Discuss the significance of the SHANTI Act, 2025 in transforming India's nuclear energy governance. What challenges remain in achieving the 100 GW target by 2047?

Q. Discuss the significance of the SHANTI Act, 2025 in transforming India's nuclear energy governance. What challenges remain in achieving the 100 GW target by 2047? (15 marks, 250-350 words)

The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent in December 2025, ends the state monopoly over nuclear power generation and operationalises the Nuclear Energy Mission announced in Budget 2025-26. It is an enabling reform, but the 100 GW-by-2047 goal rests on execution, not legislation alone.

Significance for nuclear governance - Opens generation to non-state actors: private entities may set up nuclear facilities under a Central Government licence and safety authorisation of the regulatory board — a departure from NPCIL-centred practice [2]. - Graded liability regime: nuclear damage liability calibrated from ₹100 crore to ₹3,000 crore by facility type, addressing the investment chill widely associated with the 2010 liability law [2]. - Strategic activities ring-fenced: enrichment, reprocessing, spent-fuel and heavy-water production remain reserved for the Centre or its wholly owned entities, preserving non-proliferation commitments [2]. - Institutionalises a licensing architecture for grant, suspension and cancellation of approvals, replacing case-by-case executive discretion [2]. - Mission linkage: explicitly anchored to 100 GW by 2047, supporting Viksit Bharat and net-zero by 2070 [3].

Challenges to the 100 GW target - Scale of the gap: capacity is about 8.78 GW, projected to reach only ~22 GW by 2031-32; over three-fourths of the target must come after 2032 [1]. - Dependence on new entrants: NPCIL will deliver ~54 GW; the balance 46 GW must come from PSUs, states, private players and joint ventures with no reactor-building record [1]. - Technology risk: five indigenous Small Modular Reactors are due by 2033 against a ₹20,000 crore outlay — an untested deployment timeline [1]. - Fuel, land and skilled-manpower constraints, plus persistent local resistance and long gestation at greenfield sites.

SHANTI marks a structural shift from a closed, PSU-run nuclear estate to a licensed, multi-actor sector. Realising it requires a strengthened, adequately staffed regulator, transparent tariff and fuel-supply frameworks, and confidence-building with host communities. Handled well, nuclear power can become the reliable clean baseload that underwrites India's net-zero pledge.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. PARLIAMENT QUESTION: NUCLEAR ENERGY MISSION FOR VIKSIT BHARAT, DAE (PIB) — 8.78 GW present capacity, ~22 GW by 2031-32, 54 GW NPCIL / 46 GW others split, five SMRs by 2033 with ₹20,000 crore outlay 2. The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025 (PIB) — private participation under licence, graded liability ₹100–3,000 crore, reserved fuel-cycle activities, licensing architecture 3. Workshop on SHANTI Act, 2025: Enabling India's 100 GW Nuclear Power Roadmap through Public–Private Partnership (PIB) — 100 GW by 2047 linked to Viksit Bharat and net-zero 2070