The Centre is planning offer sops along the lines of a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing small modular reactors (SMR) to boost the share of nuclear power in India’s energy basket.
The department of atomic energy (DAE) is working on the scheme with inputs from the NITI Aayog. They have a power capacity of over 300 MW per unit (about a third of the capacity of traditional nuclear reactors). But, being a mobile and agile technology, it can be built in locations not suitable for larger plants.
PLI schemes, introduced in 2020, allow the government to provide financial incentives in terms of a share of the sales value. To date, the government has announced PLI schemes for 14 sectors with an outlay of Rs 1.97 trillion. Similarly, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has come up with Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (Sight) programme for incentivizing the production of green hydrogen and electrolyzers with an outlay of over Rs 17,000 crore.
In addition, the government is also working on the regulatory aspect to ensure safeguards and safety aspects for usage and adoption of SMRs. India is in bilateral talks with France, Russia, South Korea and the US for the required technologies and investments. The country has committed to reach net zero carbon emission by 2070.
The government is exploring options of collaborating with other countries and taking up indigenous development of SMRs. Currently, India’s installed nuclear power capacity stands at 7.48 GW and is expected to reach 22.28 GW by 2031.
