PIB TrackerFive indigenous small reactors by 2033, 100 GWe by 2047
The nuclear roadmap pairs large 700 MWe PHWRs at greenfield sites with Small Modular Reactors at brownfield ones — including retiring coal plants — while BARC develops the BSMR-200, the SMR-55 and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.
What happened
- The Nuclear Energy Mission targets 100 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2047.
- At least five indigenous Small Modular Reactors are targeted by 2033.
- Large 700 MWe PHWRs go at greenfield sites; SMRs at brownfield ones including retiring fossil-fuel plants.
- BARC is developing the 220 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor and the 55 MWe SMR-55.
- A High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor of up to 5 MWth is also under development.
For Prelims
- Three-stage programme: Stage I PHWRs (natural uranium), Stage II Fast Breeder Reactors (plutonium), Stage III thorium-based reactors.
- Nuclear Energy Mission: announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, targeting 100 GWe by 2047.
- SMR: a Small Modular Reactor — factory-built modules, lower output, sited where a large plant cannot go.
- BSMR-200: the 220 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor; SMR-55 is the 55 MWe design; both from BARC.
- HTGCR: a High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor of up to 5 MWth — useful for process heat and hydrogen production.
- Why brownfield siting matters: a retiring coal plant already has grid connection, cooling water, land and a workforce.
- PHWR: the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor, India's workhorse design, now standardised at 700 MWe.
- Thorium: India holds among the world's largest reserves, in monazite beach sands.
For UPSC: The definitive nuclear card of the year. Use it for the three-stage programme and thorium, SMRs and the just transition from coal, private participation and nuclear liability, and nuclear power in the net-zero pathway.
What it is NOT: These are targets and designs under development — no SMR has been commissioned, and 100 GWe by 2047 against roughly 8.8 GW installed today implies a rate of construction India has never achieved.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.12 · GS3.9 · Linkage L1
Anchor
The most interesting line in the nuclear plan is where the reactors go: onto the sites coal is vacating.
Substantiation (data)
100 GWe by 2047, at least five indigenous SMRs by 2033, and BARC designs spanning the 220 MWe BSMR-200, the 55 MWe SMR-55 and a 5 MWth high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.
Exemplification
Brownfield siting at retiring fossil plants inherits grid connection, cooling water, land and workforce — the four things that delay a new nuclear station.
Problematisation
India's nuclear expansion has historically been slowed less by technology than by land acquisition, fuel supply and the liability regime that deterred suppliers.
Way-forward
Settle the liability and private-participation framework early, and use SMRs to convert coal-town employment rather than to strand it.
Position
A just transition needs somewhere for the coal workforce to go — a reactor on the same site is the most literal answer available.
Deploys into: Indigenisation + energy infrastructure (GS3.12, GS3.9) · the three-stage programme and thorium, SMRs and the just transition from coal, and nuclear in the net-zero pathway.
Department of Atomic Energy · 2026-08-12 · PRID 2298208 · PIB source ↗