SHANTI Act 2025: Draft Nuclear Energy Rules 2026, Key Provisions & Significance

Subject: GS 3: Science and Technology

Context: The Department of Atomic Energy has released draft rules 2026 under the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025.

UPSC Online Preparation

About The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (SHANTI) Act, 2025

• The SHANTI Act, 2025 provides a new legal framework for expanding civilian nuclear energy and enabling greater participation in the sector.
• New Legal Framework: Enacted in December 2025, the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act replaces the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
• Nuclear Expansion: The Act aims to accelerate India’s nuclear energy programme and achieve 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047.
• Indigenous Technology: It targets at least five indigenous Small Modular Reactors, with capacities of up to 300 MW each, by 2033, strengthening India’s nuclear technology and manufacturing capabilities.
• Objective: To combine nuclear expansion, private participation, technological development and energy security with an appropriate liability and regulatory framework.

Key Provisions of the Draft Rules 2026

• Financial Security for Nuclear Damage:
  • Mandatory Security: Nuclear power plant operators must maintain insurance, financial security, or a combination of both to meet potential nuclear-damage liabilities.
  • Extended Coverage: The financial security must remain valid until all spent nuclear fuel is removed from the concerned storage pool, ensuring continued financial protection beyond the operational phase.
  • Graded Liability: Operator liability will be linked to reactor capacity, with a maximum of ₹3,000 crore for reactors above 3,600 MW thermal power.
  • Lower-Capacity Reactors: The liability will progressively decline with reactor capacity, reaching ₹100 crore for reactors with thermal power up to 150 MW.
• Periodic Review of Operator Liability:
  • Five-Year Review: The Central Government will constitute an expert group every five years to review the maximum limits of an operator’s civil liability for nuclear damage.
  • Risk-Based Approach: Periodic review allows liability levels to respond to changing technological, financial and safety conditions.
• Certification of Foreign Reactor Designs:
  • Regulatory Approval: A nuclear reactor based on a foreign design must have its design certified or approved by the regulatory authority of its country of origin.
  • Trusted Jurisdictions: The country of origin must have a demonstrated nuclear reactor design and supply-chain ecosystem, internationally trusted regulatory approvals and operational experience.
  • Operational Experience: The concerned reactor design should already be operational either in the country of origin or another foreign country.
• In-Principle Approval:
  • Early-Stage Clearance: The licensing authority may grant in-principle approval even before the final selection of a site or technology.
  • Project Facilitation: Such approval would allow the applicant to proceed with technology-vendor negotiations, land acquisition and development of necessary infrastructure.
• Single Composite Licence:
  • Integrated Licensing: A single composite licence can authorise the construction, ownership, operation and decommissioning of a nuclear power plant or reactor.
  • Administrative Simplification: The integrated licence seeks to reduce fragmented approvals and regulatory complexity across different stages of the nuclear project lifecycle.

Significance of the Draft Rules

• Energy Security: Expansion of nuclear power can reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and provide reliable low-carbon electricity.
• Clean Energy Transition: Nuclear power can complement renewables, particularly when solar and wind generation is intermittent.
• Private Participation: A clearer framework for licensing, liability and financial security can improve investor confidence and facilitate greater participation.
• Technology Access: Recognition of foreign reactor designs can facilitate access to proven nuclear technologies and international supply chains.
• Regulatory Certainty: Defined provisions on liability, design certification and composite licensing can reduce regulatory uncertainty for nuclear projects.

Key Concerns

• Nuclear Safety: Even though nuclear accidents are rare, their potential consequences can be long-lasting and transboundary, requiring stringent safety standards.
• Liability Adequacy: Periodic review of operator liability must ensure that compensation remains adequate in the event of a major nuclear accident.
• Regulatory Independence: Expansion of private participation must be accompanied by an independent, technically capable and adequately resourced nuclear regulator.
• Foreign Technology Dependence: Greater reliance on foreign reactor designs should not create excessive dependence on foreign technology, components or fuel-supply chains.
• Waste Management: Expansion of nuclear capacity requires robust systems for spent-fuel management, radioactive-waste disposal and decommissioning.

Way Forward

• Strengthen Nuclear Regulation: Ensure that nuclear expansion is accompanied by strong, transparent and independent safety regulation.
• Promote Indigenous Capability: Invest in indigenous reactor technology, fuel cycles, components and nuclear manufacturing capabilities.
• Ensure Adequate Liability: Periodically revise liability limits based on international best practices, technological risks and potential accident consequences.
• Build Public Trust: Improve public communication regarding nuclear safety, emergency preparedness, environmental impacts and waste management.
• Develop a Nuclear Ecosystem: Combine nuclear power expansion with skilling, domestic manufacturing, research and development and international technology partnerships.

Click to Explore UPSC Offline Coaching

Conclusion

The SHANTI Act and draft rules aim to create a predictable, investment-friendly nuclear framework while retaining safety safeguards, enabling India to balance energy security, clean-energy transition, technological self-reliance, private investment and public safety.

Check Out UPSC CSE Books

Visit PW Store