Out of 100 GW, 3 GW will come from breeder reactors of nuclear power, while light water reactors built with international cooperation will contribute 17.6 GW and another 40-45 GW will come from pressurised heavy water reactors.

April 10, 2024

India is looking forward to achieving 100 GW nuclear power by 2047, a massive increase from the current production of over 8,000 MW.

This was revealed by Mr. A K Mohanty, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, while releasing the report of ‘Synchronising Energy Transitions Towards Possible Net Zero for India: Affordable and Clean Energy for All’, largely funded by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India.

Mr. Mohanty said that a vision document for ‘Amrit Kaal’ was being prepared by the Department of Atomic Energy, which envisaged reaching a nuclear capacity of about 100 GW by 2047.

He said the breeder reactors would contribute 3 GW of nuclear power, while 17.6 GW would come from light water reactors built with international cooperation and another 40-45 GW would come from the pressurised heavy water reactors.

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The 224-page report was prepared by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) as part of a project sanctioned in November 2021 by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India. It aimed at carrying out a comprehensive study looking at methods for minimising the cost of power at the consumer end and to work out an optimum mix for all sources of power to reach net-zero emissions.

As per the report, if India planned to phase down coal in the next three decades, it would need to build adequate infrastructure for alternative sources such as nuclear power, in addition to flexible grid infrastructure and storage to support the integration of renewable energy (RE).

Furthermore, the coal phase-down would require undertaking significant imports of critical minerals to fulfil the needs of RE and battery storage sectors.

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If India intended to follow coal-dependent pathways, it would need to explore CDR (carbon dioxide removal) technologies such as BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) to fully understand their long-term potential.

To achieve net zero (NZ) energy systems by 2070, the electricity sector would need to decarbonise well before that year, it added.