New Delhi: India is poised to enter a transformative new phase in its clean energy journey with the proposed SHANTI Bill, 2025, a sweeping legislative reform that seeks to dismantle decades-old constraints on the nuclear power sector and unlock its full strategic, economic, and environmental potential. Designed to propel India toward its ambitious goal of 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047, the Bill marks the most decisive overhaul of India’s nuclear governance framework since Independence.
At its core, the SHANTI Bill replaces the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010, two laws that while historically significant have increasingly been seen as barriers to scale, innovation, and global collaboration. The new legislation aims to strike a careful balance: opening the nuclear sector to private and foreign participation, while firmly retaining state control over strategic, sensitive, and national-security-related activities.
For decades, India’s nuclear sector has been constrained by limited capital, restricted participation, and a liability regime that deterred long-term investment. The SHANTI Bill directly addresses these bottlenecks by creating a modern, predictable, and globally compatible regulatory and liability environment, enabling nuclear power to finally emerge as a cornerstone of India’s clean energy mix.
The legislation allows measured collaboration with private Indian companies and trusted foreign partners in the construction and operation of nuclear power plants an essential step if India is to rapidly scale capacity while maintaining safety and sovereignty. Crucially, strategic oversight remains firmly with the state, ensuring that national interest is not diluted in the pursuit of growth.
𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲. ⚛️⚡
The SHANTI Bill 2025 marks a paradigm shift in India’s nuclear power sector, aimed at delivering 24/7 uninterrupted clean energy while strengthening… pic.twitter.com/Kz8ZSdKC34
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 18, 2025
One of the most consequential provisions of the SHANTI Bill is the granting of statutory status to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). This move strengthens regulatory independence, transparency, and accountability bringing India’s nuclear oversight in line with global best practices.
The Bill also introduces updated safety protocols, a specialised nuclear tribunal for dispute resolution, and targeted reforms to the nuclear liability framework. These changes are aimed at reducing legal uncertainty, enhancing safety assurance, and distributing risk more rationally thereby making nuclear projects bankable without compromising public safety.
Far from diluting safeguards, the reform recalibrates them to reflect modern technology, operational realities, and international norms.
The SHANTI Bill lays the foundation for deploying advanced nuclear technologies, including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) a game-changer for clean, flexible, and decentralised power generation. SMRs can support industrial clusters, remote regions, and urban centres with 24/7 baseload clean electricity, complementing intermittent renewables like solar and wind.
The legislation also strengthens India’s long-term vision of leveraging its vast thorium reserves, a strategic asset that could redefine global nuclear energy in the decades ahead and dramatically reduce import dependence.
Beyond electricity generation, the Bill recognises nuclear energy as a strategic enabler across sectors—from healthcare and agriculture to manufacturing, desalination, and advanced research. Reliable nuclear power underpins food security, stable electricity pricing, and industrial competitiveness, while significantly reducing carbon emissions.
By treating Indian industry as a trusted partner rather than a liability, the SHANTI Bill signals a shift from control-driven policymaking to trust-based reform. The result is a framework that encourages private innovation, high-skill job creation, and technology transfer while keeping national command firmly in public hands.
