New Delhi: Moving forward on its plan to repurpose old thermal power project sites as nuclear power plants, the government has identified three to four sites that it plans to convert to nuclear power project locations, said Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad on Monday. Speaking during a panel discussion at the 6th CII International Energy Conference and Exhibition, Prasad said, “Site selection definitely is going to be a big challenge and to address that, what we are thinking is… those coal-based power plants which are going to retire in the future, we plan to utilise these (sites) for nuclear projects as we go along. The team is already working on it and they have identified three-four sites as of now — thermal power plants which are going to be discarded in the most recent timeline. They can be replaced by nuclear power plants.”
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Selecting sites for nuclear power projects is challenging due to their high complexity and strict safety requirements, which demand extensive analysis of geological, environmental, and population factors, including seismic activity, water availability, and proximity to populated areas to minimise accident risks. Land availability is already a constraint. To address these issues, the government is looking at repurposing retiring thermal power plants as potential nuclear sites.
Citing site selection as a key hurdle, Dr Kalirajan S, Managing Director (MD) of EDF Nuclear Projects India Limited, a French multinational electric utility company, said India needs large reactors to attain government’s goal of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047. “Getting a site for setting up a nuclear reactor in India is going to be a difficult task… We recommend having more number of large nuclear power plants, as much as possible, as many as possible, so that optimum utilisation of the available sites can be done.” In Budget 2025–26, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the target of installing 100 GW of nuclear power generation capacity by 2047.
Referring to the 100-GW target, Dr Kalirajan said, “When we say 100 gigawatt, I am sure it is not going to come only from PHWRs (Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors). We may have to import reactors like EPRs (European Pressurised Reactor) from France.” He also cited the example of Jaitapur nuclear power project, for which EDF is the French partner, and said that the project involves six units of 1,650 MW each, which means that nearly 10 GW of nuclear power will come from one project.
He also underlined the need to develop a domestic supply chain aligned to varied international specifications.
Commenting on the energy security aspect of India’s nuclear expansion plan, the CEA Chairperson said that there is a programme underway to steer the switch from Uranium to Thorium for nuclear power generation. “From the fuel security point of view, the country will have to very, very quickly switch over from uranium to thorium. A program for the same is already on and as we move on to thorium totally, that is going to be more and more promising and our dependency on other foreign countries will reduce much further,” said Prasad.
India has one of the world’s largest reserves of thorium, with sources suggesting it holds a significant portion of the global supply. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has planned the use of large deposits of Thorium available in the country as a long-term option. A three-stage nuclear power programme has been chalked out to use Thorium as a viable and sustainable option, right at the inception of India’s nuclear power programme.
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Prasad also said that the government is working towards reducing the time taken to set up a nuclear power project in India from 13-15 years to six-seven years by halving the time taken in regulatory approvals. “To achieve 100 GW by 2047, the run rate is going to be around 4.2 GW per year. Maybe a little slower initially and a bit faster as the technology matures. However, the timelines for setting up a nuclear power plants is very, very challenging. Our minister is very keen to get it reduced to at least half,” he said. He added that while public sector undertakings (PSUs) are early starters in the segment, India will need a large number of private players in the sector to reach 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047.
