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Among different things, the White Paper connected Kerala’s fiscal health, tabled successful the State Legislative Assembly connected June 4, has reopened the statement connected whether the State should person atomic powerfulness plants to boost interior powerfulness generation.
Drafted by a sheet headed by erstwhile Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, the papers lists atomic powerfulness arsenic 1 of the sources that Kerala should research successful adopting a “long-term strategy” for vigor security. “This requires actively facilitating and incentivising concern successful divers vigor sources, including solar, hydel and atomic power, portion besides strengthening transmission and retention infrastructure,” it notes.
Elsewhere, the 195-page White Paper expands connected the subject: “Significant maturation demands a important summation successful powerfulness procreation capacity; 6000 MW done star power, 8000 MW done pumped hydro-electric projects and adjacent much done closed-loop reactors developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and done tiny modular reactors.”
The erstwhile Left Democratic Front (LDF) authorities ne'er made immoderate argumentation announcement regarding atomic powerfulness plants, though the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) was reportedly progressive with definite proposals astatine 1 point. In September 2024, astatine a treatment organised by the Sasthra Vedhi, V.D. Satheesan, the existent Chief Minister who was past the Leader of the Opposition, had opined that the pros and cons of atomic powerfulness plants should beryllium cautiously examined earlier jumping to a conclusion.
State authorities sources accidental that Central agencies are acceptable to spell up with projects successful Kerala if the authorities provides the indispensable land. However, a conception of powerfulness assemblage experts and environmentalists powerfully reason that Kerala should enactment connected star powerfulness and pumped retention projects (PSP) alternatively than opting for atomic stations which transportation inherent risks.
A touchy subject
For decades, atomic plants person been a touchy taxable successful Kerala. Disasters specified arsenic the ones successful Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) and questions related to the harmless disposal of radioactive discarded person accentuated concerns regarding the constitution of a works successful the densely populated State. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s, questions related to atomic plants had travel up successful the Kerala Legislative Assembly arsenic the Union authorities scoured imaginable locations. In the past, Kerala has besides witnessed large-scale protests against atomic facilities, notably the Peringome anti-nuclear conflict successful the aboriginal 1990s.
Another origin that kept discussions connected atomic vigor live successful Kerala has been the reported beingness of thorium deposits on the State’s coast. One of the earliest questions regarding their exploitation, incidentally, was raised successful the Travancore Sri Mulam Assembly successful 1946, arsenic Assembly records show.
More recently, atomic powerfulness plants re-entered nationalist treatment successful 2024 and 2025 erstwhile Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, successful the 2024-25 Union Budget, announced plans for Bharat Small Reactors, and probe and improvement of Bharat Small Modular Reactor and caller atomic vigor technologies. Soon afterwards, it was reported that the KSEB was exploring the anticipation of having atomic powerfulness plants, though the past LDF authorities did not marque immoderate argumentation announcement regarding it. Potential locations connected the KSEB database seemingly included Athirappilly successful Thrissur territory and Cheemeni successful Kasaragod.
In January 2025, a treatment insubstantial connected a regulatory model for renewable vigor published by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission besides drew attraction arsenic it urged Kerala to research the imaginable of tiny modular atomic powerfulness plants.
In September 2025, the past LDF authorities asked the Director, Energy Management Centre - Kerala to behaviour a ‘model study’ connected utilizing thorium deposits for aboriginal vigor generation. The authoritative was expected to sojourn Kalpakkam successful Tamil Nadu, the determination of India’s archetypal indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor (500 MWe), but clearance for the sojourn is yet to materialise.
