India is preparing to invite bids within the next three to six months for the Bharat Small Modular Reactor, designated BSMR-200, with a planned capacity of 220 megawatts.
This marks a significant step in expanding nuclear capacity as part of the country’s clean energy transition.
The initiative is designed to deploy scalable nuclear technology that will strengthen long-term energy security and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The reactor will be built to a standardised design, enabling faster deployment and potential replication across multiple sites.
The BSMR-200 is being jointly developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. The project carries an estimated cost of around ₹5,960 Crores, with the approved benchmark standing at roughly ₹30 Crores per megawatt.
Construction is expected to take between 60 and 72 months once final clearances are secured. Foreign firms will be permitted to participate in the bidding process, but they will need to partner with domestic companies to ensure local execution.
This move follows recent policy reforms that opened the nuclear sector to private and foreign investment. It aligns with the government’s Nuclear Energy Mission, which has allocated ₹2,000 Crores towards small modular reactor development and aims to support multiple units over the coming years.
Officials have characterised the initial plant as a pilot project that will inform design standardisation, regulatory processes, and supply chain development for subsequent rollouts across the national grid.
Planners have emphasised that integrating small modular reactors into the energy mix is intended to provide reliable, low-carbon baseload power as electricity demand rises.
The standardised approach is expected to shorten lead times and reduce unit costs through replication and local manufacturing partnerships. The forthcoming bid invitation will test market interest, technical readiness, and project delivery models, while signalling a long-term commitment to nuclear capacity expansion.
Agencies
