Powering India’s Digital Horizon: SMRs for Data Centres Under the SHANTI Act

The 21st century is indisputably defined by the digital economy, making data a vital national resource and data centres as critical as roads, ports, or power grids. Driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, e-governance, and defence digitization, India’s digital ecosystem is expanding at an unprecedented rate. However, this digital leap brings a massive challenge: data centres are incredibly energy-intensive, requiring 24/7 uninterrupted power with zero tolerance for outages.

As AI-driven computing threatens to quadruple global data centre electricity demand by 2030, traditional rely-and-backup methods—combining intermittent renewables with expensive battery storage or carbon-heavy diesel generators—fall short of meeting sustainability and reliability needs. In the wake of the historic Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are emerging as the clean, reliable, and space-efficient backbone for India’s future digital infrastructure.

The Energy Crisis of the Hyper-Scale Era

While a traditional data centre consumes between 10 and 50 megawatts, hyper-scale facilities demand 100 to 500 megawatts, and upcoming AI campuses are projected to exceed one gigawatt. This creates a severe energy strain in major digital hubs like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Noida.

According to the report “Small Modular Reactors for Data Centres in India: Opportunities and Roadmap in the Wake of the SHANTI Act”, SMRs (50 to 300 MW per unit) present a game-changing alternative to standard renewable setups:

• Unmatched Reliability: SMRs maintain a capacity factor exceeding 90%, providing continuous, weather-independent baseload electricity. Conversely, solar and wind remain intermittent (20-40% capacity) and require costly grid balancing.
• Extreme Space Efficiency: Data centre clusters are tied to high-cost urban borders where land is scarce. SMRs possess a high energy density, requiring significantly less land than expansive solar or wind farms.
• Strategic Autonomy: Nuclear fuel offers exceptionally long operating cycles and can be strategically stockpiled, shielding the digital economy from volatile international energy markets.

Capitalizing on the SHANTI Act and Indigenous SMRs

For decades, India’s nuclear sector was strictly state-controlled, limiting private capital and slowing expansion. The SHANTI Act of 2025 radically modernizes this framework by inviting private sector participation in power generation, manufacturing, and technology development. This legal shift perfectly aligns with the modular nature of SMRs, opening doors for cloud service providers and tech firms to co-invest in dedicated nuclear power installations.

Backing this legislative momentum is a national goal to scale nuclear capacity to nearly 100 GW by 2047. Supported by a ₹20,000 crore budget allocation for research and development, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is actively engineering indigenous designs. These include the Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR-200), the SMR-55, and specialized high-temperature gas-cooled units, with the government aiming to operationalize at least five indigenous SMRs by 2033.

A Strategic Phased Roadmap to 2047

To successfully merge nuclear energy with digital infrastructure, the report outlines a clear, four-phase timeline:

Achieving this vision requires overcoming steep upfront capital costs, expanding the regulatory capacity of safety institutions, and building out a domestic manufacturing supply chain. Yet, if followed carefully, SMRs will ensure that India’s digital rise stands firmly on a foundation of clean energy security, sustainability, and absolute strategic autonomy.