India’s first power reactor fuel reprocessing plant at Tarapur. The Union Cabinet on Friday (December 12, 2025) approved a Bill to open up civil nuclear sector for private participation
| Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan
The government on Friday (December 12, 2025) approved a Bill that seeks to open up the tightly-controlled civil nuclear power sector for private participation as India eyes 100 GW atomic energy capacity by 2047.
At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet is learnt to have approved the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill.
In her Budget speech in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced plans of opening up the nuclear power sector for private sector participation.
Ms. Sitharaman also announced the Nuclear Energy Mission for research and development of small modular reactors or SMRs with an outlay of ₹20,000 crore, and to operationalise five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033.
Published – December 12, 2025 07:03 pm IST
