India builds three SMRs under Nuclear Energy Mission

These are being developed by the Department of Atomic Energy.

India has announced progress in its INR20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission, which covers the building of three small modular reactors (SMR).

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said it is developing the facilities, namely the Bharat Small Modular Reactors (BSMR-200), for repurposing of retiring thermal power plants & captive power plants for energy intensive industry, SMR-55 for providing energy for remote as well as off-grid location, and High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor of capacity 5 megawatt-thermal for hydrogen generation for decarbonisation of transport sector and process industries.

“Lead units of reactors are planned to be set up at DAE sites. The subsequent units of these SMRs will be located at the sites offered by the end-user industry in case of captive power plants and at suitable brownfield sites in case of retiring thermal power plants, subject to applicable regulatory approvals,” the department said.