India to shrink zones around nuclear reactors to free up land, sources say

India plans to reduce the size of exclusion zones around nuclear plants to free up significant amounts of land for reactor expansions, three officials familiar with the matter said, in a move to attract private investment that is likely to face ‌backlash from opposition parties and the public.

At present, all nuclear reactors in India have a minimum buffer of about 1 km (0.62 miles) around reactors where no habitation ‌or economic activity is allowed, a provision meant to keep radiation risks at a distance.

India’s atomic energy regulator and the Department of Atomic Energy have approved an “in principle” plan to reduce these buffers, the three officials ​said. They requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

The changes are likely to be included in final rules that are due to be published in the next couple of months after the country opened its nuclear generation sector to private and foreign players last year. India aims to expand nuclear capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2047 from about 8 gigawatts at present as part of its clean energy strategy.

The in-principle agreement between the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and the Department of Atomic Energy to reduce the exclusion zones around ‌nuclear plants to free up land for expansion as well as ⁠the size of the cuts have not been previously reported. The proposal was not part of a bill that was approved by parliament and it is expected to be set out in detailed rules that have yet to be released.

India’s Department of Atomic Energy, its Atomic ⁠Energy Regulatory Board and the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to queries from Reuters.

The revisions to the buffer zones would cut the land needs by half for large reactors and by nearly two-thirds for small units, potentially allowing two to three times more capacity on the sites, according to an internal presentation reviewed by Reuters.

With smaller exclusion zones, a 10-reactor nuclear complex with 700 megawatts ​of ​capacity each could be set up within less than 700 hectares, the presentation showed. India’s existing nuclear ​plants typically use around 1,000 hectares of land.

Small modular reactors could ‌also be placed in industrial zones for captive use, two of the officials said. And cutting exclusion zones would also allow existing plants to add new reactors more easily using shared infrastructure, the presentation said.

The change is aimed at easing land constraints, a key hurdle, as the private sector – including Tata Power, Adani Power and Reliance Industries – looks to invest in the sector.

The three officials said the exclusion zones are being reduced because of safer reactor technologies, in line with global norms followed by countries like the U.S. and France that do not fix exclusion distances.

Strict siting rules – including distance from human settlements and safety risks – along with lengthy land acquisition processes, often exceeding four to five years, make identifying ‌new sites difficult.

The decision on exclusion zones, however, risks a backlash in a country where nuclear power ​has faced public opposition despite no major accident record.

For much of the public, nuclear power in India is ​closely associated with radiation risks and the exclusion zones serve as a measurable ​assurance that risk is kept at a distance.

Some Indian lawmakers, while debating the opening of the nuclear sector in parliament in December, said ‌the reforms prioritised private investment over safety and flagged risks including radiation ​and nuclear waste. Opposition leaders said the ​legal amendments risked weakening nuclear safety safeguards by diluting liability protections, easing reactor siting rules and expanding private participation without stronger independent oversight.

The bill was cleared by parliament despite the safety concerns raised by opposition lawmakers during the debate.

“The reduction is a meaningful shift that has been under discussion for nearly 18 months,” said R. ​Srikanth, the engineering dean at the National Institute of Advanced ‌Studies, a research institute. “Data from existing plants show that radiation levels around them are significantly lower than natural background levels in parts of coastal Kerala ​and Tamil Nadu.”

“Unfortunately, good news of the Indian nuclear power has been kept hidden from the public,” he said. “We need to overcome this all-pervasive sense ​of secrecy around civilian nuclear power plants.”