Smiling Buddha

Coordinates: 27°04′44″N 71°43′21″E / 27.0788°N 71.7224°E / 27.0788; 71.7224
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For the religious figure known as the Laughing Buddha, see Budai.

Smiling Buddha
Pokhran-I
Information
CountryIndia
Test sitePokhran Test Range
Coordinates27°04′44″N 71°43′21″E / 27.0788°N 71.7224°E / 27.0788; 71.7224
Period18 May 1974, 8:05 IST
Number of tests1
Test typeUnderground shaft
Device typeFission
Max. yield8–10 kilotons of TNT (33–42 TJ)
Test chronology

Operation Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the code name of India's first successful nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission type bomb was detonated in the Pokhran Test Range of the Indian Army in Rajasthan. The data on the exact nuclear yield of the test has been varied and scarce, and the test might have produced an yield between six and ten kilotons.

As per the United States military intelligence, the operation was named as Happy Krishna. It was the first confirmed nuclear weapons test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion. Apart from test, India carried out one other subsequent nuclear test named Pokhran-II in 1998.

Background[edit]

The origins of India's nuclear programme can be traced back to 1945 when Homi Bhabha established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research with the aid of Tata Group. After Indian Independence, the Atomic Energy Act was passed on 15 April 1948, that established the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC).[1] India was involved in the development of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but ultimately opted not to sign it.[2] In 1954, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was established which was responsible for the atomic energy development programme and was allocated a significant amount of the defence budget in the subsequent years. In 1957, the first nuclear reactor became operational at Trombay, becoming the first operating reactor in Asia. The CIRUS reactor was given to India as a part of an understanding with Canada and the United States under the Atoms for Peace programme. India set up an indigenous program to manufacture Uranium nuclear fuel for the reactor, as opposed to importing from other countries.[1] In July 1958, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru authorized "Project Phoenix" to build a reprocessing plant with a capacity to produce 20 tons of Plutonium fuel a year using the PUREX process, designed by the Vitro Corporation of America. The construction of the plutonium plant began in 1961, and it was commissioned in mid-1964.[1]

The civilian nuclear program to produce electricity from nuclear energy was also established during this period with plans to construct new nuclear power plants for the purpose. Nehru's discussions with Bhabha and Kenneth Nichols, a US Army engineer, showed his approach and intention to create nuclear weapons as a means of Deterrence theory.[3] In 1962, India was engaged in a war with China and with China pursuing its own atomic development programme, it accelerated India's need to develop nuclear weapons.[1] During this period, India signed an agreement with Soviet Union to help build nuclear reactors in India.[4]

Development[edit]

With two reactors operational in early 1960s, Bhabha was involved in learning and development of know-how to manufacture nuclear weapons. The Atomic energy act was amended in 1962 to give far more control to the central government. Bhabha was also aggressively lobbying for nuclear weapons and made several public speeches on the matter. He also estimated that a nuclear device with a 10 kt yield would cost US$350,000. The reactors were not producing fuel at the expected rate and with Nehru death in 1964, the programme slowed down.[5] The incoming prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was involved in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and later appointed physicist Vikram Sarabhai as the head of the nuclear programme. Because of his non-violent Gandhian beliefs, Sarabhai was asked to direct the programme towards peaceful purposes rather than military development.[6] Meanwhile, the design work on the bomb proceeded under physicist Raja Ramanna, who continued the nuclear weapons technology research after Bhabha's death in 1966.[5]

After Shastri's death in 1966, Indira Gandhi became the prime minister and work on the nuclear programme resumed. Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer, put in charge of plutonium development. The project for the design and manufacturing of the nuclear device employed just 75 scientists because of the secret nature of the project.[6] Ramanna lead the project with P. K. Iyengar serving as his deputy and the leadership team also included Sethna and Sarabhai.[7] The weapons programme was directed towards the production of plutonium rather than uranium and the in 1969, enough plutonium had been accumulated for the production of a single nuclear bomb.[5] In 1968–69, Iyengar led a team to the Soviet Union and toured the nuclear research facilities at Dubna. Upon his return to India, Iyengar set about developing a plutonium fueled fast breeder reactor named Purnima under Mahadeva Srinivasan. In 1969, R. Chidambaram was engaged for researching the use of plutonium.[8][9]

