EIL to assist in development of Indian SMR design

The MoU was signed at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited's (NPCIL's) office in Mumbai on 12 August in the presence of Engineers India Limited (EIL) Chairman and Managing Director Vartika Shukla and NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director Bhuwan Chandra Pathak and other senior management officers from both organisations.

New Delhi-based EIL is a public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, providing industrial technology, engineering consultancy and technology licensing services.

"This partnership supports the Government of India's vision to accelerate nuclear power, enabling clean, green, and reliable energy to strengthen India's energy security and is a step towards Nuclear Energy Mission for Viksit Bharat, targeting a nuclear power capacity of 100 GW by 2047," EIL said in a statement.

In a post on LinkedIn, NPCIL said: "This occasion marks an important milestone in the journey of development of BSMR-200 jointly by NPCIL and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), a project that represents not only technological advancement but also a step further towards India's clean, safe and reliable nuclear power capabilities."

The 200 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor (referred to as BSMR-200) is a pressurised heavy water reactor that will use slightly enriched uranium fuel and will feature passive safety features. The reactor is being designed and developed by BARC and NPCIL to provide power generation for energy intensive industries such as steel, aluminium and cement; for repurposing retiring thermal power plants; and to provide electricity to remote locations without grid connectivity.

In March this year, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told parliamentarians that a 55 MW variant of the BSMR - targeted at deployment in remote locations - is also being developed, with the lead twin units to be "set up in a Department of Atomic Energy site by 2033". He added that "subsequent units are to be located at the sites of the end-user industry in case of captive power plants and at brownfields sites of retiring thermal power plants."

India's Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the 2024 budget the government's intention to research and develop the BSMR. In this year's budget - announced in February - she promised federal funds to develop at least five Indian-designed SMRs to be operational by 2033, as well as amendments to Indian legislation to encourage private sector participation, as part of plans to develop at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047.

Earlier this year, NPCIL issued a Request for Proposals from 'visionary Indian industries' to finance and build a proposed fleet of 220 MW BSMRs. Tata Power and the Naveen Jindal Group have already expressed interest in setting up SMRs, and in February, Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha - the upper house of the Indian parliament - that nuclear power is under consideration to meet the growing power needs of the country's rail sector.