INSURANCE & REINSURANCE OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

India has a largely indigenous nuclear power programme.

- Jagendra Kumar

The Indian government is committed to growing its nuclear power capacity as part of its massive infrastructure development programme. The government has set ambitious targets to grow nuclear capacity. Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons programme, it was for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant and materials, which hampered its development of civil nuclear energy until 2009.

Due to earlier trade bans and lack of indigenous uranium, India has uniquely been developing a nuclear fuel cycle to exploit its reserves of thorium. Since 2010, a fundamental incompatibility between India's civil liability law and international conventions limits foreign technology provision. The scenario has changed now. The nation will have nine nuclear reactors by 2024 and a new nuclear project, the first in northern India, will come up 150 kms away from Delhi in Gorakhpur of Haryana. By 2024, India will have nine nuclear reactors plus 12 new additional ones which were approved during the Covid times with a capacity of 9000 MW. India is counting on its nuclear program to help meet its Paris climate commitments to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by a third from 2005 levels by 2030. Earlier, most of our nuclear projects were with the support of Russia and France and now more and more of our reactors are becoming indigenous.