New nuclear law raises various concerns over national security, public safety

New Delhi: The SHANTI Bill, 2025 passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday has raised various concerns  relating to national security and public safety, as the new legislation paves the way for private sector participation in nuclear power generation.

The Bill was approved amid a walkout by Opposition parties, which wanted further scrutiny of the new law.

India’s nuclear energy programme had so far been remained firmly under government control. The new law signals a decisive shift. Its marks one of the most significant reforms in the sector since Independence.

Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh while replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Shanti Bill, said the Bill seeks to modernise India’s nuclear framework in line with contemporary technological, economic and energy realities, while retaining and strengthening core safety, security and regulatory safeguards that have been in place since the Atomic Energy Act of 1962.

However, the Opposition point of view was that the government was showing too much haste for privatisation in a highly sensitive sector. Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor warned that the legislation, in its present form, could compromise public safety and national security.

He pressed or a detailed and bipartisan review ,and demanded that the Bill be referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for thorough scrutiny. Participating in the debate,

He expressed his great reservation over Section 44, which empowers the government to exempt nuclear facilities from licensing requirements. This could create a dangerous regulatory vacuum and expose citizens to unacceptable risks in the absence of robust legal safeguards. He also pointed out to the inadequacy of compensation mechanisms.

He said that despite global inflation and the nuclear disasters that took place in Fukushima, the compensation cap under the Bill remains pegged at around Rs 3,900 crore. He also criticised the proposal to limit the period for filing claims to 10-20 years, arguing that radiation-induced illnesses often surface much later, effectively denying victims access to justice.

Tharoor was of the view that opening the entire nuclear fuel cycle to private players without strict eligibility and accountability norms was fraught with dangerous consequences. He also objected to provisions under which, the Central government has the sile power to file criminal complaints against defaulting operators solely with the central government. This would deny affected citizens the right to independently seek legal redress, the Congress MP said.

Seeking to allay the fears expressed by Tharoor and other opposition members, Dr Jitendra Singh said safety norms, security controls over fissile material, spent fuel and heavy water, and periodic inspections remain firmly under government oversight, regardless of private participation.

He underlined that the proposed legislation consolidates existing laws and upgrades the regulatory architecture by giving statutory status to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which until now functioned through an executive order.

On liability, a central theme of the debate, the Minister said the Bill does not dilute compensation to victims. He explained that operator liability has been rationalised through graded caps linked to reactor size to encourage newer technologies such as small modular reactors, while ensuring that full compensation is available to affected persons through a multi-layered mechanism. This includes operator liability, a proposed Nuclear Liability Fund backed by the government, and additional international compensation through India’s participation in the Convention on Supplementary Compensation.
He maintained that supplier liability was removed after detailed consideration of global practices and advances in reactor safety, while negligence and penal provisions remain enforceable under the law.

–India News Stream