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Indian Express
11 hours ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Bihar to get its first nuclear power plant as part of national SMR rollout
Bihar will be among the first six states in India will get its first atomic plant under the country's new Nuclear Energy Mission. On Tuesday, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a Small Modular Reactor (SMR)-based nuclear power plant in the state following the Centre's approval. The announcement comes ahead of assembly election in Bihar and comes after a meeting of eastern region power ministers, which included representatives from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He confirmed that the Centre had accepted Bihar's request for a nuclear plant, stating: 'If the Bihar government sets up a nuclear power plant, the Central Government is fully prepared to provide support.' Khattar added that Bihar had formally requested such a facility and the Centre would assist in its establishment. Details regarding the site and scale of the plant are expected to be finalised in the coming stages of project development. Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 with a Rs 20,000 crore allocation, the Nuclear Energy Mission aims at expanding clean and reliable nuclear power across the country and strengthen regional energy security. 'The government's goal is to set up at least one nuclear power plant in every state to ensure the country's energy security,' the Union Power Minister said adding: 'As the country's growth rate increases, so does electricity demand. Nuclear power is a reliable, sustainable, and long-term energy option.' SMRs are a newer generation of nuclear technology designed to be more flexible and cost-effective than traditional large-scale reactors, experts say. They can be deployed in smaller grids and are considered safer due to their advanced design. Khattar also said that the government has prepared a comprehensive power vision for 2035, covering thermal, solar, wind, storage, and nuclear energy projects. The decision is part of a broader policy effort to diversify India's energy mix and address rising electricity demand with advanced nuclear technology. For Bihar, which has historically struggled with power deficits and infrastructure challenges, the project represents a significant shift. Officials say the plant could help provide a more stable electricity supply and support the state's industrial ambitions. Alongside the nuclear plant, the Centre has also approved a 1,000 MW battery storage capacity project in Bihar, aimed at enhancing grid stability and supporting renewable energy integration. The government will provide viability gap funding of Rs 18 lakh per MW for this initiative. This focus on battery storage comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Siwan on June 20, laid the foundation stone for a 500 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Bihar. Union Power Minister Khattar, while making the SMR announcement, also praised the Bihar government for its recent progress in the power sector, noting the installation of eight million smart meters and a significant reduction in technical and commercial losses. 'Bihar was lagging behind in power sector but it has done a considerably good job,' he added. The Union minister further assured that, in recognition of these reforms, the Centre has agreed to supply Bihar with an additional 500 MW of electricity for the next six months to help meet peak summer demand, and that states facing power shortages would be provided adequate supply from the central quota.
Fox News
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Energy chief envisions US nuclear renaissance: restoring ‘pit' production, localizing nuke power
WASHINGTON – In a wide-ranging interview last week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright discussed how the U.S. can bring nuclear power to the fore for both energy and defense purposes, starting with rebooting otherwise dormant "pit" production. Under the first Trump administration, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sought to meet the Pentagon's goal of manufacturing 80 such pits – spherical hulls of plutonium sized from a grapefruit to a bowling ball – according to the UK Guardian. Wright suggested he wants to see the plan realized, as the same Energy Department laboratory in New Mexico where J. Robert Oppenheimer helped develop the atom bomb is reportedly working to return to earnest pit production. The U.S. has never imported plutonium pits but also hasn't done any such major manufacturing since the end of the Cold War. "But those existing weapons stockpiles, like anything else, they age with time. And so, we've realized we've got to restore the production of plutonium pits in our complex," Wright said. "We've built one in the last 25 years, and we'll build more than 100 during the Trump administration," he pledged. Bolstering pit production along with a less military-minded nuclear technology are a priority of Wright's tenure, he said. Wright said he is working to reopen the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, which closed a few years ago. Another major plant, Indian Point on the Hudson River opposite Haverstraw, N.Y., that had helped power New York City was notably closed under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. There has been little effort there, however, to see a reopening. In addition to the large-scale plants, Wright said the Energy Department seeks to forward SMR or Small Modular Reactor technology, which he said could be groundbreaking in terms of powering underserved communities and important or sensitive sites that may be far from established large-scale plants. "Nuclear weapons and nuclear power started in the United States. We built a whole bunch of power plants. And by the mid-80s, we essentially stopped building them," he said. "Part of our goal is to bring this to make it more efficient to build things in America again. But one thing with nuclear technology is things that you have to build on-location have become slower to build, and therefore way more expensive to build." SMRs alleviate that pressure, as materials needed to build the plants can be shipped and assembled on-site on a much smaller scale, but with a potential for per-capita greater power output. Unlike "stick-building a house" in terms of a large-scale plant, implements for an SMR can be made in a factory and are more mobile. A data center, military base or state concern could essentially file to have an SMR installed on-site, giving a greater domestic power source and a better overall grid. "There's great private capital, capital that's been around the innovations to design these plants. But again, you got this slow-moving, bureaucratic central government that's still got to permit them and allow them to approve. So the nuclear renaissance has been talked about for years. And the Trump administration were actually going to start it," Wright said. "That is, simplifying the regulatory regime. We just sent out a request for a proposal to fund efforts to speed these along. And actually there was a similar one sent out a while ago for the Biden administration. They hadn't gotten responses back." States that seek to benefit from SMRs have been vocal in support of that technology. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a bill in 2022 seeking to promote the construction of SMRs, saying that "micronuclear technology has a potential role to play in providing low-cost, reliable power for communities, remote villages and resource development projects." "This bill will update state law to allow us to pursue the possibilities." Asked about opposition to nuclear energy, including the closure of Indian Point, Wright said that like almost any other topic, it is vulnerable to politicization. "It just makes no sense at all," he said. "It has by far been the safest way to produce energy in the entire history of the American nuclear industry." "I know exactly how many people have died from nuclear energy: Zero." Wright said nuclear power has an "incredibly small footprint," and echoed President Donald Trump's criticisms of relying too heavily on wind and solar. "You get the energy whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. But like any industry, it needs to be alive and vigorous so that supply chain is going; and not building nuclear plants in our country for decades means we've lost that industrial capacity. So, we've got to stand it back up again."
