Since April this year, I have been intermittently working on a largish report about India’s proposed nuclear buildup.
The argument goes like this. We have to decarbonise but renewables are a, intermittent, and b, not enough to meet India’s entire power demand. Nuclear, ergo, is the answer. And so, not only does the BJP want India to triple its installed nuclear capacity to 22,000 MW by 2031, it is also mulling an even larger bet on small and modular reactors. In tandem, given that India’s previous attempts to boost nuclear capacity failed to hit targets, the government wants NPCIL to partner with PSUs like NTPC — and set up large reactors in fleet mode.
These are large decisions — possibly involving changes to India’s nuclear safety law; a mushrooming of small nuclear plants across the country; or us pushing money into expensive/unviable SMRs instead of trying to build 100% renewable grids. And yet, it’s stunning to see just how little public discussion there is around these policy decisions.
Starting today, CarbonCopy and I will publish a two-part series that pulls together everything we know about this proposed nuclear buildup.
Part one, over here, lays down the context and describes how the new nuclear push differs from its predecessors. This report was also cross-posted by The Wire.
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