New Delhi: Chicago-based firm Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE), which was granted an export licence by the US government last week to commercialise the thorium-based nuclear fuel that it has developed, is now looking for regulatory approvals in India for sharing the nuclear technology for deployment in Indian reactors, ThePrint has learnt.
The development is significant as it can provide India an alternate nuclear fuel in thorium—of which it has vast reserves—as an alternative to uranium. India currently imports uranium to meet its nuclear energy requirements, and has very limited commercially viable uranium sources.
As and when the approvals in India come through, they will pave the way for the thorium-based ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) fuel to power its fleet of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), and help India leapfrog to its target of generating 100 GigaWatt nuclear energy capacity by 2047. India currently produces 8.18 GW of nuclear power capacity—just 1.6 percent of the total energy mix.
The licence to CCTE comes at a time when India has begun work to amend provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 to allow private investment in the nuclear sector and address liability issues. The nuclear liability law had proved to be a major stumbling block for private players to enter India’s civilian nuclear energy sector.
CCTE CEO Mehul Shah told ThePrint, “This landmark Part 810 authorisation has potential to breathe new life into the US-India 123 Agreement, and deepen strategic nuclear ties. ANEEL fuel deployment in India’s PHWRs strengthens long-term energy security, while reducing reliance on imported uranium and lowering strategic vulnerability.”
The licence came just a fortnight after the company announced a major breakthrough with ANEEL fuel achieving more then 45 GW-days per Metric Ton (GWd/MTU) burn-up level in the Advanced Test Reactor at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. A high burn-up level signifies maximum energy at every cycle of irradiation in a nuclear reactor.
ANEEL fuel combines thorium with High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) to offer a safer, more efficient and proliferation-resistant alternative for existing and future PHWRs fleet worldwide, CCTE had said in a statement following the breakthrough. Natural uranium contains 0.7 percent of fissile Uranium-235, and three to five percent of low-enriched uranium used in more common PHWRs. But HALEU enriches the uranium fissile content up to 20 percent. For civilian use, the upper limit of enrichment is 20 percent.
Thorium or Th-232 is a naturally occurring radioactive element, found in the Earth’s crust more commonly than uranium. But unlike the uranium isotope, Uranium-235, it cannot directly sustain a chain reaction, required for nuclear fission.
Unable to directly power a reactor, thorium undergoes a process inside a nuclear reactor to transform into a usable fuel. In the reactor, Thorium-232 absorbs a neutron, becoming Thorium-233, which quickly decays into Protactinium-233, and then into Uranium-233. Uranium-233 is fissile, and each split (fission) releases a large amount of energy, along with more neutrons, which, in turn, strike other Uranium-233 atoms. This repeating cycle is the chain reaction that keeps the reactor running and generating steady heat.
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Export licence endorsed by DAE, AERB & NPCIL
Sources told ThePrint that on 12 November last year, after the Idaho National Laboratory announced that ANEEL fuel had received 3.5 to 4 times the burn-up of standard PWHR fuel, India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) expressed interest to carry out demonstration testing of the fuel in an operating power reactor for deployment in India.
CCTE subsequently applied for a licence under Part 810 of Code of Federal Regulations, which “authorise persons to directly or indirectly engage or participate in the development or production of special nuclear material outside the United States”.
The US Department of Energy granted the licence to CCTE after three Indian end users—regulators Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the state-owned nuclear company—gave the assurances sought by the American government that the thorium-based nuclear fuel will be used only for civilian purposes, and not be retransferred outside India without its approval.
Anil Kakodkar, former Atomic Energy Commission chairman, told ThePrint that with Part 810 license in hand, and once the required agreements are signed between all entities, the next step would be to conduct demonstration irradiation in a PHWR in India.
“We have to kind of take advantage of this development in the US. It allows India to go a significant step closer to the thorium objective,” he said. “Next step is you have to carry out a demonstration in an actual operating PWHR here in India. If you have to use it in India, you have to test it out in your own reactor.”
Private collaboration
In anticipation of the licence being granted, CCTE had announced a strategic partnership with state-run power producer NTPC Limited last December to explore the development and deployment of ANEEL fuel for PHWRs, subject to necessary approvals by the respective governments.
The firm had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro on 30 September, 2024 to collaborate and establish a supply chain for ANEEL fuel. L&T is one of the leading manufacturers of heavy water reactors in India.
“Partnering with NTPC and L&T positions us to deploy ANEEL-fuelled PHWRs across India’s reactor fleet, and create a launchpad for exporting both fuel and reactor technology globally,” Shah said.
Shah, a US-based Indian-origin entrepreneur, had set up CCTE in 2017. The nuclear fuel company has a chequered list of advisers, including Kakodkar, Cognizant’s former CEO and vice chairman Lakshmi Narayanan, India’s former National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s former president and CEO Dr Michael Binder, among others.
The development of the thorium-based fuel by CCTE and the grant of the export licence is strategically advantageous for both US and India. Sources said that as the US seeks self-reliance in HALEU and remains dependent on Russia, their enrichment industry urgently needs sustained demand to scale production. Since US’ small modular reactors are still years away, India’s PHWR programme combined with ANEEL fuel can generate immediate demand for HALEU required to expand US capacity, unlocking billions of dollars in US fuel exports.
It’s a win-win for both countries, according to Shah. “We thank both the US and Indian governments for enabling this milestone. ANEEL fuel bridges a critical gap in global HALEU demand—driving near-term momentum for US enrichment while unlocking the full potential of India’s PHWR fleet. It’s a win-win that advances a shared clean energy future between two leading democracies,” he said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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