Surveying the development of nuclear power in India, this article finds that it is predisposed to centralization and secrecy, and its institutionalization has tended to reduce deliberations on energy policy and human well-being to narrowly technocratic terms. Given such proclivities, nuclear power, as evaluated in this article, is considered unlikely to facilitate a viable response to the energy-environment crisis. Alternatives are thus surveyed here to include the sustainable energy utility and the capability approach as well as synergies between them, to challenge the offer of nuclear power as a response to the energy-environment crisis.