India, Feb. 27 -- "When nuclear energy has been successfully applied for power production, in say a couple of decades from now, India will not have to look abroad for its experts but will find them ready at hand."

- Homi J. Bhabha, in a letter to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, March 1944

A Historic Revival - And A Long Pending One

Bhabha wrote those words before India was even an independent nation. Eight decades later, the country he helped shape as a nuclear pioneer has finally done something it resisted for over six decades: it has opened the civil nuclear energy sector to private enterprise.

The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, passed by both Houses of Parliament and grant...