India, react to small, modular nuclear

Bill Gates isn't the first name that you'd think of after watching Oppenheimer. But TerraPower, the nuclear reactor engineering company the Microsoftwala founded in 2006, began constructing a micro nuclear reactor plant, Natrium, in Wyoming this month. This marks a quiet, commercially untested class of nuclear reactors: small modular reactors (SMR). SMR projects are in development in a dozen countries. In only China and Russia are they operational. Its viability test will come around 2030, when plants, including Natrium, will likely begin production.

As energy demands grow, nuclear power will be a necessary option. SMR is one. It's modular, replicable with standardised design, and can absorb existing coal plant workforce. It has its fair number of challenges: capital costs, fuel sourcing and supply chains. Natrium will cost about $4 bn, with half the amount borne by support under the US Inflation Reduction Act. But nuclear power, as an unsafe bogeytech, should go through an image makeover in the public eye. There are at least six tech options at present. This has limitations on cost rationalisation and developing a regulatory regime. Besides, there are considerations of safety, use of spent fuel and disposal of waste. Building on its domestic nuclear programme, India should invest in SMR R&D, especially suited for local designs and needs.

India's growing demands in a climate-constrained world compel it to explore all options for clean, reliable, affordable, safe and sustainable energy. It must take an informed decision to make budgetary allocations, investment plans and building infrastructure for this. SMR is one option that deserves a serious dekho.