Budget 2024: Big role for small reactors in India's N-power play

India plans to develop desi versions of small reactors, helped by a double dose of govt funding and private participation, with a view to expanding its nuclear power play in quest of clean energy for achieving net-zero by 2070.The official embrace of the nascent technology will create a positive environment for tie-ups between Indian public or private sector entities and a number of foreign companies eyeing the Indian market.The Budget identified the proposed desi versions as 'Bharat Small Reactors' and 'Bharat Small Modular Reactors'. Govt will make available funds for research and development in new nuclear technologies. The small reactors are essentially an offtake on small modular reactor (SMR) technology.Govt wants to ramp up nuclear power capacity as part of carbon mitigation plans. But conventional nuclear plants of 1000 MWe involve massive engineering and construction, face issues regarding availability of land and opposition from local population due to safety concerns.In contrast, World Nuclear Association defines SMRs as reactors with capacity of 300 MW or less with a modular design. This allows factory fabrication for leveraging economies of series production, leading to short construction times and easy transportation. The modular design allows such plants to be built in off-grid mode or remote areas and offers operational flexibility for better load management.These factory-fabricated reactors can be transported by trucks or rail to a nuclear power site and their output can be scaled by combining several units to achieve larger capacities. The crunch in natural gas supplies after the Ukraine conflict has forced a rethink on nuclear energy in Europe and SMRs are being touted as an alternative to capital intensive plants based on conventional technology.