Construction on the plant began on 31 March 2002,[6] but faced several delays due to opposition from local fishermen.

[7][8] KKNPP is scheduled to have six VVER-1000 reactors built in collaboration with Atomstroyexport, the Russian state company and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), with an installed capacity of 6,000 MW of electricity.

[9] Unit 1 was synchronized with the southern power grid on 22 October 2013 and since then, has been generating electricity at its warranted limit of 1,000 MW.

[15] An intergovernmental agreement (IGA) on the project was signed on 20 November 1988 by the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and the Soviet head of state, Mikhail Gorbachev, for the construction of two reactors.

[9] There were also objections from the United States, on the grounds that the agreement did not meet the 1992 terms of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

This port was established to receive barges carrying over-sized light water reactor equipment from ships anchored at a distance of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi).

The ground-breaking ceremony for construction of third and fourth units was performed on 17 February 2016 and AERB authorised the first pour of concrete on 19 June 2017.

However, in 2012, the chief of India's nuclear energy programme, Dr Srikumar Banerjee, called the plant "one of the safest" in the world.

[45] In December 2012, The Hindu reported that hundreds of villagers in the region were largely ignorant of the risks and benefits of the plant.

[46] A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in 2011 with the Supreme Court asking for nuclear power development to be delayed until safety concerns were independently assessed.

[51][52] On, 24 February 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed foreign NGOs for protests at the power plant.

News agencies reported that three NGOs had diverted donations earmarked for religious and social causes to the protests, in violation of foreign exchange regulations.

[57] Former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India Srinivasan said, "The Fukushima plant was built on a beach-front, but the Kudankulam was constructed on a solid terrain and that too keeping all the safety aspects in mind.

The Tamil Nadu government in the wake of the acute power shortages in the state has ordered in favour of the commissioning of the plant.

The town council of Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast named a lane located next to the Atommash plant as Kudankulam Alley in November 2018.