In one of the biggest moves to expand nuclear energy sector, the government on Saturday set up a new mission to develop small modular nuclear reactors, and set a target of operationalising at least five such reactors in the next eight years. In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also promised to amend the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to accelerate private sector participation in building and operating nuclear power plants. Sitharaman had expressed such an intention in last year’s budget itself, but she had not revealed the details of the government’s plan on nuclear power generation. Her announcements this year are more substantial and concrete. Story continues below this ad She said the government would set up a Nuclear Energy Mission worth ₹20,000 crore for research and development of small modular reactors (SMRs), and promised that at least five such indigenously developed SMRs would be operationalised by 2033. SMRs, as the name suggests, are small nuclear reactors that typically produce less than 300 MW of electricity. Conventional …