The “nuclear mission” underpinning the allocation of 20,000 crore rupees ($2.3 billion) toward small modular reactors (SMRs) research and development in India’s 2025-26 budget will enable nuclear “to emerge as a major source of energy in India,” Jitendra Singh, the government minister overseeing India’s nuclear program, said in a Feb. 5 statement. That funding was unveiled in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanon’s Feb. 1 budget speech, which committed India to assure that “at least” five “indigenously developed SMRs” are “operationalized” by 2033. The speech also committed the government to partner with the private sector, a shift Singh labeled “revolutionary” given the nuclear sector’s 60- to 70-year history of “secrecy.” The government has pushed both SMRs and sectoral growth, already including the entrance of state-owned power giant NTPC, which on Jan. 7 incorporated NTPC Parmanu Urja Nigam Ltd. as its wholly owned subsidiary to develop, build, own, operate and manage nuclear plants. Meanwhile, Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha told a Feb. 4 earnings call that his private firm is also mulling becoming involved with SMR deployments. Tata Power appears to be at a relatively early stage of such considerations.
