"I realise that some of my criticisms may be mistaken; but to refuse to criticize judgements for fear of being mistaken is to abandon criticism altogether... If any of my criticisms are found to be correct, the cause is served; and if any are found to be incorrect the very process of finding out my mistakes must lead to the discovery of the right reasons, or better reasons than I have been able to give, and the cause is served just as well."

-Mr. HM Seervai, Preface to the 1st ed., Constitutional Law of India.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Comment on India’s Statement at Nuclear Energy Summit Brussels 2024

On 21.03.2024, an important summit related to nuclear energy was held in Brussels. On behalf of India, Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission & Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, delivered India's statement. This statement represents India's approach so far and in the near future regarding nuclear energy. This short post comments on India's statement in the summit.

India's Commitment to Net Zero and Role of Nuclear Energy

The statement noted India's commitment to Net Zero emissions by 2070. Towards this aim, the statement noted, India's has taken steps to increase the share of nuclear power capacity.  [The current share of nuclear power to total capacity is at about 1.6%, (6.7 GW- as on May 2023) as per this information of the Ministry of Power.] 

As per the statement, India aims to tiple nuclear power energy capacity by 2030 from 7.5GW presently, [that is, to 22.5 GW]. 

India's Views Towards Nuclear Power

The statement noted the Government of India's belief that nuclear power was "clean and environment-friendly" and is available 24x7 and was capable of providing energy security in the long term in a sustainable manner. 

The statement noted that it was "imperative" that the Indian nuclear power programme grew in order to ensure energy security and sustainable development.

India's Current Projects

The statement notes that India has recently added 700 MW Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR), the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project – Unit 3 & 4 and nine more reactors are under construction. The statement also notes that the Government has accorded administrative approval for ten such reactors to be set up in fleet mode.

Recent Innovations

The statement also made mention about India's recent highlights regarding nuclear energy. It mentioned that India entered the important second stage of the three stage nuclear power programme through "Core Loading" which took place in India's first indigenous FBR, that is, Fast Breeder Reactor (500 MWe). 

The statement also made mention of  the Government's thought process that the Government is considering development of Small Modular Reactors and is in discussions with foreign companies for the expansion of India's nuclear programme. 

India's Commitment as regards Nuclear Energy

The statement records India's commitment "to full international civil nuclear cooperation" and "to  peaceful applications of nuclear technology, both in power and non-power sector, while ensuring the security of nuclear and radiological materials".

The statement concludes by stating:

"India has a robust nuclear safety culture and impeccable safety record. India will continue to support the [International Atomic Energy] Agency in its efforts to provide a robust, sustainable and visible global nuclear safety and security framework."

Comment

As regards the statement that India is in discussions with foreign companies regarding the expansion of India's nuclear programme, a recent newspaper report suggests that Rosatom, Russia's state atomic energy company, was in talks with India for development of Small Modular Reactors.

One more important aspect requires some explanation: the three stage nuclear process that India's statement refers to. India has substantial thorium resources and this programme is aimed to harness those resources.


Stage I: Use of PHWR- Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors and natural Uranium 238 (U-238), with traces of U-235, as the fisssile material. On fission, this would produce Plutonium- 239 (Pu-239) + energy.

Stage II: In stage II, Pu-239 will be used along with U-238 through Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR), which. apparently produces more nuclear fuel than it consumes. The recent core loading event at India's first indigenously built Prototype FBR in Kalpakkam (500 MWe) marks India's entry into the second phase. On fission, this would produce U-233 and more Pu-239.

Stage III: In the third stage, Pu-239 will be combined with Thorium-232 (which is in abundance in India) to produce energy + U-233.

This three stage programme was envisaged by Homi J Bhabha and presented in 1954 in the conference on "Development of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes" and was later adopted by the Government in 1958.

India's statement in the Nuclear Summit can be accessed from here.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

India's Planning to Attract Private Investment in Nuclear Sector to the Tune of US$ 26 Billion

In a major development, the print media reports that India is in talks with various private firms to attract investment to the tune of US$ 26 billion in the nuclear sector, in order to produce electricity from sources that do not produce carbon emissions. India plans to increase the percentage of contribution by non-fossil fuel sector in electricity generation. The current contribution of the nuclear sector and other sectors towards electricity generation is given below:

Installed Power Generation Capacity (2023)

Particulars

 Installed Capacity (MW)

Percentage

Fossil Fuel

      2,37,269

57%

Renewable Energy

           1,73,619

41%

Nuclear Power

                6,780

2%

 India now seeks to increase this 2%. News reports also suggest that the Government has been in talks with Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Adani Power and Vedanta to contribute about $ 5.30 billion each for investments in the nuclear sector. India is no exception: a substantial number of countries are looking at the nuclear option to meet their Net Zero commitments.

From a legal perspective, there might be a need to modify the present regulatory structure of nuclear energy in order to attract private investments (see, for instance, here). The increased focus on nuclear energy presents important opportunities, albeit long term, for law firms. Specialisation in nuclear power regulation, contracts relating to nuclear power plants, etc. will go a long way in catering to the potential market. Likewise, legal education in India could also focus on nuclear energy law, as this post notes.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

"A Employee" and the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923

The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 was amended in 2009 through the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2009. One of the main purposes of the amendment was to make the said law applicable to all categories of employees and to bring about a gender neutral term. 

For that purpose, the Short Title to the Act was changed to "Employee's Compensation Act, 1923" instead of "Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923". The term "workman" and "workmen" were replaced with "employee" and "employees". To do so, Section 5 of the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2009 provided:

"5. Throughout the principal Act, for the words "workman" and "workmen", wherever they occur, the words "employee': and "employees" shall respectively be substituted, and such other consequential amendments as the rules of grammar may require shall also be made." (emphasis added).

In effect, Section 5 stated that wherever the term" workman" occured, it should be substituted with "employee" and corresponding grammatical changes would also be made. For instance, if the phrase "a workman relinquishes" it would have to be changed to "an employee relinquishes" although Section 5 of the the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2009 calls for substitution of the term "workman" with "employee".

Unfortunately, we see in the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, as is uploaded in the India Code website that the consequential grammatical changes were not made although "workman" was substituted with "employee". Some examples of this situation is provided in the table below:

Section

Text of the Statute

2(1)(e)

“when the services of a [employee] are temporarily lent or let on hire”

2(1)(g)

“earning capacity of a [employee] in any employment”

2(1)(l)

“incapacitates a [employee] for all work which he was capable of performing”

2(1)(m)

“paid by the employer of a [employee]”

 The Act is replete with such errors in various other provisions. This requires correction.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

India Postpones Bringing Into Effect the Digital Personal Data Protection Framework

 India enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDPA" or "Act") and the statute has been published in the Official Gazette. The Act along with the regulatory framework is yet to be brought to force. Section 1(2) of the Act reads:

"(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision."

The Central Government is yet to notify the date on which the provisions of the Act would come into force. 

From media reports (here and here), it initially appeared that the Government was making rules and the same would be published and the regulatory framework would be brought into effect by January 2024. However, media reports now (here and here) suggest that the Government has postponed its decision to make the Act and the regulatory framework effective to post-elections, which are generally held in the months of April/ May.