The National Thermal Power Corporation is looking to triple its nuclear power capacity to 30GW in the next two decades

India's top power producer, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), has set a goal of building 30 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power capacity over the next 20 years, with an estimated cost of $62 billion, Reuters has reported. This is three times higher than the company's initial goal of 10GW, according to officials from the NTPC, as quoted by the agency.

The national power producer is currently searching for suitable sites to implement the plan, despite the challenges posed by local resistance to nuclear projects in India, the report said.

These initiatives are a part of New Delhi's energy goals, which include setting up 500GW of non-fossil fuel electricity generation capacity by 2030 and achieving at least 100GW of nuclear capacity by 2047. The NTPC is already building two 2.6GW plants with nuclear power, one in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and another in the northern state of Rajasthan.

The decision to increase the target comes after the government announced plans to open up the nuclear sector to foreign and private investment. In the annual budget for the financial year starting in April, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Nuclear Energy Mission with funding of $2.35 billion (around 20 billion Indian rupees) into the sector. He noted that the mission is closely aligned with India's ambitious commitment to boost clean energy production, specifically aiming to achieve the milestone of 100GW of atomic energy capacity by 2047.

To make this possible, New Delhi intends to undertake legislative reform to change its nuclear liability norms, which are now considered to be barriers to imports of nuclear technology and equipment from foreign suppliers.

Nuclear energy was one of the talking points in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visits to France and the US. US President Donald Trump, in a meeting with Modi last week, noted that India is reforming its laws to allow the entry of US nuclear technology into the Indian market.

This comes as India is working on a project to set up small modular reactors, which can be used in remote areas where traditional power plants are not feasible. India has been discussing this technology with several countries, including the US, Russia, and France. Apart from the NTPC, private Indian utilities and corporations such as Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Adani Power, and Vedanta have expressed interest in nuclear power projects. 

So far, Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom is the only foreign supplier of nuclear technology to India. Rosatom is developing India's largest nuclear energy facility with a projected capacity of 6GW - the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.