New Delhi, Feb. 3 -- Nuclear energy is back in vogue globally, especially to satisfy the swelling appetite of artificial intelligence for electricity. India also plans a big steam-up.

The latest budget has an outlay of Rs.20,000 crore to develop small modular reactors (of up to 300MW), with India's sights set on 100GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, up from 6.8GW right now. The Atomic Energy Act might be amended to permit private players and the law on nuclear-damage liability will likely be tweaked to keep suppliers out of its ambit, a move that's expected to spark foreign interest in the Indian market.

As this is a clean source of power that isn't subject to the vagaries of sunshine and wind, its appeal is obvious. Given the risks involv...