The Nuclear Reset: How Modi Is Turning Atoms into Ambition

Paromita Das

New Delhi, 28th November: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Bharat would open its closely guarded nuclear sector to private players, it was more than a policy reform — it was a historic rupture with a 60-year-old mindset. Speaking at the inauguration of Skyroot Aerospace’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad, Modi drew a deliberate parallel between the nation’s private space boom and its next frontier — nuclear energy. His words were brief but seismic:

“We’ll open up the nuclear sector to the private sector soon. This will strengthen opportunities in small modular and advanced reactors and nuclear innovations.”

That single statement signalled a fundamental shift — a declaration that Bharat’s energy future will no longer be dictated solely by the state, but by a partnership between governance and innovation. It was an announcement with geopolitical implications, industrial promise, and philosophical depth.

Breaking a 60-Year Monolith

Bharat’s nuclear power industry was born under the Atomic Energy Act of 1962, a law that enshrined total state control. Nuclear energy was seen not as an economic sector but as a sacred arm of national security. For decades, everything — from uranium mining to reactor design — was managed by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and its subsidiaries like NPCIL and BARC.

Private participation was forbidden, not merely restricted. The logic was rooted in post-independence socialism — that the state, not private enterprise, was the ultimate custodian of national interest.

Modi’s decision challenges that orthodoxy. For the first time, the Bharatiya state is declaring that private innovation and private capital are not threats to sovereignty — they are instruments of it. It redefines the state’s role from monopolistic producer to strategic regulator.

The Significance Beyond Policy

This is not about handing over nuclear weapons or strategic assets to corporations — an often-misunderstood fear. The reform targets the civilian nuclear power ecosystem: small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced reactors, fuel cycle technology, and related innovation.

Why does it matter? Because the world’s nuclear future lies in SMRs and next-generation reactors. These designs promise cheaper, safer, and faster deployment — precisely what a developing yet energy-hungry nation like Bharat needs.

SMRs consume less land, operate with passive safety systems, and can be deployed in modular clusters, providing flexibility that conventional large reactors cannot. For Bharat, with its dense population and rising industrial demand, they could become the backbone of a sustainable, low-carbon power grid.

Allowing private entry means competition, manufacturing efficiency, and faster execution, but also access to global innovation networks that state-run systems often miss.

The Energy Reality: Why Change Can’t Wait

Bharat’s energy architecture today is unsustainable if it hopes to power “Viksit Bharat 2047.” Coal remains dominant but faces global climate scrutiny and logistical constraints. Solar and wind power are expanding fast but are intermittent and land-intensive. Hydro is geographically limited, and oil and gas imports expose Bharat to geopolitical shocks — as seen in recent tensions over Russian oil.

Nuclear energy, on the other hand, is clean, scalable, and reliable. It delivers steady baseload power without carbon emissions and is largely immune to price volatility. Modi’s long-term goal of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047 is not symbolic — it is essential if Bharat wants to sustain industrial growth, digital infrastructure, and urbanisation without importing dependence.

Without a robust nuclear backbone, Bharat’s dream of energy independence — and by extension, economic sovereignty — remains incomplete.

Echoes from the Space Revolution

Modi’s choice of venue for the announcement was symbolic. By speaking at Skyroot Aerospace, a private space startup that epitomises Bharat’s new entrepreneurial frontier, he was drawing a straight line between space and atomic reform.

Until recently, space exploration too was a government monopoly under ISRO. Yet, the moment the private sector was allowed in, companies like Skyroot, Agnikul, and Bellatrix transformed Bharat’s space landscape — launching rockets, attracting global investors, and creating hundreds of skilled jobs.

If the space sector could evolve from state dominance to global competitiveness in less than a decade, why should nuclear remain trapped in the mid-20th century? Modi’s message was unmistakable: innovation dies in monopoly — whether it’s in orbit or on Earth.

The Atomic Energy Bill, 2025: Reform with Teeth

Unlike many political announcements, this one has legislative momentum behind it. The government plans to introduce the Atomic Energy Bill, 2025 in the Winter Session of Parliament. This bill will amend the Atomic Energy Act (1962) and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act (2010) — two laws that have long deterred private investors due to their ambiguity and punitive clauses.

Reforms here are crucial. Investors will not commit billions to a nuclear project without clear liability norms, stable regulation, and legal protection. By fixing this architecture, the Modi government is signalling that it wants a long-term nuclear ecosystem — not just headlines.

This approach mirrors what Bharat did in telecom and space: build an enabling framework, invite private talent, and let innovation flourish under firm but fair oversight.

Energy as the Core of Sovereignty

This reform is not just about kilowatts — it’s about geopolitics. In the 21st century, energy independence is equivalent to strategic autonomy. Nations that control their energy supply chains are harder to coerce, sanction, or manipulate.

Expanding domestic nuclear capacity reduces Bharat’s exposure to imported hydrocarbons, Western-led green financing pressures, and foreign technology chokepoints. It gives New Delhi leverage — both diplomatic and economic — in a world increasingly shaped by resource nationalism.

In essence, energy is sovereignty. And nuclear power is its most potent expression.

The Economic Multiplier Effect

Opening up nuclear energy is also an industrial multiplier. It will create thousands of high-skilled jobs, foster indigenous manufacturing of reactors and materials, and boost research in advanced metallurgy and robotics. A strong nuclear industrial base does not just generate power — it fuels scientific capacity, export potential, and prestige.

Countries that master nuclear technology don’t just sell energy — they sell partnerships. Bharat’s entry into this club as both producer and innovator will redefine its global standing.

From Control to Capability

Viewed in the broader arc of Modi’s reforms — semiconductors, defence indigenisation, digital infrastructure, and private space — this move completes a strategic pattern: sovereignty through capability.

Modi’s objective isn’t comfort, it’s resilience. By 2047, the nations that lead the world will not simply be the richest — they’ll be the ones that can generate their own energy, make their own chips, defend their own borders, and launch their own satellites.

Opening the nuclear sector is not a gamble. It’s a delayed correction of a policy that has long equated secrecy with strength. The real risk was not reforming; it was remaining stagnant.

With this decision, Bharat is not weakening the state — it’s modernising it. The government will continue to regulate, but it will no longer suffocate. It will empower, not monopolise.

Choosing Power, Choosing the Future

Prime Minister Modi’s announcement marks a defining inflection point in Bharat’s development story. By opening the nuclear sector to private enterprise, Bharat is not surrendering control — it is seizing its future.

The reform embodies a new national confidence: that Bharatiya engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors can handle the most sophisticated technologies responsibly and competitively. It aligns energy policy with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat — not isolationist, but self-reliant through strength.

As the Atomic Energy Bill, 2025 moves through Parliament, one thing is clear: Bharat’s nuclear era is no longer just about deterrence. It is about destiny.

And this time, the atom is not just a symbol of power — it’s the engine of Bharat’s sovereignty.