Reliance, Adani, Railways, Greenko among participants in NPCIL's small nuclear reactor project
New Delhi: India's ambitious plan to set up small nuclear reactors–called Bharat small reactors or BSRs–for captive industrial use is off to a promising start, with major companies lining up to participate, according to two people aware of the development.
Companies including Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Indian Railways, Greenko, Vedanta, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), JSW Group, and Hindalco Industries have responded to a request for proposal (RFP) floated by state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for setting up two units of 220-Mwe pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) BSRs, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. PWHR is a type of nuclear reactor that uses heavy water both as a coolant and a moderator.
The strategic move is aimed at helping the country achieve a net-zero carbon emission goal by 2070. While India currently has an installed nuclear power generation capacity of 8.78 giga watt (GW), the target is to develop 22.48 GW by 2030 and 100GW by 2047.
'Companies that participated are predominantly those who are large captive power plant users as that is one of the key criteria for NPCIL to select for the first set of proposals," one of the two people cited above said. 'The technology for setting up the BSRs will be shared by NPCIL."
The land inspection for preliminary site feasibility is currently on, the people cited above said. According to NPCIL's RFP, whichMinthas seen, while the private companies will bear the cost of constructing and running these plants, NPCIL will receive a fee to run them. The plan is to operationalize at least five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons of Department of Atomic Energy, the Union power ministry, Reliance Industries Ltd, Adani Group, Indian Railways, Greenko Group, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), and Hindalco on Tuesday remained unanswered till press time.Spokespersons of Vedanta andJSW Groupdeclined to comment.
An NPCIL spokesperson in an emailed response said, 'The detailed RFP, various corrigenda along with pre-proposal clarification responses to queries received from various users are available in public domain on our website," and askedMintto refer to the same.
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Analysts say the time for nuclear power has come given its low operational cost.
'Nuclear energy provides high quality, reliable power at low operational cost. Historically, these advantages have been overshadowed by concerns over safety, capital cost, and fuel supply. However, surging demand from AI data centres and crypto, coupled with its unique low-carbon baseload capability apt for thermal plant replacement, has driven a resurgence of interest," wrote SBI Caps in a 30 April report.
To be sure, the cost of nuclear power projects (NPPs) is higher than most other comparable forms of energy (except hydropower). NPPs have a capital cost of commissioning of around ₹16-20 crore per megawatt (MW), compared to coal-fuelled power projects' ₹9-10 crore per MW, and solar, wind and hydropower costs of ₹4.3-5.3 crore, ₹6.5-7.8 crore and ₹20 crore, respectively.
However, the levelized cost of nuclear power is competitive when compared to renewable energy along with the storage component, according to the SBI Caps report.
The RFP details
According to the RFP, while the cost of construction, operation and decommissioning of these nuclear power plants will be borne by the selected user, they will be transferred to NPCIL for Re 1. However, beneficial ownership–right over electricity generated–will remain with the user.
NPCIL will be the operator of the project, and the selected user will pay NPCIL for its expertise. The charges: 60 paise per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2030-31, which will go up by 1 paise/kWh per year. Also, the selected user should have 2,500 million units (MUs) of electricity requirement, a high credit rating, and a minimum net worth of ₹3,000 crore.
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These plants will get the status of captive generating plants, with a proposal for amending the Electricity Rules, 2005, notified under the Electricity Act, 2003 being under consideration of the power ministry. Also, in case of users wanting to sell electricity to others, the tariff will be determined by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) as per the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
The process explained
'The project is to be constructed by the user under the supervision and control of the NPCIL, and on completion, the asset is to be transferred to NPCIL for operation," the RFP stated. 'Once the NPP under BSR project has been fully constructed, the entire asset will be transferred for (the) purpose of operation thereof to NPCIL under long-term comprehensive O&M (operations and maintenance) agreement."
The first stage involves the user and NPCIL inking a non-committal MoU for carrying out pre-project activities, post which the user will approach the state government for reclassification of proposed land for setting up these nuclear power plants. Once the approval for the land's long-term lease agreement for 99 years to NPCIL is in place, a definitive agreement will be signed between the user and NPCIL.
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'There will be a tripartite agreement between User, DAE and NPCIL for leasing of fuel and heavy water. All expenses for the fuel and heavy water are to be borne by the user," the RFP said and added, 'Fuel and heavy water will be supplied by the DAE to NPCIL under the tripartite agreement."
Why small reactors
SMRs are in demand globally given their smaller size and lesser land requirement. They are a focus area for the government and found special mention and allocation in India's previous two Union budgets.
The full budget for FY25 in July 2024 proposed the government's partnership with the private sector to develop SMRs, while the interim budget in February 2024 announced funding of ₹1 trillion for research and development (R&D). The Union budget for FY26 announced a ₹20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission for R&D of SMRs.
'Development of at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047 is essential for our energy transition efforts. For an active partnership with the private sector towards this goal, amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act will be taken up," said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech earlier this year.
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Of India's fleet of 24 commercial nuclear power reactors with an installed capacity of 8.78 GW, which are run by NPCIL, there are 20 PHWRs, making it one of the largest fleets of such reactors.
India's small nuclear power reactors have been gaining traction globally, with the Indian government also exploring their supply to the electricity-starved African countries impacted by climate change affecting their conventional hydropower generation capacity, which was primarily dependent on the Nile, the Niger, the Congo and the Zambezi river systems as reported byMintearlier.
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