HVK Archives: H-bomb yield was between 43 and 45 kilotons: BARC chief
H-bomb yield was between 43 and 45 kilotons: BARC chief - The Times of India
Times of India News Service
()
May 19, 1998
Title: H-bomb yield was between 43 and 45 kilotons: BARC chief
Author: Times of India News Service
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 19, 1998
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) director Anil Kakodkar said
here on Monday that the yield of the thermonuclear device
(hydrogen bomb) which was detonated at Pokhran last week was
determined keeping in view the safety of the nearby villages.
Mr Kakodkar was speaking to a large gathering of BARC scientists
here on Monday at the centre's central complex auditorium where
he gave details about Operation Shakti. He said the yield of the
.hydrogen bomb was between 43 and 45 kilotons and after it was
detonated, there was absolutely no damage to structures in the
vicinity of the testing zone.
The BARC chief told scientists that on May 18, 1974, a "peaceful
nuclear explosion" was conducted it Pokhran. "Today, we are
entering the silver jubilee of the first Pokhran experiment. The
success of last week's tests were even more spectacular. This was
no small achievement from the technical point of view and where
secrecy was at its peak," he said.
He said the mission called for meticulous planning and team work.
Apart from atomic energy commission (AEC) chairperson R.
Chidambaram, five of the centre's directors who had played a key
role in Operation Shakti shared the podium. They were the
director of the nuclear fuels and automation group M.S. Ramkumar,
head of the high pressure physics division S.K. Sikka, director
of the radiochemistry division D.D. Sood, associate director of
the reactor control group R. Govindrajan and head of the health
physics division M.K. Gupta.
Mr Kakodkar said the total number of scientists involved in the
project was fairly large. He said if this was further stretched,
practically everybody at BARC was connected with the mission in
one way or the other. It was therefore appropriate to describe
the tests as a BARC programme.
He said there was tremendous emphasis an secrecy from the very
start, so much so that the tests successfully escaped the
attention of intelligence agencies all over the world. He said
that in the interests of secrecy, he might perhaps have hurt a
few people while the tests were being planned. "But, as you all
know, this is not my way of working. However, the secrecy was
inevitable."
According to him, after the explosions, the responsibility of
BARC had doubled. Keeping this in mind, he said scientists
should work in a more disciplined manner and younger people
should be brought into the mainstream of the centre's activities.
The success of the mission had clearly established that India had
come a long way in technological developments which would help in
planning future projects. "Everything was perfectly optimised and
it was technically an excellent mission which is something very
satisfactory, he told the scientists.
Mr Chidambaram said India had set a world record by conducting
five nuclear tests in a span of 48 hours last week. According to
him, national security and national development were two sides of
the same coin. "Unless you have national security, you cannot
have national development," he said.
He said Operation Shakti had emphasised the importance of the
power of BARC. "The designs which were tested were extremely
sophisticated and the thermonuclear device was a complex one," he
said while clarifying that it was not a booster fission device.
Since the last test on May 18, 1974, he said Indian scientists
had been constantly refining designs. This had been made
possible because their knowledge of physics had grown and
computers had become more sophisticated. "Our measured yields
matched the estimated measurements. It was a challenging
scientific task," he said.
Mr Chidambaram said if the three tests on May 11 had been carried
out separately, no doubt the task of gathering data would have
been easier. But the shock waves following one explosion would
have damaged the nearby shafts. Considering this, it was decided
to carry out the tests simultaneously at 3.45 p.m. last Monday.
The AEC chief said after the tests, there was no radiation fall,-
out and the water table in the area was not affected.
Mr Gupta said six mobile teams with radiation protection
equipment were deployed in the area. Some sophisticated data-
gathering instruments were also installed close to ground zero.
He said two days before the blasts, there was a sandstorm in the
area and the following day it rained, raising doubts about
whether the tests had been carried out. But on the day of the
tests, the weather cleared, making it possible to go ahead with
the detonations, he added. Mr Sikka explained how the yields from
the tests were calculated.
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