India, Dec. 27 -- The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill replaces a fragmented and dated legal architecture with a comprehensive statute integrating safety regulation, licensing, enforcement, liability and dispute resolution. It grants statutory authority to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, strengthens lifecycle oversight of nuclear facilities and clarifies accountability at every stage of construction, operation and decommissioning. India's installed nuclear capacity today stands at roughly 8 GW. The country aims to raise this to 22 GW by 2032 and 100 GW by 2047. This ambition builds on the strides India has already made in renewable energy. The success of renewables brings structural challenges. Solar and wind generation are inherently variable, dependent on weather, seasons and time of day. Storage technologies still face limitations in providing long duration baseload supply at the scale required. Energy-intensive industries, data centres, metro systems, etc, require assured, uninterrupted electricity. Nuclear energy provides that assurance. Nuclear power emits negligible carbon during operation, occupies relatively little land and delivers continuous electricity with high capacity utilisation. India's nuclear expansion is being shaped around a new generation of indigenous technologies. Bharat Small Reactors are based on proven 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor designs and are intended for deployment near energy intensive industrial zones. They will supply dedicated, low-carbon power to steel, aluminium, cement and other industries where emissions are hardest to abate. Complementing these are Bharat Small Modular Reactors, ranging 30 MW to 300-plus MW. These modular, factory-built reactors allow faster construction, improved quality control and flexible deployment in remote regions and industrial hubs. The Modi government has earmarked Rs.20,000 crore for R&D, with at least five indigenously designed units planned for deployment by 2033. Policy reforms have been initiated to enable this shift, and to facilitate structured public private participation in the nuclear sector. The ASHVINI joint venture between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and NTPC exemplifies this approach. Beyond these advances lie thorium-based reactors, the most transformative element of India's nuclear roadmap. India possesses one of the world's largest thorium reserves, concentrated along the coasts of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Thorium is approximately three times more abundant than uranium and produces significantly less long-lived radioactive waste, carries lower proliferation risk, and offers a virtually inexhaustible source of clean energy. Homi Bhabha's nuclear power vision placed thorium utilisation at its core. The SHANTI Bill provides the foundation that makes this roadmap viable. By consolidating laws, empowering the regulator and embedding safeguards, it aligns governance with ambition. It mandates explicit regulatory approvals for activities involving radiation exposure, strengthens preventive safety norms and clarifies liability and operator responsibility. While it enables wider participation, including international collaboration, it preserves sovereign control in all the critical areas. India is pursuing a diversified portfolio for stability, resilience and energy independence, with not only its energy security and sovereignty in sight, but also a credible model for energy transition....