Author: Aadhya Vimal (Student Editor at Jurivine)

NEW DELHI — The Indian Parliament has passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India or SHANTI Bill, 2025, called both a landmark for energy security and a death knell for transparency. For the first time since 1956, the gates of India’s nuclear fortress have been unlocked for private players.

But as the government celebrates a new era of clean energy, legal experts and Opposition leaders are sounding the alarm over several hidden clauses that they say trade public safety for corporate profit.

Why Now? The Quest for Baseload

The energy dilemma of India is brutally simple: we want to be green, but solar and wind aren’t always on when the sun goes down, or the wind stops blowing. Coal does the heavy lifting, but it’s killing the environment. Enter the government’s answer: nuclear energy, more precisely Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs.

To finance such massive development (targeting 100 GW by 2047), it has been argued that it requires capital from the private sector. This has been facilitated by the SHANTI Bill that enables joint ownership of plants by Indian companies to the extent of 49%.

The Liability Loophole: Repealing Polluter

The area where the law is most at stake is the complete rewrite of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010. In the old law, if a nuclear component was defective, the supplier of the component faced a possible lawsuit. Supplier liability was what kept the likes of GE and Westinghouse out of the country.

The SHANTI Bill: A game changer:

Supplier Immunity: Suppliers thereafter have been given absolute protection from suits. They will not be liable even for a defective component.

Capped Operator Liability: Compensation payout in case of a mishap is fixed for a Private Operator at a mere ₹100 Crores for an SMR.

Taxpayer Backstop: To the extent that this amount is exceeded, it will be funded from the Union Government’s budget out of a new Nuclear Liability Fund.

Section 39 : The RTI Nuke

What may very well be considered draconian legislation in this case is Section 39. This provides a means whereby nearly all types of nuclear information, from nuclear plant designs to nuclear safety inspection results, may be designated restricted by the government.

Restricted information is totally exempt from the Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005. Unlike the current RTI regulations, where a public interest appeal is to be provided, the new Section 39 of the proposed law throws up a wall of secrecy. According to the law, the public’s right to know whether a plant is safe behind one’s garden or if a private company is gaming the system is negated.

Section 42: Workers Without a Safety Net

The Bill not only impacts neighbours, but it also impacts those affected in the plants,” says Marieme, citing that Section 42 exempts nuclear sector workers from the overall labour safety in the country

This has been termed legalised exploitation by the central trade unions. In essence, the proposed Bill denies workers in the nuclear industry the same rights as every other industrial worker in the country because it establishes a different and limited code of nuclear safety that confines the healthcare and well-being of the employees of nuclear installations to mere monitoring and reduced doses of legally permitted exposure. 

The Verdict: Sovereignty or Secrecy

According to the government, SHANTI is the only means through which Energy Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) can be obtained. They said that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), having newly-acquired statutory authority, would be a tougher cop on the beat.

But is this a legal issue: Is a business that is so secretive, not liable for accidents, and exempt from labour legislation truly a part of a safe” society? With a target year of 2026 to implement this Bill, this war is no longer in the chamber of Parliament but in courtrooms across the country in the Higher Courts and Supreme Courts.