With the Union Budget unveiling a new ₹20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission to develop at least five indigenously designed and operational small modular reactors (SMRs), Tata Power Company Ltd. on Tuesday (February 4, 2025) said it is mulling a foray into the SMR segment.

The government has said it is looking at active partnerships with private players, and promised amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to encourage private investments in nuclear energy.

Tata Power is keen to take up the opportunity to set up small modular nuclear reactors across the country, the firm’s CEO and managing director Praveer Sinha said. “We are keen to participate but are awaiting more clarity on the amendments,” he said.

The firm reported a 10% growth in consolidated net profit at ₹1,188 crore in the third quarter (Q3) ended December 31, 2024, on a 2% uptick in revenue from operations which hit ₹15,118 crore. The company’s operational capacity stood at 6.7 GW in the clean and green segment, generating over 11,700 million units of green power. Another 10 GW of projects are under execution.

“We have emerged as a clean energy leader with presence across the full value chain of manufacturing, EPC, and development of renewable projects along with retail supply through group captives,” Mr. Sinha said. The recent large-scale transmission project wins reaffirm its expertise in evacuation and supply of power nationwide and puts the company at the centre of the development of upcoming Green Energy Corridors.

“We have delivered a sustained PAT growth trajectory over the last 21 quarters and all our businesses have been contributing to this growth,” the Tata Power CEO said about its Q3 performance.

Currently, four VVER 1,000-MWe reactors are being built at the KKNPP site.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Boosting state’s power distribution and opening the nuclear power sector was announced by Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her eighth Budget speech on Saturday (February 1, 2025). She announced incentivisation of distribution reforms to help the financial state of distribution companies. Amendments to nuclear-related Acts will also taken up by the Centre soon, she said. 

“Incentivise electricity distribution reforms and augment intra-state capacity. This will help financial state of distribution companies. An addition of 0.05% of GSDP will be allowed to states contingent on these reforms,” she said. 

Also read:Union Budget 2025 LIVE updates

She also announced the Nuclear Mission for Viksit Bharat in which 100 GW of nuclear power generation by 2047 is ‘essential for power transition efforts’. For active private participation in this the Centre plans to amend the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil liability for the Nuclear damage Act. 

Furthermore, she added that an outlay of ₹20,000 crores will be given for research and development for small modular reactors. Atleast five such indigenously designed reactors will be operationalised by 2033, she said.

Union Budget 2025

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting her eight consecutive budget speech this year. She highlighted that this budget would be aimed to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private investment, uplift household sentiments and enhance power of India’s rising middle class. The main areas of focus among citizens for this budget are the poor, youth, farmers and women. 

“Our economy is the fastest-growing among all major global economies. Our development track record of the past 10 years and structural reforms have drawn global attention. Confidence in India’s capability and potential has only grown in this period”, said Ms. Sitharaman. 

As she began her speech, the Opposition rose in uproar over President Droupadi Murmu’s address on Friday (January 31, 2025). They also walked out, but returned to the House shortly. 

Tokyo:

A reactor at the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, has resumed power generation for the first time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, its operator said.

Tohoku Electric Power Company said that the Onagawa No. 2 reactor restarted power generation at 6 p.m. local time on Friday. After an adjustment operation to check for any abnormalities while gradually increasing output, the reactor will be temporarily halted for equipment checks, reports Xinhua news agency.

The reactor is expected to start full commercial operation in December, it added.

The 825,000-kilowatt reactor, if operated at about 70 per cent of its capacity for one year, is estimated to generate electricity equivalent to the power consumption of 1.62 million households, according to Tohoku Electric.

The No. 2 reactor was reactivated on October 29 but was halted on November 4 after an issue was found with a measurement device. After the problem was fixed, the reactor was restarted again on Wednesday.

The three reactors at the Onagawa plant are of the same boiling water type as those at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where the country’s worst nuclear accident was triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch | 50 years ago, India conducted its first ever nuclear test

Fifty years ago, India conducted its first nuclear test in Pokhran, code-named Operation Smiling Buddha. With this India had entered the league of nations with nuclear capabilities.

An article dated May 19th, 1974, says India successfully conducted an underground test with plutonium device in 10-15 kiloton range. It also adds that the then Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Dr H.N Sethna and Director of The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre DR R Ramanna, who supervised the test, flew to Delhi even without a wash or change to give a full account to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

India said that it undertook this programme to develop its own technology for peaceful use of nuclear energy and it had no intention of going in for nuclear weapons. The groundwork for testing nuclear energy was laid even earlier by renowned Indian scientists Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. In 1954, the Department of Atomic Energy was founded, with Bhabha as director.

With Smiling Buddha, India became the first nation to conduct a nuclear test apart from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. After the nuclear test, there were criticisms that it was an attempt to divert people’s attention from the economic crisis the country was facing in the 1970s.

However, the Atomic Energy Commission chairman said that it was his decision and that there was no political motive,
Even a New York Times article said that “such great talent of resources has been squandered on the vanity of power, while 600 million Indians slip deeper into poverty”.

India also faced significant criticism from many countries including Pakistan, USA, and Canada. Pakistan said that it would never succumb to “nuclear blackmail” or accept “Indian hegemony or domination over the subcontinent”.

India did not carry out further nuclear tests until 1998. In 1998, under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India conducted a series of nuclear tests in Pokhran once again, code-named Operation Shakti.

With this, India declared itself a full-fledged nuclear state.

Script and production: Gayatri Menon

Research: Gayatri Menon and Murali Krishnaswamy

Archive photo courtesy: M. Srinath

Voiceover: Jude Francis Weston