4 min readNew DelhiFeb 11, 2026 11:02 PM IST
First published on: Feb 11, 2026 at 11:02 PM IST
The Department of Atomic Energy has said that state-owned NTPC Ltd and Chicago-based Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) are exploring the “development and deployment of a thorium-based fuel” for existing nuclear stations in India, subject to regulatory clearances.
Clean Core Thorium Energy, only the second American company to have secured an export license from the US Department of Energy (DAE) to sell nuclear technology to India in nearly two decades, has developed a thorium-based fuel, called ANEEL or Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life, that can be deployed in the country’s Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) at scale.
The combination of thorium with small amounts of enriched uranium — and the promise of its use in PHWRs — will enhance India’s energy security by using domestically available thorium, and improving safety and proliferation resistance. It could also reduce nuclear waste.
“The natural uranium oxide-based fuel will continue to be deployed in our current fleet of PHWRs, representing an optimised and efficient utilisation of our limited uranium resources in a sustained manner through the three-stage programme. With regard to waste, India is following a closed fuel cycle where the spent fuel is reprocessed to recover valuable fissile material for use in our second stage of nuclear programme,” Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, said in response to a question on ANEEL fuel in Lok Sabha Wednesday.
This ties in with the Centre’s plan to explore the deployment of a thorium-based fuel for India’s existing fleet of PHWRs, which could, in turn, support the country’s energy and fuel security.
SHANTI Act and India’s energy security
In December, the Centre had passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, marking a major shift in how India’s tightly-controlled nuclear power sector will be governed in the coming years.
For the first time, the law enables private players to enter the operations side of this critical sector. This includes a possibility of foreign participation in the future. It also envisages a role for private entities in areas such as fuel management, which had remained under tight public-sector control for decades. The advantage with the thorium fuel produced by the Chicago-based company is that it can be shipped to India and directly loaded on to PHWRs.
Advantages of thorium use
Thorium — the radioactive metallic element named after the Norse god of thunder — has been a long-standing hope for India’s true energy security. It has long been seen as an alternative to uranium since it’s more abundant, produces lesser amounts of long-lived radioactive waste (that have a long half life) and potentially lowers the proliferation risk. For India, thorium has been part of a long-term strategy for curbing dependence on imported nuclear fuels, since the country has little uranium reserves.
While thorium deployment has been predicated on the idea of new reactors being designed in the last leg of India’s three-stage nuclear programme to run on this fuel, it could entail reconstructing the country’s nuclear power fleet from the ground up.
In this context, Clean Core’s research of advanced nuclear fuel cycles has resulted in the fabrication of a new type of fuel. It blends thorium with a more concentrated type of uranium named HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium). This, according to CCTE, can then be used in India’s PWHRs that make up the bulk of the country’s existing reactor fleet. Additionally, the new fuel offers cost savings by delivering greater energy output within existing safety margins and lowering the operating costs of current reactors.
Clean Core Thorium Energy and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories have signed a landmark 2026 agreement to manufacture ANEEL fuel bundles, a move that could fast-track India’s transition to thorium-based nuclear energy using existing PHWR infrastructure. (File image) 
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