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Time of India
04-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Fast-tracking small modular reactors in India
The value of nuclear energy in meeting rapidly growing energy demand with requisite reliability and resilience, while also achieving a low-carbon energy ecosystem is receiving increasing recognition worldwide. This is also echoed in India's recent policy pronouncements. The country has set a target to increase its nuclear capacity from 8.8 GW at present to 22 GW by 2031 and 100 GW by 2047, which includes both large reactors, and small modular reactors (SMR). SMRs, typically producing up to 300 MW, are relatively new entrants to the nuclear family but are fast gaining traction globally by virtue of their compact size, factory-built modularity, and enhanced safety features. Typically, these are finding application for meeting concentrated base-load requirements in cities, decarbonisation of heavy industries like steel and aluminum, remote areas, captive power, and urban micro-grids with requisite reliability and power quality, reverse osmosis of seawater, and hydrogen production. Indian Railways has also shown interest in nuclear power for railway network operation. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) envisions SMRs as 'crucial to India's strategy to achieve net-zero emissions, aligning with its broader Viksit Bharat vision'. While technological developments taking place in this field are quite encouraging, it is also important to ensure an enabling policy and regulatory framework. This would call for changes in the existing regulatory framework, which is designed for large reactors, considering the distinct design features of SMRs like size, safety features, etc. Global scenario Globally, the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) is gaining momentum, with over 80 designs at various stages of advancement across 18 countries. Of these, 19 designs have reached advanced stages of deployment as of June 2025, led by countries such as Russia, China, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Russia and China have already operationalized SMRs, including land-based and floating units, particularly in remote and geographically challenging regions, some of which are with private sector participation. Recognizing the distinctive design features of SMRs, several countries, namely the United States, Canada, Russia, and others, are refining their policy and regulatory frameworks to accelerate the deployment of these technologies. For example, in the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has established a dedicated regulatory pathway for these reactors. Complementary initiatives, such as the proposed Advanced Nuclear Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement (ANR GEIS) and the finalised Emergency Preparedness Requirements for SMRs, also support this process. Canada has outlined a comprehensive SMR roadmap, combining regulatory alignment with targeted funding to support early deployment. Similarly, the United Kingdom has adapted its Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process to accommodate SMRs, introducing a stepwise, flexible framework that enables earlier feedback and improved alignment with international standards. Policy and Regulatory landscape in India India's nuclear energy sector presently operates under a highly centralized regulatory and policy framework, primarily governed by the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 . This legislation vests exclusive authority in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for all nuclear development, with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) being the sole entity authorised to construct and operate nuclear power plants for electricity generation. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) meticulously enforces safety and licensing norms, encompassing stringent siting criteria that mandate extensive exclusion and emergency planning zones, a multi-stage licensing process, mandatory environmental clearances, and strict radiation protection and waste management rules, consistent with IAEA guidelines and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLNDA), 2010 . The existing landscape presents several challenges for the deployment of SMRs and private sector participation. These include relatively long gestation periods for regulatory approvals, high upfront capital investments required, site constraints for conforming to the prevailing emergency zone limits in potential application areas, liability provisions under CLNDA, lack of clarity on foreign investment limits, and return on investments. Key action areas From the foregoing, it is apparent that there is an urgent need for a development track that fosters innovation, modular rollout, and broader engagement across India's nuclear ecosystem. This should identify strategic applications such as industrial clusters, off-grid regions, and urban areas, while updating siting norms, safety codes, and grid integration criteria to reflect the unique characteristics of SMRs. Some of the other key areas to focus on would include recognising nuclear power as green energy, defining long-term bankable power purchase agreements, developing instruments for insurance, expediting regulatory clearances by standardizing of licensing procedures, leveraging strategic partnerships with countries to bring in proven nuclear technologies and best practices, continuing R&D for improving fuel usage and safety of reactors, developing 100 percent indigenous supply chain, increasing public awareness on safety aspects, training of personnel, etc. The framework should also align with broader goals of energy security and the country's net-zero commitments. With the right push - through policy, regulatory reforms, and public-private collaboration, SMRs can become a key pillar of India's clean energy strategy, supporting net-zero ambitions and national energy resilience. The political will and initiatives taken by the government to amend the legislation and engage with private players augur well for this. The need of the hour is a time-bound action plan. - K Ramanathan, Distinguished Fellow; Dr Arunendra Kumar Tiwari, Associate Fellow; and Ishita Bhar, Research Associate, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
The Age
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Hegseth channels old TV role as he berates reporters over Iran bombing coverage
