New Delhi: Parliament on Thursday passed the nuclear energy reform Bill, with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod to the legislation seeking to open the tightly-controlled civil nuclear sector for private participation.
The Upper House passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill by a voice vote, while rejecting several amendments moved by Opposition members to send the proposed legislation to a parliamentary committee. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to a discussion on the bill, Minister of State, Department of Atomic Energy, Jitendra Singh, said it aims at making India self-reliant in nuclear energy and reducing dependence on other sources of energy.
He asserted that nuclear energy is a reliable 24x7 power supply source, which is not so in the case of other renewable energy options.
Stating that the country has already reached 8.9 GW of nuclear energy in 2025, Singh said by 2047, “if we are able to follow the roadmap we have envisaged, we will be 100 GW, and we would be contributing nearly 10 per cent of the energy requirement...”.
He also noted that India’s energy requirement will be highly dependent on nuclear sources, with AI coming in a big way.
“This (nuclear energy) will be the most reliable, steady 24x7 source of energy, unlike some other renewable sources,” he pointed out.
Defending the opening up of the tightly-controlled civil nuclear sector for private participation, Singh said the “fruits and the outcomes” of opening various sectors to private players have been very rewarding.
He said that when the government opened up the space sector, its economy was dismal, but today it is USD 8 billion.
“And, the pace is so fast that in the next eight to ten years, we hope to go five times to USD 45 billion. The concept of space startups was unheard of. Today, we have over 300 space startups. In the space sector, some of them have turned multi-millionaires. And some of them have global potential. This was possible because private sector participation was allowed. The FDI was allowed,” Singh said.
He also asserted that the safety provisions in the nuclear bill have not been compromised in any way.
The safety provisions and their standard operating procedures (SOPs) are the same as in the Atomic Energy Act of 1962, which was enacted when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister, Singh noted.
“The SOP in place clearly mentions ‘safety first, second production’,” he added.
Singh also allayed fears of radiation, saying so far there has been no report of any radiation-related hazards to the public.
The minister said, “In the last 10-11 years, India has assumed a global role for itself. India is no longer following others as it happened earlier...we are the first line nation. We are no longer followers. India is offering cues for others to follow”.
It is for the first time after 2014, priority being given to global concerns, whether it is climate, energy, energy security or clean energy, he added.
The entire world is moving towards clean energy, and it is also important for India to achieve the goal in toto, so that it becomes less and less dependent on petroleum resources or fossil fuel sources, Singh remarked.