Simultaneous work on the fabrication of the bomb core and implosion design was conducted by teams led by physicist V. S. Ramamurthy. The implosion technology development began in April 1970 with Pranab R. Dastidar collaborating with W. M. Patwardhan at the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (ERDL) of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). In July, physicist B. D. Nagchaudhuri was appointed as the scientific adviser to the Defense Minister and as Director of the DRDO.[8] Nagchaudhuri and Ramanna worked together to recruit the team and set up the requirements necessary for a nuclear weapon test. Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) of the DRDO developed the explosive lenses for the implosion system. Srinivasan and K. Subba Rao were tasked with developing fission models and prediction of the test's efficiency. In April 1971, Nagchaudhuri appointed N. S. Venkatesan as the new Director of TBRL to help develop the implosion system. V.K. Iya was in charge of developing the neutron initiator system. In the same year, Sethna succeeded Sarabhai as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.[8]

In December 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani War, the U.S. government sent a carrier battle group led by the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) into the Bay of Bengal in an attempt to intimidate India. The Soviet Union responded by sending a submarine armed with nuclear missiles from Vladivostok to trail the US task force. The Soviet response demonstrated the deterrent value and significance of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile submarines to India.[10] After India gained military and political initiative over Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the work on building a nuclear device continued. The hardware began to be built in early 1972 and the Prime Minister authorized the development of a nuclear test device in September 1972.[11]

Nuclear test[edit]

The Indian Army was involved in the test preparations at the Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. The project was code named Operation Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) while as per the United States military intelligence, the operation was named as Happy Krishna.[12] The preparations were carried by civilian scientists assisted by the Indian Army.[13] Indira Gandhi maintained tight control of all aspects of the preparations of the test, which was conducted in extreme secrecy. Besides Gandhi, only her advisers Parmeshwar Haksar and D. P. Dhar were kept informed. Dhar had protested the test, fearing that the sanctions that would follow, would affect the Indian economy.[13][12] The Indian Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram was informed only a few days prior and Swaran Singh, the Minister of External Affairs, was given only a 48 hours advance notice.[14][15] General G. G. Bewoor, Indian army chief, and the commander of Indian Western Command were the only military commanders who knew about the test.[13] The test was called as a Peaceful Nuclear Explosive (PNE). The device was detonated on 18 May 1974 at 8.05 IST with Dastidar pushing the firing button.[13][16][17][18]

The nuclear yield of the test has been difficult to determine with unclear data provided by Indian sources. Although politicians had given multiple numbers ranging from 2 kt to 20 kt, the official yield was initially set at 12 kt. Independent seismic data from outside and analysis of the crater features indicated a lower figure. Analysts estimate the yield at 4 to 6 kt, using conventional seismic magnitude-to-yield conversion formulas. Later, both Sethna and Iyengar conceded the official yield to be an exaggeration. Iyengar has stated that the yield was 8–10 kt, that the device was designed to yield 10 kt, and that the yield was 8 kt "exactly as predicted".[13][19]

Weapon design[edit]

The device was of the implosion-type design similar to Fat Man, the American nuclear bomb detonated over Nagasaki in 1945. The implosion system was assembled at the TBRL of the DRDO in Chandigarh. The detonation system was developed at the HEMRL of the DRDO in Pune.[13] The 6 kg of plutonium came from the CIRUS reactor at BARC and the neutron initiator was of the polonium–beryllium type, code-named Flower. The entire nuclear bomb was engineered and finally assembled by Indian engineers at BARC before transportation to the test site. The fully assembled device had a hexagonal cross section, 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in diameter, and weighed 1,400 kg (3,100 lb). The device was mounted on a hexagonal metal tripod, and was transported to the shaft on rails which the army kept covered with sand.[13][20]

Aftermath[edit]

Domestic reaction[edit]

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gained much popularity after the test, which had flagged from its heights after the 1971 war with Pakistan. The overall popularity and image of the Congress Party was enhanced and it was well received in the Indian Parliament. In 1975, Sethna, Ramanna and Nagchaudhuri were honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award. Five other project members received the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award. India consistently maintained that this was a peaceful nuclear bomb test and that it had no intentions of militarising its nuclear programme. However, according to independent monitors, this test was part of an accelerated Indian nuclear programme.[21] In 1997 Raja Ramanna, speaking to the Press Trust of India, maintained:

The Pokhran test was a bomb, I can tell you now.... An explosion is an explosion, a gun is a gun, whether you shoot at someone or shoot at the ground.... I just want to make clear that the test was not all that peaceful.

