Indian private sector to bolster nuclear energy capacity by 2047: Atomic Energy Commission Chief

India’s private sector would bring in an estimated ₹7.5 lakh crore investment and could generate up to 30 gigawatt (GW) of India’s target of 100 GW nuclear power capacity by 2047, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty said on Sunday.

The country currently has about 9 GW of installed nuclear power capacity and plans to expand it substantially by 2047, he said.

"Public sector undertaking Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) currently operates 24 reactors. We think private players should also enter the nuclear business and that is why new legislation was enacted," Mohanty told PTI in an exclusive interview.


"Five years from now, I expect a couple of private sector players to run reactors. We think that about 30 GW should come from them by 2047. It costs around Rs 25 crore to generate 1 MW,” he added.

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Mohanty highlighted that India has 25 percent of the world’s thorium reserves which would help drive the country’s second and third stages of its nuclear programme.

The agency chief, who was in Ranchi to attend the 36th convocation of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, said India is planning to speed-up nuclear power expansion beyond its traditional public-sector-led model, which requires substantial investment and technological development.

He noted that the passing of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act was a major policy change which opened the nuclear sector to broader participation by public and private entities while retaining sovereign control over sensitive activities.

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Mohanty said nuclear power projects typically take five to seven years to build, depending on the technology, regulatory approvals and construction requirements.

He added that private companies were assessing reactor technologies, fuel supply arrangements, land requirements and potential partnerships, including joint ventures with NPCIL and foreign technology providers.

The AEC chief said nuclear power is a capital intensive industry, with a large share of the expenditure incurred during the initial stages of construction. The cost of electricity from new nuclear projects will be a key consideration for investors and power purchasers.

“Alongside large nuclear power plants, India is exploring small modular reactors (SMRs) to cater to specialised electricity requirements, particularly in energy-intensive industries,” he said.

Mohanty also posited that small modular reactors (SMRs) could meet the energy requirements of power hungry sectors, such as steel and cement, depending on reactor design, regulatory provisions and the commercial model adopted.

The development of SMRs could enable a wide range of nuclear power applications and provide industries with an additional option for securing dependable, low-carbon electricity, the AEC chief said.

India is also looking towards pursuing its three-stage nuclear power programme to make greater use of domestic nuclear resources, particularly thorium.

Mohanty said the first stage utilises uranium-fuelled reactors. These reactors can generate electricity and can also produce plutonium-239 as by-products, which can be recovered by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.

He said the recovered plutonium will be used in the second stage, based on fast breeder reactor technology to produce additional fissile material and facilitate the eventual utilisation of thorium.

“In the third stage, thorium is expected to be converted into a fissile material that can be used as nuclear fuel. Thorium cannot be used directly as a conventional reactor fuel without first being converted into a suitable fissile material. India’s three-stage programme is designed to address this technological challenge and eventually support a nuclear fuel cycle that makes greater use of the country’s domestic resources,” Mohanty said.

India holds extensive thorium reserves contained within monazite-rich coastal sands.

“Coastal states, including Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, have deposits of beach-sand minerals from which monazite can be extracted and thorium recovered through appropriate processing. India houses 25 per cent of the global thorium reserve,” Mohanty said.

In April 2026, India’s indigenously developed Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, achieved its first criticality, initiating a sustained nuclear chain reaction.

This achievement marked India’s official entry into the second part of its three-stage nuclear power programme. Once fully operational, India will become only the second country in the world after Russia to operate a commercial fast breeder reactor.

Mohanty added that Russia, France and the United States developing their own nuclear technologies have created opportunities for international collaboration, subject to Indian regulatory requirements and project-specific arrangements.

The Kudankulam nuclear power project, which uses Russian reactor technology, is an example of such cooperation.

“Further partnerships could help India access additional reactor designs and engineering capabilities as it expands its nuclear fleet,” Mohanty said.

India has established peaceful civil nuclear partnerships through Inter-Governmental Agreements (IGAs) with 18 countries, demonstrating the growing global confidence in its nuclear programme.

(With inputs from PTI)