New Delhi: The keenly awaited draft rules and regulations for the SHANTI Act, promising to open the tightly held nuclear power sector, are finally out. A single composite licence regime for building, owning, operating and decommissioning of nuclear power plants, besides opening pathways for private players and foreign technology from countries that are 'self-reliant' in nuclear reactor design and supply chain, has been announced.

Private applicants, however, must come with a mandatory insurance policy and/or financial security that will continue right up to the decommissioning of the plant and waste management cycles, as per the draft rules put out by the Department of Atomic Energy for public comment until September 4.

The draft details that a foreign design reactor will only be permitted if it is operational and certified by the regulatory body in its 'country of origin' or any other foreign country. The 'country of origin' will mean those countries which are 'self-reliant in nuclear reactor design and supply chain ecosystem, whose regulatory approvals are trusted globally' - essentially restricting the participation to a handful of nations.

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The draft rules underline that the technology intended to be imported or acquired domestically should not 'adversely affect the interest of India.

On the politically tricky issue of ‘liability’ of the operator of a nuclear installation for any nuclear damage, the rules underline this shall be ‘strict’ and based on the principle of ‘no-fault liability’.

The rules provide for a review of the operator’s maximum nuclear liability limits every five years by a group of experts from nuclear science and engineering, actuarial science, insurance, law, public interest representatives and other government members.

The central government will establish a nuclear liability fund which shall comprise the levy collected from operators of nuclear installations and be disbursed after due parliamentary approval.

The rules also provide for assumption of control by government on cancellation of licence or on abandonment of a plant, besides setting up of a standing committee to advise the Centre on cross-cutting issues of radiation protection and those requiring inter-ministerial consultation.

On nuclear power tariffs, the rules propose that norms and mechanisms for fixation of tariff for supply of electricity or for charges to be levied for process heat, isotope production, or any other service shall be determined based on the recommendations of a committee constituted by Centre.

It has been specified that the licence for production, use and disposal of nuclear energy will be granted for (a) supply of electricity to grid; (b) captive power generation; (c) hydrogen production, or a hybrid system; (d) isotope production for medical applications; (e) education, training and R&D, besides peaceful applications permitted by the Centre.

Captive power generation may be used for hard-to-abate sectors — like aluminium, cement industries — and other applications such as in data centres, high-end applications like quantum technologies, high-performance computing, semiconductors fabrication, artificial intelligence-enabled technologies, the rules propose.

For small and micro-modular reactors and such other advanced technologies, barge-mounted or other floating reactors, site specific criteria shall be notified separately and will include specifications issued by the Directorate General of Shipping for Coastal and Offshore Zones as well.

Relaxing the rulebook for new entrants, the draft rules allow the licensing authority to grant “in-principle approval” after admitting an application even where the site or technology has not been selected, but the grant of licence to such an applicant will depend on fulfilment of conditions of site, technology, design and capability.

The draft regulations, also issued alongside, provide the framework for grant of safety authorisation, besides the process of transaction of business of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which shall be chaired by an eminent scientist with three decades of experience in the field.