Opposition flags risks as ruling MPs back private push in nuclear energy Bill

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed a sharply divided debate on the government’s Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill.Opposition parties warned that it opens the door to risky privatisation of a sensitive sector, while ruling coalition MPs strongly defended the legislation as essential for energy security, investment and long-term growth. Leading the Opposition charge, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor described the Bill as a dangerous leap into privatised nuclear expansion undertaken without adequate safeguards. “We cannot allow the pursuit of capital to override the non-negotiable requirements of public safety, environmental protection and victim justice,” he said and added that the legislation was heavy on discretion, full of loopholes and largely indifferent to public welfare.Questioning the clarity of the proposed law, Tharoor remarked: “I am not sure whether it is a nuclear bill or an unclear bill.” He cautioned that describing nuclear power as ‘clean and abundant’ was ‘dangerously misleading,’ given the risks of radioactive leaks, long-lived waste and catastrophic accidents.“The full life cycle of nuclear fuel– from mining to waste disposal — is neither clean nor sustainable,” he said.Tharoor also aimed for provisions allowing wide private participation across the nuclear fuel cycle. “This effectively opens up the entire nuclear-energy sector — from mining to waste management — to private actors with indeterminable qualification criteria,” he argued, warning that concentration of control in profit-driven entities could heighten systemic risk exponentially.On liability, he said the proposed cap of around USD 460 million was wholly inadequate. “Fukushima has already cost over USD 182 billion. Chernobyl exceeded USD 700 billion. Yet we propose to cap liability at less than half a billion dollars? This is not a safety net; it is a trapdoor for victims,” Tharoor said, urging the government to send the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Several opposition MPs echoed these concerns.



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