India, Dec. 17 -- The new nuclear energy Bill, presented in Parliament on Monday, comes at a time when India needs to deploy low-emission alternatives to coal-based thermal power. Growing power needs must be balanced against long-term climate goals. While renewable energy is very much a part of the arsenal, it faces specific hurdles at present in meeting the demand - riverine hydel projects in the upper reaches are exacting punishing ecological costs and solar generation still wrestles issues such as grind integration, land availability, scale, and lack of adequate storage options. Thus, nuclear energy generation, if managed with utmost care, can be a supplementary source of cleaner electricity. Against this backdrop, the Safe Harnessing of Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill opens up the sector for private participation; it also does away with the supplier's liability provisions of Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 and provides for a graded liability structure commensurate to generation capacity. The suppliers' liability clause in the 2010 Act, industry players have long argued, dissuaded companies from participating in the Indian nuclear energy space. More importantly, the new Bill creates a framework to encourage indigenous research in nuclear energy, by amending the Patents Act 1970, that barred any invention in the nuclear energy space from patent recognition. Inventions may be granted patents if the Union government doesn't deem these to be related to activities that are of a sensitive nature or have implications for national security. Given India aims to install 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047 - a ten-fold-plus growth from the current capacity of close to 9GW - growing local competence in the space is an imperative. Recognising intellectual property created and giving it legislative cover will go a long way in this pursuit. The real challenge for India's nuclear endeavours, however, will be shaping favourable public perception. Given the country's experience with industrial accidents, and the scale of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, concerns about nuclear generation and its management can only be answered by convincing the public about the robustness of the safety regime the law proposes....