BharatNotes 🤝 International Relations
SHANTI Act, 2025
GS2
SHANTI Act, 2025
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (Act No. 39 of 2025) is the statute that now governs India's atomic energy sector and its civil nuclear liability regime, having repealed and replaced both the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
Context & Background
Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 15 December 2025, passed by both Houses on 17 and 18 December, and assented to on 20 December 2025, the Act opens nuclear power generation to Indian private companies, gives the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board statutory status, replaces the CLNDA's flat liability cap with a graded operator liability of ₹100 crore to ₹3,000 crore keyed to facility thermal power, and removes the supplier-defect ground of recourse that had kept foreign reactor vendors out of India since 2010. Government retains control of uranium mining beyond specified thresholds, spent fuel and strategic materials, and foreign-incorporated companies remain outside the definition of "company" for licensing. The Act commences on dates to be notified; draft Rules and AERB Regulations were out for public consultation until 4 September 2026.
UPSC Exam Relevance
This is the most examinable legislative change in India's nuclear sector in six decades and connects GS2 (nuclear diplomacy, the 123 Agreement's long stall over liability) with GS3 (energy security, the 100 GW-by-2047 target and private investment). Prelims will favour the hard identifiers: Act number, assent date, the two repealed Acts, the liability slabs, and the AERB's new statutory footing. Mains will favour the causal chain from Section 17(b) of the CLNDA to vendor reluctance to the February 2025 India-US commitment to the Act itself.
