New Delhi: The government is poised to pass the Atomic Energy Bill, 1962 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh steering the legislation as a cornerstone of India’s long-term energy security and climate commitments.
Piloting the Bill in the House, Singh said the Centre has set an ambitious target of generating 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047, a steep rise from the current installed capacity of 8.8 GW. He noted that nuclear energy presently accounts for just about 2 per cent of India’s overall energy mix, with the aim of raising this share to nearly 10 per cent over the next two decades.
The proposed legislation seeks to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 along with the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. According to the government, the changes are intended to open the sector to greater private participation and facilitate enhanced foreign direct investment, which it argues is necessary to scale up nuclear capacity at the pace required to meet future demand.
The Bill, however, triggered sharp opposition from the Congress. Manish Tewari, the party’s MP from Chandigarh and lead opposition speaker in the debate, raised concerns over the removal of supplier liability provisions. He pointed out that the existing law provides for supplier liability under Section 17 of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act and warned that the proposed amendments would absolve suppliers of responsibility in the event of an accident, shifting the burden entirely onto domestic operators.
Tewari also questioned the timing of the Bill, referring to a recent announcement by the Adani Group expressing interest in entering the nuclear energy sector. He asked whether the sequence of events was merely coincidental or indicative of policy being shaped to suit specific private players.
Responding to the criticism, Jitendra Singh rejected the allegations, calling them unfounded. He said the Bill was designed as a broad enabling framework to expand India’s nuclear energy capacity and had no intention of favouring any particular corporate group. Singh added that the proposed reforms were aligned with India’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070.
The debate also touched upon graded liability provisions and the future direction of India’s nuclear programme. While Tewari expressed apprehension that the Bill could weaken India’s thorium-based third-stage nuclear roadmap by focusing more on uranium-fuelled reactors, BJP MP Shashank Mani argued that the liability framework was consistent with international best practices.
Earlier in the day, Congress MP K C Venugopal sought extended time for discussion on the Bill, demanding six hours of debate. He also called for additional time on the Viksit Bharat G GRAM Bill, which is scheduled to be taken up alongside the Atomic Energy Bill. The government, however, maintained that it was prepared to sit through the night to ensure passage of both legislations. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla assured the House that adequate time would be provided for discussion, even as the opposition pressed for the Bills to be referred to a parliamentary committee.
The government has repeatedly underlined the importance of nuclear power in India’s energy transition, citing the sector’s role as a stable, non-fossil fuel source at a time when the power sector accounts for over 40 per cent of global energy-related emissions. India currently operates 25 nuclear reactors across seven locations, contributing about 3 per cent to national power generation. Several new reactors are under construction or in the planning stage as part of the push to meet the 2047 target.