— Raja Ramanna 1997, giving interview to Press Trust of India in 1997[13]

International reaction[edit]

Main article: Nuclear Suppliers Group

While India continued to state that the test was for peaceful purposes, it encountered opposition from many quarters. The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was formed in reaction to the Indian tests to check international nuclear proliferation.[18] The NSG decided in 1992 to require full-scope IAEA safeguards for any new nuclear export deals, which effectively ruled out nuclear exports to India.[22] It was only waived as part of the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement in 2008.[23]

The plutonium used in the test was created in the reactor supplied by Canada and using heavy water supplied by the United States. Both countries reacted negatively, especially in light of then ongoing negotiations on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the economic aid both countries had provided to India.[24] While Canada concluded that the test violated a 1971 understanding between the two states, and froze nuclear energy assistance for the two heavy water reactors then under construction, the United States concluded that the test did not violate any agreement and proceeded with a June 1974 shipment of enriched uranium for the Tarapur reactor. New Zealand's Prime Minister Norman Kirk commented that, "The announcement of an underground nuclear explosion by India raises more urgently than ever the need for international agreement to end all nuclear testing."[25]

Pakistan did not view the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion, and cancelled scheduled talks with India. Pakistan's Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vowed in June 1974 that he would never succumb to nuclear blackmail or accept Indian hegemony or domination over the subcontinent.[26] Pakistan's leading nuclear physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, stated in 2011 that he believed the test pushed Pakistan into the nuclear arena.[27]

Future tests[edit]

Despite many proposals, India did not carry out further nuclear tests until 1998. Code named as Operation Shakti (officially known as Pokhran-II) was carried out at the Pokhran test site, using technology designed and built over the preceding two decades.[28][29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Sublette, Carey. "Origins of Indian nuclear program". Nuclear weapon Archive. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  2. ^ Perkovich, George (2002). India's nuclear bomb: the impact on global proliferation. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23210-5.
  3. ^ Kumar, P. (2024). Homi J. Bhabha: A Complete Biography: Homi J. Bhabha: A Complete Biography: Architect of India's Nuclear Program. Prabhakar Prakashan Private Limited. p. 1960. ISBN 978-93-5562-943-2.
  4. ^ Perkovich 1999, p. 37.
  5. ^ a b c "On to Weapons Development, 1960–67". Nuclear Weapon Archive. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  6. ^ a b Kanavi, Shivanand. "How Indian PMs reacted to nuclear bombs". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Purnima I-II-III". Nuclear Threat Initiative. 1 September 2003. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  8. ^ a b c "India's First Bomb: 1967-1974". Nuclear Weapon Archive. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  9. ^ Richelson, Jefferey T (March 1999). Spying on the Bomb: American Nuclear Intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea. WW Norton. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-393-05383-8.
  10. ^ "Arihant: the annihilator". Indian Defence Review. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  11. ^ Perkovich 1999, p. 172.
  12. ^ a b Kalyani Shankar (2010). Nixon, Indira and India: Politics and Beyond. Macmillan Publishers India. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-230-32868-6.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h "Smiling Buddha, 1974". India's Nuclear Weapons Program. Nuclear Weapon Archive.
  14. ^ Petkovich 1999, p. 174.
  15. ^ Chengappa, Raj (2000). Weapons of peace : the secret story of India's quest to be a nuclear power. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers, India. ISBN 81-7223-330-2.
  16. ^ Pahuja, Om Parkash (2001). India: A Nuclear Weapon State. Prabhat Prakashan. pp. 63–. ISBN 978-81-87100-69-0. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  17. ^ FIles. "1974 Nuclear files". Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Nuclear files archives. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  18. ^ a b "History of the NSG". Nuclear Suppliers Group. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  19. ^ "What Are the Real Yields of India's Tests?". Nuclear Weapons Archive. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Pokhran-I" (PDF). Information and Library Network, University Grants Commission, Govt. of India.
  21. ^ "Reaction and Long Pause". Reaction and Long Pause. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  22. ^ "Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)" (PDF). Nuclear Threat Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2003. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  23. ^ "Nuclear Deal: A chronology of key developments". The Indian Express. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  24. ^ "Ripples in the nuclear pond". The Deseret News. 22 May 1974. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  25. ^ New Zealand Foreign Affairs Review. Vol. 24. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1974. p. 35.
  26. ^ Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali (18 May 1974). "Prime minister Secretariat Press Release". Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) and Pakistan Television (PTV). Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. India's so-called Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE) is tested and designed to intimidate and establish "Indian hegemony in the subcontinent", most particularly Pakistan...
  27. ^ Hoodbhoy, Pervez Amerali (23 January 2011). "Pakistan's nuclear bayonet". The Herald. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  28. ^ Reed, Thomas C; Stillman, Danny B (2009). The nuclear express: a political history of the bomb and its proliferation. Zenith. ISBN 978-0-7603-3502-4.
  29. ^ "Press Statement by Dr. Anil Kakodkar and Dr. R. Chidambaram on Pokhran-II tests" (Press release). Government of India. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2023.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Perkovich, G. (1999). India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation. ACLS Humanities E-Book. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23210-5.

External links[edit]

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