Infrastructure · Nuclear
India's civil nuclear programme.
Every operating reactor, every unit under construction, and the fuel-cycle, regulator, and policy architecture behind them.
Key Takeaways
- India operates 21 commercial reactors at 7 sites — 19 indigenous PHWRs and 2 Russian VVER-1000s — for 8,240 MWe gross / 7,430 MWe net.
- 10 reactors are currently under construction adding 8,000 MWe of capacity, including the four KKNPP VVER-1000s, Kaiga 5/6, GHAVP 1/2 in Haryana, and BHAVINI's PFBR fast breeder at Kalpakkam.
- BHAVINI's 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam achieved first criticality on 6 April 2026 — kicking off Stage II of India's three-stage thorium roadmap, decades behind the original schedule.
- AERB licenses every reactor; the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, India-US 123 Agreement (2008), 2008 NSG waiver, and 2014 IAEA Additional Protocol set the legal perimeter for civil nuclear cooperation.
Cumulative installed nuclear capacity
Reactors commissioned per decade
Operating capacity by site
Operating fleet by reactor type
Indian-design PHWRs dominate the fleet by unit count; the two Russian VVER-1000s carry an outsized share of the gross MWe.
Out of scope: strategic / weapons-side facilities
Strategic facilities (CIRUS legacy, Dhruva, FBTR research reactor, military reprocessing), reactor-grade plutonium inventory, and India's research-reactor estate (BARC Trombay) are deliberately excluded — this is a civil-programme page only.