Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025: India targets 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047

Key facts

• The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, which was passed in Parliament Thursday, allows private players to enter the operations side of the tightly-governed nuclear power sector.
• Once notified, the law will replace two key legislations — the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (AE Act) and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (CLNDA) — and effectively redraw India’s N-power regime.
• The law is a key step towards achieving India’s target of 100 gigawatt of nuclear power capacity by 2047.
• The new law allows public and private companies to set up nuclear power plants and undertake activities related to the transport, storage, import and export of nuclear fuel, technology, equipment and minerals.
• The new law grants statutory status to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which previously depended on the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for its budget and administration.
• The law omits the provision regarding the 'right of recourse' which previously allowed operators to seek compensation from suppliers for incidents resulting from 'supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services'.
• The new law adopts graded liability caps for nuclear power operators based on their size of installation, marking a departure from the previous flat liability limit of Rs 1,500 crore.
• The legislation provides for the establishment of the Atomic Energy Redressal Advisory Council to address grievances and a Nuclear Damage Claims Commission to handle cases involving severe nuclear damage.
• It designates the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity as the appellate authority to hear and dispose of appeals under the bill.