Why weren’t the nuclear energy bills tabled in the monsoon session: Congress

On 26 August, Tuesday, the Congress party raised concerns about the government’s commitment to amend two existing laws to permit private companies to set up and operate nuclear power plants — and inquired whether these bills would be presented during the upcoming Winter session of Parliament.

Additionally, the Opposition party questioned the Narendra Modi government about its plans regarding legislation for an independent regulatory authority outside of the atomic energy establishment.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, pointed out that when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the 2025–26 Budget, “grand promises were made to give a boost to nuclear energy by amending the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, and the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, to allow private companies to establish and run nuclear power plants”.

Where, then, are these Bills?

Ramesh noted in a post on X that “somewhat surprisingly, neither of these two Bills were even introduced in the recently concluded [monsoon] session of Parliament”.

Ramesh posed further questions: “Will the Bills be introduced in the Winter session three months hence? Moreover, what about a Bill to establish an independent regulatory body that is not part of the atomic energy establishment?”

The veteran Congress leader emphasised that such legislation is vital to encourage private-sector involvement in nuclear power.

At the same time, he noted that what the Modi government proposes could well be counter-productive, instead.

“It also bears recall that with the full support of the then-PM Dr Manmohan Singh, both Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had played an important role in finalising the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. The proposed amendments will undo what they had accomplished,” Ramesh said.

In the past, the Modi government has projected that India’s installed nuclear would more than triple by 2031, that nuclear power plants would likely supply close to 9 per cent of the nation’s electricity needs by 2047 — 100 gigawatts per the Union Budget (it is currently stalled at 8.18 GW, hence the Rs 20,000 crore allocation).

Recently, NTPC chairman Gurdeep Singh has claimed the state-run power producer will contribute 30 per cent of that goal.

A Bloomberg report of 22 August highlighted a statement from Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha at the recent BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Outlook) summit in Delhi, saying, "Nuclear [energy] can't just be a fashion statement... It needs to replace coal-based power as a source of affordable power."

And therein lies the crux of the issue.

This switchover is something the private sector is eager to power — but will the government facilitate it? And if it does, will it be at the cost of public health and safety, doing away with safeguards?

One thing the Opposition — and many civil society voices are wary of is that the Modi government wishes to dial back the current law that holds both plant operators and equipment suppliers liable for damages in case of an incident. (Remember Bhopal?)

The amended rules are, instead, supposed to allow in private firms and rejigger the liability clauses that allegedly keep out foreign technology suppliers.

After initial excitement when the Union Budget was announced, the private sector seems to now be worried at the lack of progress. Anil Parab, director of Larsen & Toubro was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that even small deviations can push nuclear projects back by months — which adds to costs.

And the costs are not inconsiderable. NTPC's new project in Rajasthan, in a joint venture with the Nuclear Power Corp. of India, is just looking at the first of its four 700-megawatt units coming online in 2031. For the entire plant to become operational will take another five years. That will give us 30 per cent of the goal — and the rest 70 per cent is to come from the private sector, which is yet to get started!

Until then, NTPC is not just the nation's largest energy producer, but also its largest consumer of coal, with the attendant generation of fossil fuel-derived GHG emissions.

That India needs private investment in the sector is not in doubt — and clearly the Congress, the largest Opposition party, stands behind that goal as well. However, when is this facilitation finally to happen — and at what cost to the public?

With PTI inputs