BARC has entered advanced discussions with Reliance Industries, Adani Group, NTPC, and Larsen & Toubro to commercialise its 300 MW Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR‑300) under a ₹9,000 crore plan.

The initiative will establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to hold intellectual property rights and attract private investment, marking a historic shift enabled by the SHANTI Act of 2025.

BARC is working to commercialise its indigenous 300 MW small modular reactor design, known as BSMR‑300. The plan involves setting up a special purpose vehicle that private companies can invest in. 

This SPV will also hold the intellectual property rights to the reactor design, ensuring that ownership of the technology is clearly defined and protected.

The cost of building a 300 MW unit is estimated at around ₹30 crore per megawatt. This translates to approximately ₹9,000 crore for a single plant. A formal request for proposal is expected soon, though details on ownership and investment amounts have not yet been finalised. The discussions remain preliminary but signal a major step towards private sector participation in nuclear power.

India has set a long‑term target of expanding nuclear power capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2047. At present, the country produces just 8.7 GW of nuclear power, most of it from older pressurised heavy water reactors.

Small modular reactors are seen as a faster and cheaper way to add capacity. Their modular nature allows major parts to be manufactured in factories and assembled on site, reducing construction time compared to traditional large nuclear plants.

The timing of these talks is explained by recent developments. On 14 August 2026, BARC and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India released a detailed project report for the BSMR‑300 design. This report provided the technical groundwork for private sector engagement.

The BSMR‑300 is a Generation III+ pressurised water reactor, designed with passive safety features, modular construction, and simplified licensing processes. It is small enough to be manufactured largely in factory conditions but large enough to contribute meaningfully to the national grid.

The push for private investment follows the passage of the SHANTI Act in December 2025. This legislation opened nuclear power generation to private companies for the first time in India’s history. 

The law change is expected to accelerate commercialisation by allowing equity participation from private firms in projects that were previously restricted to government entities.

BARC is also working on other reactor designs alongside the BSMR‑300. These include smaller demonstration units and specialised reactors such as the SMR‑55 for remote grids and a high‑temperature gas‑cooled reactor for hydrogen production.

Together, these projects form part of India’s wider ₹20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission, which targets at least five indigenous small modular reactors by 2033.

The proposed SPV model is expected to pave the way for large‑scale development of SMRs in India. By bringing private capital into the commercialisation of government‑developed nuclear technology, the initiative seeks to balance public oversight with private efficiency.

This approach is intended to help India meet its ambitious nuclear expansion goals while reducing reliance on fossil fuels and supporting industrial decarbonisation.

Agencies