'That's not the question though,' replied Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin. 'Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?' Hegseth then went on the attack: 'Of course we're watching every single aspect. But Jennifer, you've been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.' Griffin noted she had reported key details of the complex military operation accurately and before others. 'So I take issue with that,' she said. On the key question of whether the trucks removed uranium, Trump later said that the trucks seen in satellite images were, in fact, workers installing concrete caps over the ventilation shafts to try to ward off an attack. 'Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!' he wrote on his Truth Social page. But he did provide the source of his information. Confirming details of the operation for the first time, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine said the US targeted two ventilation shafts at Fordow, which the Iranians had tried to cover up with concrete days earlier. On each side, the first bomb forcibly removed the cap, while the next four were fired into the shaft and exploded underground. A sixth was kept as a spare. 'All six weapons at each vent at Fordow went exactly where they were intended to go,' Caine said. He also revealed just 44 US soldiers defended the Al Udeid Air Base from Iran's missile attack earlier this week – the oldest being a 28-year-old captain and the youngest a 21-year-old private – after most troops were cleared from the expected target zone. But Caine did not discuss intelligence about what may have been destroyed underground. It was not his job to perform battle damage assessment, which was done by the intelligence community, he said. Hegseth acknowledged nobody knew for sure the status of assets under buried under the bombed mountain at Fordow, and was relying on satellite imagery and their knowledge of the destructive power of the US's bombs. 'Anyone with two eyes, some ears and a brain can recognise that kind of firepower with that specificity, at that location, and others, is going to have a devastating effect,' he said. 'If you want to know what's going on at Fordow you better go there and get a big shovel because no one's under there, able to assess, and everyone's using reflections of what they see.' Hegseth also repeated comments from Iran's foreign ministry saying the facilities had been 'badly damaged', as well as remarks form the Israeli Defence Force, Israel's Atomic Energy Commission and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. The debate over the extent of the damage to the three targeted sites flowed from Trump's declaration, shortly after the operation, that Iran's nuclear program had been 'completely and totally obliterated'. Loading The preliminary intelligence report, revealed by CNN and The New York Times, appeared to cast doubt on that, even though it was based on incomplete information, with a high degree of uncertainty. Trump, who has raged about the media's reporting on the operation, said the Thursday morning (10pm AEST) appearance by Hegseth and Caine was 'one of the greatest, most professional and most 'confirming' News Conferences I have ever seen'. 'The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologise to our great warriors, and everyone else!' Trump posted on his Truth Social website.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hegseth channels old TV role as he berates reporters over Iran bombing coverage
'That's not the question though,' replied Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin. 'Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?' Hegseth then went on the attack: 'Of course we're watching every single aspect. But Jennifer, you've been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.' Griffin noted she had reported key details of the complex military operation accurately and before others. 'So I take issue with that,' she said. On the key question of whether the trucks removed uranium, Trump later said that the trucks seen in satellite images were, in fact, workers installing concrete caps over the ventilation shafts to try to ward off an attack. 'Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!' he wrote on his Truth Social page. But he did provide the source of his information. Confirming details of the operation for the first time, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine said the US targeted two ventilation shafts at Fordow, which the Iranians had tried to cover up with concrete days earlier. On each side, the first bomb forcibly removed the cap, while the next four were fired into the shaft and exploded underground. A sixth was kept as a spare. 'All six weapons at each vent at Fordow went exactly where they were intended to go,' Caine said. He also revealed just 44 US soldiers defended the Al Udeid Air Base from Iran's missile attack earlier this week – the oldest being a 28-year-old captain and the youngest a 21-year-old private – after most troops were cleared from the expected target zone. But Caine did not discuss intelligence about what may have been destroyed underground. It was not his job to perform battle damage assessment, which was done by the intelligence community, he said. Hegseth acknowledged nobody knew for sure the status of assets under buried under the bombed mountain at Fordow, and was relying on satellite imagery and their knowledge of the destructive power of the US's bombs. 'Anyone with two eyes, some ears and a brain can recognise that kind of firepower with that specificity, at that location, and others, is going to have a devastating effect,' he said. 'If you want to know what's going on at Fordow you better go there and get a big shovel because no one's under there, able to assess, and everyone's using reflections of what they see.' Hegseth also repeated comments from Iran's foreign ministry saying the facilities had been 'badly damaged', as well as remarks form the Israeli Defence Force, Israel's Atomic Energy Commission and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. The debate over the extent of the damage to the three targeted sites flowed from Trump's declaration, shortly after the operation, that Iran's nuclear program had been 'completely and totally obliterated'. Loading The preliminary intelligence report, revealed by CNN and The New York Times, appeared to cast doubt on that, even though it was based on incomplete information, with a high degree of uncertainty. Trump, who has raged about the media's reporting on the operation, said the Thursday morning (10pm AEST) appearance by Hegseth and Caine was 'one of the greatest, most professional and most 'confirming' News Conferences I have ever seen'. 'The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologise to our great warriors, and everyone else!' Trump posted on his Truth Social website.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iran, Israel and US agree that Islamic Republic nuclear sites were 'badly damaged' despite leaked intel report
