On 14 August the Department of Atomic Energy and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board placed two draft instruments in the public domain: the SHANTI Rules, 2026 and the SHANTI Regulations, 2026, made under the Act passed last year. Comments close on 4 September. Anyone may file them.
These are not glamorous documents. They are long, technical, and written in the flat register that subordinate legislation demands. But they will determine, far more concretely than any policy statement, whether fusion energy has a path in India. I have spent the past fortnight reading them line by line, and I want to explain what I found — because the single most important issue turns on one word.
A note on where I stand, before you read any further. I am Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ASPL Fusion Pvt. Ltd., a private company that would be a potential applicant under the rules I am about to discuss. I also chair the committee constituted by the Central Electricity Authority to prepare a national roadmap for fusion-based power generation. What follows is written in my personal and professional capacity and not on behalf of that committee. Some of what I argue for would benefit companies like mine. I have tried throughout to argue on grounds that are neutral as between technologies and as between companies, and you should judge whether I have succeeded.