for setting up a new nuclear power plant in Karnataka. “There is a plan to set up more units in existing nuclear power plants wherever space is available,” he said.

Kaiga Plant Director B. Vinod Kumar said that the unit has 1,358 permanent employees, out of which 805 are from Karnataka. “Among them, 407 employees are from Uttara Kannada district. Applications were invited from locals for training for the recruitment test for vacancies in Units 5 and 6. Around 3,000 persons have applied, but only 180 candidates attended the training,” he said.

He said conducting recruitment tests in Karwar was difficult, as there was no facility with over 100 computers to organise online tests. Such tests were being conducted in other districts, he said.