The government on Friday approved a Bill that seeks to open up the tightly-controlled civil nuclear power sector for private participation as India eyes 100 GW atomic energy capacity by 2047.
At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet is learnt to have approved the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill.
In her Budget speech in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced plans of opening up the nuclear power sector for private sector participation.
Sitharaman also announced the Nuclear Energy Mission for research and development of small modular reactors or SMRs with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore, and to operationalise five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033.