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.
Stepping up their protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, anti-nuclear activists have now decided to go in for 'jal satyagraha' throughout the Tamil Nadu coast on September 22.
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.
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.
Clearing the decks for early commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Madras high court on Friday held that its two units did not suffer from any infirmity for want of approvals and rejected safety fears as 'unfounded'.
Asserting that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant belonged to the "highest safety category" of plants currently in operation in the world, the Centre on Tuesday sought dismissal of petitions in the Madras high court against the Rs 14,000 crore Indo-Russian project.
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.
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.
A German national was deported from Tamil Nadu in the wee hours on Tuesday after he was picked up by police in Nagercoil for his alleged "active involvement" in the protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant project.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Anti-corruption activist and member of disbanded Team Anna, Arvind Kejriwal, said his team fully backed the agitation against Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant, whose commissioning has been stalled due to protests, cannot be allowed to remain "idle" when the nation has sunk an amount of Rs 14,000 crore on the project.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi has said that all viewpoints have to be taken into account before starting any work on the disputed Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. "I have already mentioned that an all-party meeting must be convened to discuss the issue. But it was not done and instead an assembly session was called. By convening an all-party meeting, we get different views on the subject and that is what we have missed, I feel," added Karunanidhi.
Russia on Tuesday said there is no point in keeping its scientists at protest-hit Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant site in Tamil Nadu after its commissioning remained stalled for months.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday told a delegation that a high-level committee would address their concerns on safety of the Kudankulam nuclear power project.
The first unit of the controversy-hit Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, with a capacity to produce 1,000 MW, is expected to start commercial operations in August. The first unit has attained 99.3 per cent of physical progress as on April and commercial operation is likely by August, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said.
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.
Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy said the 'cold run' of the power plant will begin in the presence of Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission officials within ten days time and the tests will go on for 15 days from then.
Union minister Jitendra Singh assured the members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is better nuclear safety in India as compared to many other countries and there are enough safeguards in the Indian nuclear plants.
The Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant attained its full generation capacity and became the first nuclear plant in the country to generate 1,000 MW of power on Saturday, its site director R S Sundar said.
The first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, which attained criticality on July 3 will reach its maximum capacity of 1000 MWe by November end, according to S Sundar, project site director.
Russia is keen to strengthen economic ties with India.
The attack also refreshed the memories of a virus attack on an Iranian nuclear facility.
Dravida Munetra Kazhagam treasurer M K Stalin on Monday urged Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to withdraw cases filed against agitators, including fishermen, in Kudankulam in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling.
On June 1 2017, the credit protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement of December 5 2008 and the GFA for Kudankulam NPP Units 5, 6 were signed.
There is a secured system to tackle cyber attacks and there is a segregation of nuclear generation from the administrative segment, There is a secured system to tackle cyber attacks and there is a segregation of nuclear generation from the administrative segment, he said.
Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also listed in the memorandum.
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.
After years of deadlock on liability issue, India and Russia have signed an agreement for building units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore.
In first high-level engagement between India and Russia after National Democratic Alliance government came to power, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry O Rogozin on Wednesday held extensive talks on crucial bilateral issues including trade and energy security.
Prime Minister Modi was hosted by Russian President Putin for a private tete-a-tete at Kremlin during which the two leaders touched upon issues of mutual national interests.
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.
Modi, who arrived in Moscow on Wednesday on a two-day visit, held talks with Putin during a restricted meeting in Kremlin to begin the 16th India-Russia Summit.
The reactor will start its initial production of 400 MW electricity within 20 days, Union Minister V Narayanasamy said.
Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday defended its action of detaining the US ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio asserting there is prima facie case against them for illegally straying into Indian territorial waters.