Seeking to put a lid on the controversy over the Pokhran-II nuclear explosions, the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, on Thursday said the tests were successful and had generated the desired yield.
“After the test, there was a detailed review, based on the two experimental results: seismic measurement close to the site and around, and radioactive measurement of the material after post shot drill in the test site,” Mr. Kalam told PTI here.
“From these data, it has been established by the project team that the design yield of the thermo-nuclear test has been obtained,” said Mr. Kalam, who as Director-General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation spearheaded the nuclear tests in 1998.
India conducted five tests on May 11 and 13, 1998, at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan, which included a 45 kiloton (kt) thermonuclear device, known as a ‘hydrogen bomb’ in common parlance.
The other tests on May 11 included a 15 kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton device. The two simultaneous nuclear tests on May 13 were also in the sub-kiloton range — 0.5 and 0.3 kt.
R. Chidambaram, who was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Mr. Kalam, who was also the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, and Anil Kakodkar, then Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, were the key players in the Pokhran-II tests.