{"id":119872,"date":"2026-08-19T10:58:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T05:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=119872"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T05:28:56","slug":"shanti-act-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/shanti-act-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"SHANTI Act Rules: Why Russia May Gain an Edge in India&#8217;s Small Modular Reactor Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>SHANTI Act Rules Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Draft rules issued by the Department of Atomic Energy under the SHANTI Act could give Russia a significant advantage in India&#8217;s nuclear sector, particularly in the emerging field of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Key Rule That Could Favour Russia<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The draft SHANTI rules mandate that foreign nuclear technology imported for use in India:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must have its design certified or approved by the regulatory body in its country of origin, and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must already be operational there or in another foreign country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This &#8220;already operational&#8221; requirement is significant because very few global SMR designs currently meet this bar \u2014 giving an edge to countries with proven, running reactors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What Are SMRs?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors with about a third of the generating capacity of conventional nuclear plants, yet capable of producing substantial low-carbon electricity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are particularly suited to remote regions with limited grid infrastructure and to localised industrial applications.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Russia&#8217;s Global SMR Lead<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, only two SMR projects are operational worldwide:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia&#8217;s Akademik Lomonosov floating power unit (two 35 MWe modules), commercially operational since May 2020 \u2014 the world&#8217;s northernmost nuclear power plant, based in Pevek, Russia.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China&#8217;s HTR-PM demonstration project, grid-connected in December 2021 and commercially operational since December 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other global SMR developers \u2014 Holtec International, Rolls-Royce SMR, NuScale&#8217;s VOYGR, Westinghouse&#8217;s AP300, and GE-Hitachi&#8217;s BWRX-300 \u2014 remain in the design certification stage, with none yet operational.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the draft SHANTI rules, this could disqualify them from entering India&#8217;s market in the near term.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia is the only country in the world with proven expertise in floating nuclear power solutions, having presented India with details of this technology in April 2024.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Russia&#8217;s Broader Nuclear Push in India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu \u2014 India&#8217;s largest nuclear power station \u2013 is a flagship India-Russia nuclear cooperation project.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KKNPP Units 1 and 2 (VVER-1000 reactors) were connected to the grid in 2013 and 2016 respectively.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A VVER-1000 is a 1,000 MWe Russian-designed pressurized water reactor (PWR) where ordinary water acts as both coolant and neutron moderator.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The project envisions six units with a total installed capacity of 6,000 MWe.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia is pushing for serial construction of new-generation VVER-1200 reactors in India, alongside its SMR proposals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Cost Advantage for Russian Reactors<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Light Water Reactors (LWRs) offered by French and US firms are significantly costlier than India&#8217;s indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russian reactors are only marginally more expensive than Indian PHWRs, while remaining cheaper than Western LWR alternatives:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indigenous PHWRs: ~Rs 18 crore per MW-electric.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russian reactors: ~Rs 34 crore per MW-electric.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the World Nuclear Association, capital costs account for at least 60% of the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from nuclear plants, making upfront cost and financing terms critical factors \u2014 an area where Russia currently holds an edge over Western competitors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As India expands its nuclear ambitions through the SHANTI Act framework, the &#8220;proven and operational&#8221; technology requirement \u2014 combined with Russia&#8217;s existing SMR expertise and cost competitiveness \u2014 positions Moscow favourably over Western players.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could shape the geopolitics of India&#8217;s clean energy transition, reinforcing Russia&#8217;s role as a key nuclear partner even as India pursues technological diversification.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/russia-nuclear-edge-india-shanti-rules-10834517\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SHANTI Act Rules requiring proven and operational foreign nuclear technology could give Russia an advantage in India&#8217;s Small Modular Reactor market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":119887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,9630,22,59],"class_list":["post-119872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-mains-articles","tag-shanti-act-rules","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119892,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119872\/revisions\/119892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}