A Status Report of IAEA, on Nuclear Techniques That Fired My Imagination

I recently dug into the recent IAEA’s Nuclear Power Status 2025 [IAEA Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), Nuclear Power Status 2025 (21 November 2025)], on Power Reactor Information System (PRIS). It was like reading the field’s next chapter in real time. The report doesn’t just list numbers, it signals a turning point, that policymakers, and engineers are treating nuclear as a central, real and deployable tool in the race to NET ZERO. For us, the nuclear physicists within the university system in India, that macro shift converts into fresh research problems, new funding opportunities, and real challenges where fundamental physics meets applied systems. Organizations like recently initiated the Indian Nuclear Physics Association (INPA) can play a critical guiding role in this regard. It can help the community navigate new scientific demands, help create national standards, and take the lead in shaping India’s nuclear science society as well the trajectory.

The World Is Poised for a Nuclear Renaissance

The IAEA’s projection that global nuclear capacity could more than double by 2050 is really a thrilling one for nuclear physicists. Imagine the demand for improved reactor physics, fuel-cycle studies, materials science and basics of nuclear reaction and structure. A near-terawatt-scale nuclear sector will require advances in neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, accident-tolerant fuels, life-extension techniques, and component diagnostics, all fertile ground for experimentalists and theoretical nuclear physicists. This is also where professional bodies/societies like INPA can help articulate research priorities for the country and ensure our academic programs evolve accordingly. The reason being the universities are the breeding grounds for enthusiastic nuclear physicists.

We have many students who are genuinely interested in the subject of nuclear physics. But today, several factors are causing a gradual disorientation towards the subject. There are very few teachers who specialize in nuclear physics, and most of the colleges and universities lack proper nuclear laboratory facilities. Because of this, students often cannot get the guidance or hands-on exposure they need. Moreover, getting a suitable job in this field is often difficult for reasons well known to all of us. As a result, their initial curiosity slowly fades, even though, as already mentioned, the field itself holds immense potential.

416 Reactors : A Global Laboratory of Data and Practice

With hundreds of reactors operating world over, there are a large number of distributed laboratory. system The variety, from PHWRs and SMRs, gives us natural experiments in reliability, grid interaction, and safety margins. For nuclear physicists, this is a real boost. The operational histories, ageing signatures, and performance deviations provide invaluable inputs to models and validation work. A national scientific association such as INPA can serve as the focal point for helping in this global experience and translating it into India-specific training and research programmes.

63 Reactors Under Construction :Engineering Meets Science

Nuclear Reactor Construction activity means real problems for nuclear science: scale-up physics, licensing, manufacturing tolerances, and commissioning diagnostics. Each construction site represents opportunities for collaborations between universities, national labs, and industry, and it underscores the importance of training engineers who can translate reactor-physics insights into buildable designs. This is lacking presently in the country. The INPA can help catalyze these collaborations and build structured channels between academia, industry, nuclear research centers and regulators.

New Units Synching to the Grid : Systems-Level Wins

Every new grid connection (Barakah-4 [UAE], Vogtle-4 [US], Flamanville-3 [FRANCE], Kakrapar-4 [INDIA], Rajasthan-7 [INDIA], etc.) is a systems-level victory on control systems, grid management, and safety systems are all validated at scale. These milestones recently have shown how reactor physics integrates with power systems, materials engineering, and operational practices. This reminds us how crucial interdisciplinary training is from nuclear physics point of view. The systems like INPA can help modernize syllabi, promote national workshops, regional schools etc. This will enable the cross-disciplinary culture needed for such systems-level understanding as well.

New Nations Entering the Arena: Broader Talent Pipelines

Even the countries like Egypt and Bangladesh are joining the nuclear ecosystem that open new avenues for education, joint research, and talent development. For nuclear physicists, this expansion means new partnerships, fresh datasets, new measurements and diverse operational models. This also indicates a global demand for trained personnel that our institutions must be ready to meet. The INPA may be instrumental in building these international bridges and ensuring Indian researchers are visible, represented, and collaborative at the global level.

