Nuclear power plant

Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident, takes place when one of the four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine explodes and releases large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The disaster, and the Fukushima nuclear tragedy, are the only two mishaps classified as a Level 7 event on the international nuclear event scale

Soviet Union announces plan to build a nuclear plant in India about 30 km from Kanyakumari, at Kudankulam. Anton Gomez takes lead in building opinion against nuclear energy. The accident the year before in Chernobyl becomes a rallying point for activists opposing nuclear energy.

Rajiv Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev sign pact on Kundankulam. The project is considered crucial for the country's development and energy security. Under the Inter-Governmental Agreement, the Soviet Union was to supply two nuclear reactors. At the same time massive mobilisation takes place in Tirunelveli and Tuticurin districts of fisher people, workers, social and political movements. Rev Y David, a protestant pastor who led the Social Equality Movement and rallied the downtrodden communities, is in the forefront

Police fire on rally against project led by Father Thomas Kocherry, in Kanyakumari. Seven people are injured. Kocherry, a congregational priest, now 75, makes regular trips to meet those protesting the nuclear power plant to shore up their spirit. He was earlier head of the National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the project is shelved

Russia, India sign a supplementary agreement on Kundankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP), which marks the project's revival. National Alliance of Peoples' Movement organises workshop against nuclear power

Heads of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Russia's Atomstroiexport sign the final agreement to provide technical and financial assistance to construct two reactors of 1,000 Mwe capacity each. The agreement is signed during then prime minister A B Vajpayee's visit to Moscow. People's movement drafts a comprehensive agenda

Concrete poured for project. S P Udayakumar returns from US; takes over leadership along with M Pushparayan

Fishermen and farmers protest. Water for the nuclear plant is an issue. The project draws sea water for condenser cooling. The discharge of 7.2 billion litres of hot water into the sea every day by each reactor could well destroy the fish, say activists

Public hearing organised for KKNPP units 3 and 4. Kudankulam village joins protest; huge upsurge in campaign

KKNPP delayed by hold-up in Russian supplies

Fukushima disaster stuns coastal villages. Fukushima, watched on television without a break, fuels people’s fears Idinthakarai village, a couple of kilometres down the coast from the bright yellow domes of KKNPP, becomes the hub of protests; hunger strikes begin. Tamil Nadu says KKNPP cannot begin until people's fears are allayed

Jayalalithaa gives green signal to KKNPP Idinthakarai under siege; large number of people arrested in Kudankulam. Madras High Court accepts Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's report and gives go ahead to the nuclear plant. Supreme Court declines to stay fuel loading in Kudankulam plant while agreeing to examine risks associated with the project

Supreme Court gives the green signal to the plant, saying nuclear energy is the need of present and future generations