President Donald Trump's historic precision strikes on Iran's nuclear sites Saturday hit their targets and "destroyed" and "badly damaged" the facilities' critical infrastructure — an assessment agreed upon by Iran's Foreign Ministry, Israel and the United States. "Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei told Al Jazeera. Trump Says Us Would Strike Again If Iran Rebuilds Nuclear Program Israel's Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said its assessment is that Iran's nuclear program has been "significantly damaged," while Israel's Atomic Energy Commission described the U.S. strikes as "devastating." "The devastating U.S. strike on Fordo destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable," Israel's Atomic Energy Commission said. "We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years." It added: "The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material." Read On The Fox News App Trump Thrashes Cnn As 'Gutless Losers' For Coverage Of Us Strikes On Iran And as for the United States, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan "Razin" Caine said that initial battle damage assessments indicate that "all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction." "More than 125 U.S. aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth and fifth generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals," Caine said in a press briefing. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that "given the 30,000 pounds of explosions and the capability of those munitions, it was devastation underneath Fordow." Hegseth Says Fbi Is Conducting Investigation Into Leak Of Intel Report On Strike Against Iran "Any assessment that tells you otherwise is speculating with other motives," Hegseth said. The agreement on the assessment of damage between the United States, Israel and Iran comes amid a report that cited leaked low-confidence intelligence from one intelligence agency that suggested the U.S. strikes did not destroy Iran's nuclear sites. A Defense Intelligence Agency source told Fox News that the "low confidence" assessment was based on just "one day's worth of intelligence reporting." More intelligence has been gathered in the days since through other sources and methods, according to the source. "This is a preliminary, low-confidence report and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available," the Defense Intelligence Agency said. "We are working with the appropriate authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information." And Secretary of State Marco Rubio blasted the report and said that Iran's nuclear program "today looks nothing like it did just a week ago." "That story is a false story, and it's one that really shouldn't be re-reported because it doesn't accurately reflect what's happening," Rubio said. "Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape." Rubio also added that "there is no way Iran comes to the table if somehow nothing had happened." Trump Lashes Out At Israel And Iran With Profanity For Breaking Cease-fire "This was complete and total obliteration. They are in bad shape," Rubio said. "They are way behind today compared to where they were just seven days ago because of what President Trump did." Even the International Atomic Energy Agency's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi assessed that "very significant damage is expected to have occurred." "At the Esfahan nuclear site, additional buildings were hit, with the US confirming their use of cruise missiles," he said, according to prepared remarks for the International Atomic Energy Agency. "Affected buildings include some related to the uranium conversion process," he said. "Also at this site, entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit. At the Natanz enrichment site, the Fuel Enrichment Plant was hit, with the U.S. confirming that it used ground-penetrating munitions." Meanwhile, Trump has been in the Netherlands at the NATO Summit, where he was met with praise from allies on his "decisive" action in Iran. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump as a "man of strength" and a "man of peace" during Wednesday's summit. "I just want to recognize your decisive action on Iran," Rutte said at the start of his joint remarks with the president. "You are a man of strength, but you are also a man of peace. And the fact that you are now also successful in getting this ceasefire done between Israel and Iran — I really want to commend you for that. I think this is important for the whole world." The president on Wednesday declared that the United States would strike Iran again if the country attempts to rebuild its nuclear article source: Iran, Israel and US agree that Islamic Republic nuclear sites were 'badly damaged' despite leaked intel report
Roya News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
'Israel' claims military strikes have delayed Iran's nuclear program by years
'Israel' asserted on Wednesday that its recent military offensive, combined with US strikes, has significantly set back Iran's nuclear ambitions. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, 'We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has delayed Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.' The statement referenced a report by the 'Israel' Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), which claimed that US strikes on the Fordo nuclear facility—one of Iran's main uranium enrichment sites—destroyed critical infrastructure and rendered the facility inoperable. 'The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not regain access to nuclear material,' the statement added. On June 13, 'Israel' launched airstrikes targeting multiple locations across Iran, including military and nuclear sites, accusing Tehran of nearing the production of a nuclear bomb—an allegation Iran has strongly denied. In response, Iran carried out missile and drone strikes, escalating the conflict. The United States further intensified military action by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday, marking a deepening of the confrontation.
