The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010

What it does

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 fixes who pays when a nuclear incident causes damage. It channels liability to the operator of the nuclear installation. The operator is liable without the victim having to prove negligence, subject to defined exceptions, and the Act sets a limit on that liability and a way of paying claims, so that compensation does not depend on a long fight over fault.

The design has two features that matter to a business. First, liability is channelled to one party, the operator, and not spread among everyone in the chain. Second, the operator has a right of recourse against others only in limited cases, which is why the Act has been a point of contention for suppliers of equipment and services to Indian nuclear projects.

The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (Act No. 39 of 2025, the SHANTI Act) repeals this Act, together with the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, but only once it commences on a date the Central Government notifies. The site's reading on 28 October 2026 found no commencement notification, so this Act continues to apply.

Who it binds

It binds the operator of a nuclear installation, who bears the liability, and reaches victims, claimants and the authorities that adjudicate claims. It matters indirectly to financiers, insurers and suppliers, whose position depends on how liability is allocated and on what recourse the operator keeps. Under the law as it stands, an operator is in practice a government-owned entity, so the question of private participation is mostly a question about the replacement regime.

What moved out of it

Nothing has moved out of this Act yet. When the SHANTI Act commences, its liability provisions take over. On the site's reading of that Act, the operator is liable for nuclear damage from an incident in the installation or in transit before liability passes to another operator, with exclusions for grave natural disaster and for armed conflict and similar events. Liability is capped by the thermal power of the reactor, in steps from INR 100 crore to INR 3,000 crore, and an overall maximum per incident of 300 million Special Drawing Rights, or more if notified. The Central Government pays what exceeds the operator's limit, and the operator must hold insurance or other financial security.

On recourse, the SHANTI Act gives the operator a right only where a written contract expressly provides it, or where an individual caused the incident with intent to cause nuclear damage. The word supplier does not appear in it.

What has changed, and when

• The Act was passed in 2010 and has since governed nuclear liability.
• The SHANTI Act received assent on 20 December 2025 and was published in the Gazette of India on 21 December 2025. Section 91 repeals this Act and saves action already taken.
• The repeal takes effect only on commencement, which the Central Government has not notified as at 28 October 2026. Draft rules under the new Act were published for consultation on 14 August 2026.

What turns on it in practice

For anyone contracting in the nuclear supply chain, the question is which liability regime the contract will live under and what recourse the operator keeps against the supplier. Under this Act the answer has been contested. Under the SHANTI Act it is, on its text, a matter for the written contract, which moves the negotiation to the supply agreement itself and to the cap and the insurance behind it.

A contract signed before commencement but performed after it needs care. The parties should say which regime governs, what happens to a liability limit if the law changes, and who bears the cost of the financial security the new Act requires. A financier reading the project documents should check whether the recourse clause is drafted for the regime that will actually apply on the day an incident occurs.

The site's note on the SHANTI Act, written for its projects and infrastructure readers, sets out the new liability scheme and names this Act as the one it replaces.