The Department of Atomic Energy has released draft Rules and Regulations under the SHANTI Act permitting private companies to build and operate nuclear reactors, while reserving uranium enrichment for the state.
What they do not do is specify an enrichment threshold, create a private-sector enrichment pathway, or establish a dedicated framework for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) — a fuel that, at present, only Russia can supply at commercial scale.
This brief argues that India's nuclear ambitions risk creating new dependencies unless fuel security and enrichment capacity are addressed: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/india-s-nuclear-expansion-has-a-fuel-cycle-blind-spot
orfonline.org
India’s Nuclear Expansion Has a Fuel-Cycle Blind Spot
India’s nuclear policy, HALEU fuel security, uranium enrichment, and strategic dependence on foreign nuclear fuel suppliers.
September 2, 2026 273 1 2
