Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leaning towards using nuclear energy to soften the blow from the country's power crisis made more severe with the cancellation of hundreds of coal mining permits.

Some Indians at home and abroad are skeptical of the idea, however The energy-starved country depends on coal to generate two-thirds of its electricity. But power blackouts are frequent and demand for power is rising quickly as the middle class and the economy expand.

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The Supreme Court cancelled more than 200 coal mining permits Wednesday, saying the licensing process was unlawful and making the push for other sources of energy much more urgent.

Modi has made nuclear energy a priority as he tries to achieve his pledge to energize India's flagging economy.

To reach his goal, however, he needs to persuade the doubtful masses that nuclear power is safe. He also has to eliminate nuclear proliferation concerns held by foreign governments. It's also necessary for India to secure nuclear technology and the uranium imports it needs to produce atomic energy.

"Concerns of power disruptions raised post the Supreme Court judgement on the coal issue show how reliance on single source of energy is unhealthy," said Amit Bhandari, energy and environment fellow at Gateway House, a Mumbai-based think-tank.

Electricity is still out of the reach of almost 400 million Indians, according to the World Bank.

Currently, less than two percent of the nation's power capacity is provided by its 20 nuclear plants. The government, however, aims to increase the contribution of nuclear energy to the power grid to 25 percent by 2050.

Modi set out to achieve this goal by signing an agreement with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to open trading lines for uranium to India. He earlier got Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's promise to hasten talks on a nuclear deal during a visit to Japan the previous month.

TagsEnergy, Nuclear Power Plant, nuclear energy, coal mine, Alternative energy sources, Electricity, coal mining