Nuclear Heat & Non-Electric Roles — New Problem Domains

The nuclear reactors are now being used not just for electricity but also for district heating, running industries, and making fresh water from seawater as well. Thus the challenges for reactor physics from nuclear physics point of view are changing. We now have to deal with new issues like how heat moves through large networks. How materials behave at very high temperatures, and how to manage systems that produce both heat and power? These are not just physics problems, they also involve engineering, energy planning, policy etc. An organization like INPA can help by creating training programs and research groups that bring all these areas together and prepare people to work in this broader, modern nuclear energy landscape.

What India Should Do — Education & Knowledge Roadmap (practical, prioritized)

Below is a compact, priority wise action plan, that India can adopt to upgrade its education, training, and knowledge ecosystem so our workforce and research base match world standards. Actions are grouped by timelines so they fit into proper implementation cycles.

Immediate (1–3 years) :Fill the critical gaps and scale training fast

• Launch modular short courses for working professionals in the universities.

• Create accelerator-access fellowships and university beam-time programs, as urgent requirement.

• Immediate faculty exchange & visiting-scholar programs to the accelerator and reactor physics institutions.

• Revamp nuclear science education in university system with proper experimental facilities of basic nuclear physics experimentation.

• Nuclear Industry–academia/universities apprenticeship pipelines for PG students.

• Open data & experiment-sharing policy through proper channels.

• Recruitment of more nuclear physicists in the teaching universities/institutes.

  
  

How INPA can help: It can serve as the coordinating body connecting institutions, tracking national skill gaps, and curating standardized course modules.

Medium (3–7 years) — build capacity and research depth

• Create 5–7 National Centers of Excellence (CoEs) within university system with special nuclear physics programmes.

• Revamp universities with historical nuclear physics courses. Curricula to be multidisciplinary and need to be revamped.

• Fund national-scale experimental facilities and testbeds.

• Build up more particle accelerators, associated within the university system.

• Institute the national level theoretical nuclear physics centers.

• National HPC & simulation grants for nuclear modelling.

• Expand scholarships and rapid Nuclear Physics PhD pipelines.

  
  

Role of INPA: Bring coherence to CoE themes, develop benchmark curricula, organize regular national conferences, and ensure that talent-development pathways align with India’s strategic needs.

Strategic (7–15 years) — transform ecosystem and global leadership

• Host an international accelerator or materials-test facility.

• Make nuclear education a national priority with sustained funding.

• Create standardized certification programs that clearly define the skills needed in nuclear science and technology. Develop CPD frameworks so teachers and professionals can regularly update their knowledge. This will ensure everyone stays aligned with the latest developments in the field.

• Set up international joint degree and research programs.

• Support entrepreneurship & translational labs.

  
  

INPA’s strategic role: Provide long-horizon visioning, policy advocacy, and international representation to ensure Indian nuclear science stays globally competitive.

Cross-cutting enablers (needed at all stages)

Regulatory support, interdisciplinary faculty development, public engagement, national Key Performance indicators (KPIs) for training and research, and global standards alignment. Here also, INPA can act as the knowledge integrator and national voice for nuclear physicists, ensuring continuity across decades.

Why This Matters for Physics and India?

If India wants to be a global nuclear science leader, that's needed as well, we need more than plants, we need people, data, and research platforms. The IAEA report mentioned, shows the demand. The roadmap above converts that demand into trained minds and world-class research output. And organizations like the Indian Nuclear Physics Association can help guide, coordinate, and take the lead in mobilizing the scientific community toward this national mission.

For nuclear physicists, this is an invitation: to teach differently, build shared facilities, and mentor the next generation of experimentalists and modelers who will transform India’s ambitions into safe, innovative technology. Reference:

IAEA Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), Nuclear Power Status 2025 (21 November 2025).

Author of this blog: Prof. B. P. Singh, Experimental Nuclear Physicist, Aligarh Muslim University, working in the field of Nuclear Reaction Dynamics using particle accelerators, with more than 35 years of research experience. He is actively engaged in popularizing nuclear technologies for societal benefits. His work particularly focuses on promoting the role of nuclear energy in power generation, dispelling myths associated with nuclear science, and advancing the applications of nuclear techniques in the field of medicine and other areas.