Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, May 11: By detonating three nuclear explosives, including a hydrogen device within a span of three hours, India today demonstrated the capability to design a whole range of nuclear bombs, qualifying it to join the nuclear club.
quot;Today8217;s feat by the atomic scientists is a signal that India is a real nuclear power and can not be fooled around,quot; said Dr PK Iyengar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, who played a key role in the 1974 nuclear test.
Although details are not available, people knowledgeable with India8217;s nuclear programme say that the hydrogen device used the hydrogen isotopes tritium and deuterium andalso lithium-6 isotope, which India had been producing from its research reactors.
Sources say that the three devices were exploded at different depths in sequence at different times. While the combined yield of these devices is not known, it could be equivalent to 100 kilo tonnes.
The 1974 Pokhran explosion was equivalent to 10 kilo tonnes of TNT, and was carried out at a depth of 100 meters. According to scientists, today8217;s hydrogen device could have been detonated at a depth of 200 meters.A report from London saying the Indian tests created one seismic signal equivalent to 4.7 in the richter scale and not three separate signals is, however, confusing, scientists said.
Meanwhile, Raja Ramanna, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, declined to comment without getting the details of the explosion.
quot;All I can say is what happened was wonderful, and I really congratulate the team.quot;
Iyengar said he had no prior knowledge about the tests, and added that quot;it only shows that the tradition ofsecrecy continuesquot;.
The source of tritium, the key fuel in the hydrogen device, is produced neutron-induced nuclear reactions in heavy water used as a coolant in Indian power reactors as well as research reactors.
