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MUMBAI: PM Narendra Modi’s Thursday announcement about govt moving towards opening up nuclear sector to private players has been welcomed, though with a fair degree of scepticism.According to Modi, privatisation would help in development of small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced reactors and innovation. “This reform will give new strength to India’s energy security and technological leadership.”However, Atomic Energy Commission member Ravi B Grover told TOI Friday, “They (SMRs) are yet to be developed and it is premature to bet on them. With regard to SMRs, we are near peak of expectations. It is better to go for 220MW pressurised heavy water reactors rather than reactors whose technology is not yet established and whose economic viability remains unproven.”Anil Kumar Anand, former director of BARC’s reactor research group, who headed the nuclear submarine project, expressed an equal degree of scepticism. “Opening up nuclear field to private sector requires a lot of resources and money. For industries, to design and develop SMRs will be a challenge.” Anand added govt had set an ambitious target of 100GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047. This means raising proportion of nuclear power from 2% to 9% in two decades.Another ex-official from nuclear sector who declined to be identified said if privatisation plan took off, it might require a revamp of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which mainly scrutinises safety standards at reactors.He added new private reactors should fall under ambit of the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group waiver and India-specific safeguards agreement.
