Land requirement for 220-megawatt electric (MWe) small nuclear reactor units could be reduced to less than a third, subject to radiological impact assessment, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) told the Parliament on Thursday.
“The present typical land requirement for 2×220 MW PHWRs is about 330 hectares. The possibility of reduction in land usage up to about 90 hectares, subject to radiological impact assessment, is being evaluated,” DAE said.
This comes as the government opened up the tightly regulated civil nuclear power sector to private participation last year, drawing interest from global nuclear technology suppliers from Russia, the United States and France.
The development is significant as the government is considering a proposal to reduce exclusion zone requirements around future nuclear plants.
At present, nuclear reactors in India are required to maintain a minimum exclusion zone of around 1 km radius around the reactor site, within which no habitation or economic activity is permitted.
Under the proposal, the exclusion zone for 700 MWe reactors could be reduced from 1 km to 700 metres, while the exclusion zone for smaller 220 MWe reactors could be reduced to 500 metres. The proposal has already been reviewed by AERB and the DAE from both safety and security perspectives and has received in-principle agreement.
Experts in the sector believe that the reduction in land requirement for smaller 220 MWe reactors would only be possible if the exclusion zone for these reactors has been reduced to 500 metres.
SMR push
The development comes as India plans to bring at least five small indigenous nuclear reactors into operation by 2033.
Towards this, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing a 220-MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor, a 55-MWe Small Modular Reactor (SMR-55) and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to produce hydrogen.
Meanwhile, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has also issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) for setting up 220 MWe Bharat Small Reactors (BSRs) in December 2024. As per NPCIL, delegates from 27 industries participated in the pre-proposal meeting held in February 2025.
By April 2025, NPCIL received 700 queries. Hindalco Industries, Jindal Steel, Tata Power, Reliance Industries, JSW Energy and Adani Power had also initially submitted documents for non-disclosure agreements for data and collected project documents.
However, only Hindalco Industries Ltd submitted a proposal to NPCIL for 220 MWe BSR.
“Further discussions are between the two sides to finalise the project details,” DAE said.
“The BSRs are an upgraded version of the already operating latest 220 MW PHWRs in the country, which have proven safety & operational performance record and are commercially mature,” it added.
Small modular reactors (SMR) are increasingly being pitched as safer alternatives to conventional reactors because of their advanced designs and passive safety systems.
With capacities ranging from 30-MWe to 300-MWe per unit, SMRs are being viewed as a promising option for decarbonising energy-intensive sectors such as steel, aluminium and cement, owing to their ability to produce large volumes of round-the-clock, low-carbon electricity.
SMRs are also becoming the focal point in India’s international outreach for nuclear collaborations, with the high project costs of large Light Water Reactors (LWRs) triggering questions about the feasibility of their large-scale deployment in India.
In May, a visiting high-powered American nuclear delegation was informed, in their meetings with top government functionaries, of India’s ambitions to progressively enter the manufacturing value chain of SMRs.
It is learnt that India is actively seeking foreign expertise and investment to support the development of a domestic SMR ecosystem. For now, any foreign collaboration is likely to be centred on SMRs rather than large conventional reactors due to cost concerns linked to LWRs.
Meanwhile, the government is also conducting studies to repurpose old thermal power plant sites for nuclear sites.
Such repurposed sites may ultimately be more suitable for small modular reactors (SMRs) and smaller-capacity nuclear projects rather than large conventional reactors, an official familiar with the development had earlier told The Indian Express.
The Department of Atomic Energy is getting ready to commission its ultra-modern indigenously designed and locally mastered fast breeder reactor. (Source: PTI photo, File, Enhanced using AI) 
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