Leaders of various parties and outfits, including Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko, were on Friday arrested in Tirunelveli when they attempted to proceed to Idinthakarai, the epicentre of protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, to express their solidarity with the locals demanding the scrapping of the Indo-Russian project.
Launching another phase of their agitation against Kudankulam atomic power project, anti-nuclear protestors on Monday began a day-long 'siege' of the plant by placing fibre boats and floating buoys in the sea.
A day after an explosion at a village near Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Tirunelvei claimed six lives, police formed a team to probe it and stepped up security even as two live bombs were recovered from the area.
Power generation at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu has been temporarily suspended for the second time in about a week in order to undertake mandatory tests, official sources said on Wednesday.
Three persons from Australia were on Thursday prevented from entering Idinthakarai, the epicentre of protests by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy leading the stir against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli district, the police said.
There was reorganisation and consolidation of Russian nuclear industry as part of the global nuclear renaissance to control nuclear supply chain, which also contributed to the delay
With the much-delayed Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project expected to be commissioned by April, anti-KNPP activists on Monday revived their protest by laying a siege to the plant through sea.
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Centre R Chidambaram on Friday said that all concerns regarding Kudankulam nuclear power project have been addressed and expressed confidence that plant will start operating soon."
The environment ministry was ready to take a re-look into the "safety" aspects of the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu if such a need arises, Union Minister Jayanti Natarajan said on Friday. The environment minister's statement came a day after the Supreme Court made it clear that it can stop commissioning of the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it have not been put in place.
Stepping up their protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, spearheading the stir, would lay siege to the sea at about 500 meters away from the KNPP on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Thursday wanted to know from the Centre as to what would be the guarantee that there would be no radio active substance in the spent fuel to be stored at the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu to prevent any accident.
The enduring relationship between the two countries have survived the disintegration of the erstwhile USSR in 1991, the end of the Cold War and the regime change in both countries, points out Rup Narayan Das.
Around 2,000 anti-nuclear activists were arrested on Monday as they thronged the streets in Chennai in an attempt to lay siege to the state assembly as mark of protest against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response of the Centre and the Department of Atomic Energy for allegedly exempting the Russian company involved in setting up of Kudankulam nuclear power plant from paying damages in case of an accident.
India's nuclear operator has started loading enriched uranium fuel in the first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project after getting the final clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) on Tuesday.
Russia on Monday made very clear to India its unhappiness over two key bilateral issues-- Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant 3 and 4 and investments by its telecom company Sistema in the country, saying rules of the game should never be reconsidered till it is over.
Continuing his fast against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, convener of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy S P Udayakumar on Monday said the protesters were "ready" for talks.
Scaling up their protest against loading of fuel at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, anti-nuclear activists and fishermen on Saturday laid siege to the port in Tuticorin but work was not disrupted, officials said.
The reactor will start its initial production of 400 MW electricity within 20 days, Union Minister V Narayanasamy said.
The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant suffers from lack of safety measures and is plagued by several other "serious issues". It must not be commissioned till they are resolved, anti-nuclear activists told the Supreme Court on Thursday. Appearing before a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra, they submitted that the safety measures recommended by the Atomic Energy Regulation Board have not been put in place.
Taking a cue from 'Jal Satyagraha' activists in Madhya Pradesh, opponents of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant today threatened to stand in the sea off Idianthakarai coast from Thursday as a stepped-up form of agitation.
As protests rage in Kudankulam and reach a crescendo, V Ponraj, scientific advisor to Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, speaks about the report he and the former Indian President prepared in this interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
At Idinthakarai -- the epicenter of protests against the nuclear plant -- Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar encounters a hostile crowd that is angry with the heavy police presence outside their village.
Controversy-embroiled Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project will once again miss the target as the time frame of commissioning of the first unit has now been revised to the new year.
A German woman journalist and her colleague have been detained for trying to proceed to Idinthakarai, the hub of protests against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, and record the views of the locals, police said.
AAERB's permission for RAPP-7 paves the way for the subsequent phases of reactor commissioning leading to its commercial electricity generation.
A group of Non-Governmental Organisation and social activists on Monday approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to make it binding on the Russian company involved in setting up of the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power plant to pay damages in case of an incident.
The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will attain criticality by mid-night on Saturday, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman S K Sinha announced in Tirunelveli.
In what is suspected to be the handiwork of anti-nuclear activists, a car of a contractor working at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project site was found gutted on Wednesday, as protesters met to draw up a strategy to oppose loading of fuel in the reactor.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited on Wednesday dismissed reports about a blast or steam pipe leak at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, saying there was only "an incident of hot water spillage" in which six persons were injured.
The first 1,000 MW unit of the much-delayed Kudankulam nuclear power project could be commissioned in the next few days and every step is being taken to ensure safety, a senior official said.
Protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project that have led to delay in its commissioning are "gimmicks and games" of those who do not want to see India emerge stronger, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin has said.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board on implementation of safety guidelines issued by it for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
India's first 1000 MW atomic power plant built with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam is just two steps away from going critical, a top official said on Friday.
With the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant all set to commence power generation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday demanded that the entire power produced from it be given to the state.
As engineers race to commission the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, the government has given its nod to build two more such units of 1,000 MW at the site in Tirunelveli district of power-starved Tamil Nadu.
The regional passport office in Madurai has issued a notice to S P Udayakumar, convenor of a movement spearheading the stir against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, asking him to surrender his passport within 15 days. The letter from the Madurai (south) region passport office asked him to surrender his passport within that period as 98 criminal cases are pending against him. If he fails to do so within that period, the document would be impounded.
India will acquire a few more reactors from Russia in the near future and sites to erect these are currently being selected.
A fresh petition was filed on Friday in the Supreme Court against the environmental clearance given to the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
Eleven persons, claiming to be members of a fact-finding team, were arrested on Friday when they were on way to the nuclear power plant site at Kudankulam, 30km from Tirunelveli, the police said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances