Tirunelveli: AFR facility plan triggers fresh protests by anti-nukes

TIRUNELVELI: The proposed construction of Away From Reactor (AFR) facility at the Kudankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP) site in Tirunelveli district is breathing new life into the anti-nuclear protests here.

Pivoted by anti-nuke activists like Dr S P Udayakumar and Pushparayan, the anti-KKNPP struggle was at its zenith for two years since 2011 at the coastal hamlet of Idinthakarai in the backyard of the KKNPP. The unprecedented mass struggle by the people of Idinthakarai and Kudankulam was so infectious that it drew support cutting across the state boundary from nearby Kerala. Even activists from Japan, Australia and German visited the Idinthakarai protest.