2008

Decades:
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s

Years:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

March 4: Total failure of both primary and secondary cooling systems of the French Cattenom nuclear power plant (3:58 a.m.), followed by core meltdown (9:31 p.m.), core breach (10:05 p.m.) and eventually the explosion of power plant block 2 (10:08 p.m.). The accident and the resulting fallout kill - either immediately, or over time through radiation poisoning - about 140,000 people, and create the radioactive wasteland later called the Saar-Lorraine-Luxembourg Special Administrative Zone (SOX).
April 29: As the chaos following the Cattenom catastrophe spreads throughout Germany, the military declares all parliaments and governments dissolved. A military council lead by Bundeswehr general Horst Stöckter assumes power.
July: The governments of France and Germany declare the SOX a restricted area.
December: As military guarding is too expensive and ineffective, the French and German governments decide to surround the SOX with a wall.
Aurélie de Paladines, future president of the French Republic, is born in France.