US nuclear reactors in India: A new energy

Apr 5, 2025 07:25 IST

First published on: Apr 5, 2025 at 07:25 IST

Almost two decades after the India-US civil nuclear deal, on March 26, the US Department of Energy cleared Holtec International’s application to design and build nuclear reactors in India. It allows for the transfer of unclassified small modular reactor (SMR) technology to three companies in India — L&T, Tata Consulting Engineers and Holtec’s regional subsidiary, Holtec Asia. SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power generation capacity ranging from less than 30 MWe to 300 MWe. The clearance to Holtec, which comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is making a determined effort to push manufacturing in America, marks a significant step. It potentially clears the way for India to participate in the manufacturing value chain of small reactors, an area where China also has ambitious plans.

In recent months, the Indian government has unveiled its plans in the nuclear energy space. In the Union Budget 2025-26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about developing “at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047”. This will help the country in its energy transition. Sitharaman had also announced the setting up of a Nuclear Energy Mission for research and development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore. In February, India and France signed a letter of intent to develop Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Modular Reactors. Recently, Jitendra Singh, Union minister of state, said that Bharat Small Modular Reactors of 200 MW capacity are being designed and developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. The time for construction is pegged to be between 60 to 72 months after the receipt of project sanction. BSMR-200 is a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PWR) type design; in comparison, PWR (a light-water nuclear type reactor) is the more widely used type of reactor. One of Holtec’s designs — the SMR 300 — is a pressurised light-water reactor. As per a report in this paper, globally, there are two SMR projections that have reached the operational stage, one in Russia and the other in China. The Indian government is hopeful that at least five indigenously developed SMRs will be operationalised by 2033.