New Delhi: India’s attempt to bring private capital and new technologies into the nuclear power sector has moved to the rule-making stage, but the proposed framework places additional conditions on foreign reactor designs before they can be considered for deployment in the country. The Department of Atomic Energy has placed the Draft SHANTI Rules, 2026 and Draft SHANTI Regulations, 2026 in the public domain for consultation. Suggestions have been invited until 8 pm on September 4. The rules are intended to operationalise the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025, which opened parts of the nuclear energy sector to wider public and private participation.
Under the proposed rules, an eligible entity may source a nuclear plant or reactor design of either Indian or foreign origin. However, if the design is foreign, it must already have received certification or approval from the regulatory authority in its country of origin and must also be operational either in that country or elsewhere abroad. The provision could become significant for companies looking at newer reactor technologies, particularly designs that have not yet entered commercial operation overseas.
The draft rules further require that the imported technology should not adversely affect India’s interests, should not pose an unreasonable risk to public health and safety and should conform to national policies framed under the SHANTI Act. The Central Government may also prescribe additional conditions. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s accompanying draft regulations add another layer of scrutiny.
For an imported reactor design, an applicant may have to submit the foreign regulator’s design-review findings, operating licence where applicable and operational experience relating to nuclear safety and radiological performance. The Indian regulator would independently examine the design before granting approval for construction. For reactor designs already under construction or operation in India, however, the regulations allow the documentation required for review to be limited after a scoping assessment, subject to compliance with current safety requirements. This creates an important distinction between domestic technologies with an existing Indian regulatory history and reactor designs entering the country for the first time. The issue assumes significance because the Centre has set an ambitious target of increasing India’s nuclear power capacity from the present 8.78 GW to around 100 GW by 2047. The government has said this expansion will depend on a combination of indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, imported advanced reactors and new Small Modular Reactor technologies.
In a written reply to Parliament in July, the Department of Atomic Energy said the roadmap envisaged large indigenous 700 MW PHWRs and imported advanced reactors at greenfield sites, along with SMRs that could be used for retiring thermal power stations, captive industrial power and off-grid applications. The government has separately said that private companies, public-sector enterprises, state governments and joint ventures are expected to account for a substantial part of the capacity needed to reach the 2047 target. According to an official parliamentary reply, around 46 GW of the proposed 100 GW capacity is expected to come from entities other than NPCIL, including the private sector and state-linked ventures. That makes the design-approval framework particularly important.
Foreign reactor suppliers may be interested in India’s expanding nuclear market, including next-generation and modular reactor technologies. But the requirement that a foreign design should already be approved and operational overseas could make it difficult for relatively new technologies to enter India at an early stage of their global deployment. The policy, however, also reflects India’s longstanding emphasis on nuclear safety and proven reactor performance. The draft regulations require detailed safety analysis, design calculations, accident analysis, quality assurance, security systems, radiological protection and evidence of operational performance before approval is granted. The AERB would also retain the power to impose additional safety requirements even after design approval.
The question before policymakers is therefore not simply whether foreign reactor technology should be allowed into India. It is whether the regulatory framework can strike a balance between safety, technological sovereignty and the need to attract new reactor designs and private investment if India is to increase nuclear capacity more than tenfold over the next two decades. The final shape of those rules will become clearer after the public consultation closes on September 4.
