Nuclear Technology

📖 India's three-stage nuclear power programme

Conceived by physicist Homi J. Bhabha, India's nuclear power strategy is built on a three-stage plan designed around India's specific resource base — abundant thorium but limited uranium:

• Stage 1 — Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium.
• Stage 2 — Fast Breeder Reactors using plutonium, generating more fissile material than they consume.
• Stage 3 — Reactors using thorium, leveraging India's large domestic thorium reserves.

⚖️ India's nuclear policy

India follows a policy of No First Use (NFU) of nuclear weapons and maintains a credible minimum deterrence posture. India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it has long criticised as discriminatory toward non-nuclear-weapon states.

🤝 Key international agreements

The India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement (2008) was a landmark deal, ending decades of nuclear isolation by allowing India to access civil nuclear technology and fuel from the international market despite being outside the NPT, following a specific waiver granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).