Welcoming the SHANTI Bill, the United States on Monday said it is a step towards a "stronger energy security partnership" and a "peaceful civil nuclear cooperation".
"We welcome India’s new #SHANTIBill, a step towards a stronger energy security partnership and peaceful civil nuclear cooperation," read a social media post by the US Embassy in India.
It then said the US was ready to join hands with India in innovation as well as research and development in the energy sector.
SHANTI Bill, or the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill was passed by the Parliament on Thursday by a voice vote. Several amendments moved by the opposition members to send the proposed legislation to a parliamentary committee were rejected.
On Saturday, President Droupadi Murmu granted assent to the bill.
This bill will subsume all laws dealing with the civil nuclear sector, including the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
The new law will allow private companies and joint ventures to build, own, operate and decommission nuclear power plants.
However, mining of uranium, thorium, enrichment, isotopic separation, reprocessing of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste management and heavy water production will be exclusive to the Centre or its entities.
The Congress, however, slammed the government, saying the bill was bulldozed through in Parliament to "restore SHANTI with his once good friend" Donald Trump.
