Tamil Nadu Timeline

DiplomacyMGR era

India and the Soviet Union sign the Kudankulam nuclear agreement

· Kudankulam

India and the Soviet Union sign the Kudankulam nuclear agreement
Reetesh Chaurasia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Rajiv Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement to build two nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district.

An intergovernmental agreement for the Kudankulam nuclear power project was signed on 20 November 1988 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It provided for the construction of two reactors at Kudankulam on the southern coast of Tamil Nadu. The project remained in limbo for about a decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the United States also raised objections. Construction later resumed with Russia, and the plant became the subject of major local protests in 2011.

Related events

  1. 1984

    1. 27 Jan 1984KalpakkamScience Technology

      First unit of Madras Atomic Power Station reaches full power

      At Kalpakkam, MAPS-1, the first nuclear power reactor India built largely on its own, reached full-power operation.

  2. 1985

    1. Oct 1985KalpakkamScience Technology

      Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam reaches criticality

      India's Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam reached first criticality, making India the seventh nation able to build and run a breeder reactor.

  3. 1986

    1. 21 Mar 1986KalpakkamScience Technology

      Second unit of Madras Atomic Power Station commissioned

      The second 220 MW unit of the Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam was commissioned, completing the two-unit station.

  4. 1987

    1. 7 Jan 1987MetturIndustry

      Mettur Thermal Power Station begins generating

      The first unit of the Mettur Thermal Power Station, the state utility's first inland coal-fired plant, was commissioned.

  5. 2011

    1. Sep 2011 to 2014KudankulamProtest

      Protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant

      Fishing villages around Idinthakarai led a sustained movement against the Kudankulam nuclear plant, which nonetheless began operating in 2013 and 2014.

  6. 2013

    1. 22 Oct 2013KudankulamInfrastructure

      Kudankulam reactor 1 connected to the grid

      Following years of delay and protest, the first VVER-1000 reactor at Kudankulam was synchronised with the power grid.

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