Multiple milestones for India's nuclear projects

India has begun geotechnical surveys for Kakrapar units 5 and 6, two 700 megawatt pressurised heavy water reactors planned for Gujarat. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India is drilling boreholes and running geophysical surveys to establish the engineering baseline for foundation and structural work. In parallel, India's Nuclear Fuels Complex has completed its 12th set of steam generator tubes, supporting the government's "fleet mode" construction plan approved in 2017 to build ten indigenous 700 MWe reactors. Five units are now under construction or commissioning; eight are in pre-project activities. The Kakrapar site already operates four reactors, with units 3 and 4 (both 700 MWe) having reached grid connection in 2021 and 2024.

Where this fits

India is building domestic nuclear manufacturing capacity and executing a firm power strategy that Australia has legislatively forbidden. The fleet mode approach lowers per-unit cost through standardisation and supply-chain integration, the lever that makes nuclear economically competitive. Australia's renewables-first path, by contrast, depends on China for panels, batteries, inverters and processed minerals, while deferring the firm power problem to gas. India is securing energy sovereignty through indigenous design and serial construction; Australia is outsourcing both the supply chain and the strategic risk.

What it means

Australia is watching a competitor lock in cheap, abundant firm power while ceding the entire manufacturing ecosystem to China and committing to weather-dependent generation backed by gas imports. India's success with fleet-mode construction demonstrates that nuclear cost falls with volume and localisation. Australia's refusal to build nuclear, combined with reliance on Chinese-manufactured renewables, leaves the grid less resilient and the nation less prepared for strategic competition in energy security.