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New Delhi: The tender floated by state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for co-developing 220 MWe Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) has drawn interest from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Adani Power, Tata Power, Hindalco Industries, Jindal Steel and Power and JSW Energy, among others. The bid submission deadline, earlier set to expire on September 30, has been extended once again — this time until March 31, 2026, a document reviewed by Energy Watch showed.
According to NPCIL, Hindalco, Jindal Steel and Power, Tata Power, RIL have submitted documents specified in the Request for Proposal (RFP) for signing Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) and have collected tentative BOQ, plant performance data and operations and maintenance (O&M) expenditure data. JSW Energy and Adani Power have submitted documents required for signing of NDA and it is currently under evaluation and further processing, said NPCIL.
These companies have also identified 16 probable sites across six states for setting up BSR projects. These include five sites in Gujarat, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Odisha, two in Andhra Pradesh, and one each in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. NPCIL said it has also written to state governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha seeking support for site investigations and for land and water allocation.
“Based on the request received from some of the above industries, NPCIL has issued letters to the state governments of Gujarat, MP and Odisha, requesting to extend necessary support for site investigation activities and, land and water allocation for setting up BSR,” said NPCIL in the document.
NPCIL also said that the bid deadline was pushed back following requests from companies seeking more time to evaluate the proposed sites and work out the capex and O&M cost of BSR based on the data provided by NPCIL for the submission of proposals.
The RFP, which was floated on December 31, 2024, invited industries/companies to propose sites for twin 220 MW pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs), referred to as BSR, which will be constructed under NPCIL’s supervision and operated by the public sector utility. While NPCIL will retain operational control and asset ownership, the successful bidders will hold beneficial rights over the net electricity generated.
According to the RFP documents, the successful bidder must finance the entire project, including capital and operational expenditure, and will be required to reimburse NPCIL for all costs incurred across the lifecycle — from pre-project assessments to decommissioning. In return, they will gain assured long-term access to the full electricity output (net of auxiliary consumption) for captive use.
India’s nuclear energy projects fleet currently comprises ~8.8 GW capacity and is targeted to expand to 100 GW by 2047. Private companies have so far been limited to supplying equipment and EPC services, but the government signalled in the FY2025–26 Budget its intent to open nuclear generation—especially small modular reactors (SMRs) — to private ownership. The tender floated by NPCIL is the first step in this direction.
To allow private sector participation, amendments are required to the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, which currently restricts ownership to government entities, and to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, whose supplier liability provisions have long deterred investors. The government is also considering a nuclear liability fund, a new umbrella law with a streamlined regulator, and phased FDI liberalisation to attract foreign capital. These legislative changes are expected to be tabled in Parliament in the Winter Session of 2025.
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