New Delhi
14 December 2009
Former nuclear czar Anil Kakodkar's interview to a private TV channel has
raised more questions than answers about the efficacy of the 1998 thermonuclear test by
India, according to PK Iyengar, a former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission who
was among the three top atomic scientists who oversaw the 1974 tests. He weighed in
on the controversy by telling this newspaper that the question mark over the yield and
efficacy of the thermo-nuclear device (or hydrogen bomb), and hence India's nuclear
deterrent, still remains.
"This is an issue that the Government must address seriously," Dr Iyengar said,
alluding to the international pressure that can be expected to be put on India for signing
the CTBT.
He pointed out that Kakodkar has not specified the depth at which the thermo-nuclear
device was placed, which would help to estimate the size of the crater formed. Also, he
found Kakodkar's statements on the simulations "puzzling" because there is a gap
between simulating something and actually making it work in real life. He also thought
the military should ask searching questions because it is more important to address the
quality, not quantity, of nuclear weapons.
"[The] official response to very legitimate questions [has] been defensive and closed-
minded. This does not augur well for the health of our strategic deterrent," he said,
maintaining that the issues raised by him and others such as K Santhanam, a former
chief adviser (technologies) of DRDO and programme director of Pokhran-II, merit
serious consideration.
"If [Santhanam's] numbers are correct, and no one has contradicted them, it is simply not
credible to say that such a small difference in the depth (only 30 metres) made such a
huge difference in the geology or in the crater size. The repeated assertion that granite
in the shaft was responsible for the small crater is also difficult to understand. Usually
shock waves couple better to hard rock and so the effect at the ground is expected to be
larger," Dr Iyengar said.
Mr Santhanam has claimed that the thermo-nuclear device was buried at a depth of 130
metres, compared to the fission device being buried at a depth of 100 metres. Kakodkar
or any other person associated with Pokhran-II has not come out with a number for the
depth.
Dr Kakodkar, who retired as AEC chairman on November 30, told CNN-IBN that it is "a
totally erroneous conclusion" to say that the thermo-nuclear test of 1998 was a fizzle. He
said that India has thermo-nuclear bombs with yields ranging from low kilotonne to 200
kilotonnes. He also said that there is no issue about the arsenal at the military's
command, brushing aside doubts raised by a former Indian Army chief.
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