Parliament passes nuclear energy bill, paves way for pvt investments

BOth Houses of Parliament feature cleared the Sustainable Harnessing and progress of atomic vim for Transforming bharat Bill, 2025 or SHANTI bill after the Rajya Sabha approved the legislation on Thursday through a voice vote, paving way for private investments in the atomic energy sector. On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed the bill amid a walkout by Opposition MPs.Replying to the debate on the bill, Union minister of state for atomic energy told the Upper House that the public sector would remain as the engine of growth, after former Union minister of environment Jairam Ramesh repeatedly urged for a large role of public sector companies in the atomic energy sector.The minister clarified that the government will set a threshold limit of uranium or thorium in the minerals being mined, beyond which private participation will not be allowed.“Exploration is allowed for private partners. But (during) mining—if there is more than a certain limit of uranium the private partners will not be allowed to mine. It will be a part of the rules,” Singh said.“There remains ambiguity around the role of private players in uranium exploration, mining and fuel fabrication. These are critical links in the nuclear value chain with high strategic and security sensitivities, and clarity will only emerge from the detailed rules and licensing framework. It would be prudent to wait for these rules before drawing firm conclusions,” Debasish Mishra, chief growth officer for Deloitte in South Asia, told HT.The bill proposes the grant of licences to private companies to operate nuclear power plants, the removal of an existing contentious liability clause for suppliers of fuel and technology, as well as the rationalisation of the levels of payouts by operators in case of accidents. The bill repeals the Atomic Energy Act 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND Act) 2010.The minister also clarified that anyone can approach a civil court or the Supreme Court at a later stage after Opposition MPs argued that the bill disallows affected parties from approaching the courts in case of disputes. “That’s because we have kept the Atomic Energy Redressal Commission in the bill. This is for dispute redressal, so that everyone doesn’t have to rush to court. This is your facility and for the facility of justice. But you can always go to the civil court and SC,” he added.As many Opposition leaders demanded a review by a JPC, Singh said that “serious consultations” were held with “all sections of stakeholders” for over one year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also involved.The government also claimed that utmost importance is being given to safety with the motto: “Safety first, Protection next”. Singh said many agencies including the International Atomic Energy Commission are also supervising reactors. He underlined that India’s nuclear plants are far away from seismic zones. “In eastern coast the nearest seismic zone in Indonesia, but Kudankulam is 300 km away, In western coast, nearest zone is in Makran in Pakistan, but Kakrapar plant is 1300 kms away,” he said, adding that so far, no reactor leakage has led to carcinogenic exposure.Singh defended the proposal of gradation of liability based on the capacity of reactors. “We don’t want to discourage small investors. We can’t subject them to the same liability of bigger reactors. We will subject them to a maximum of ₹300 crore,” he said. Refuting TMC’s MP Sagarika Ghose’s allegations that the bill aims to help high-profile cronies of the government, Singh said, “This negates the impression that it is meant for high-profile cronies. Even low-profile cronies have been made a part of the bill.”Ramesh demanded that “the development of atomic energy should be driven by the public sector, and if it is taken over by the private sector, it would amount to overlooking the convictions of the scientists who spearheaded our nuclear programmes.” He also claimed that the government, through its SHANTI bill, has opposed what the late BJP ministers Arun Jaitley and Yaswant Singh had said.