• It is the most ambitious basic science project proposed to come up in west Bodi Hills in Theni district of Tamil Nadu.
• It is jointly supported by Dept. of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Dept. of Science and Technology (DST) with DAE acting as nodal agency.
• The government did not conduct Environment Impact Assessment of INO, classifying it as a category-B project.

However, the National Green Tribunal has stayed this decision of the Government and held that INO is a category-A project that needs EIA. Based on this tussle between Union Government and NGT, the project has been stayed as of now.