Santhanam questions data on nuclear tests

Former DRDO scientist K Santhanam,who has been raising questions about the authenticity of Indias only thermo-nuclear test,is refusing to let the debate die down.

Repeating his assertions for the umpteenth time,Santhanam,who had been closely associated with the 1998 nuclear tests,berated the statements of officials like the National Security Advisor M K Narayanan who have been defending the success of those tests.

During an interaction with journalists at the Indian Womens Press Corps,Santhanam while responding to Narayanans statement that no one could contest what had been proven by data even questioned the veracity of data available with the government on the tests.

The trouble lies in what data was included in the BARC analysis and what was not. There is a wealth of seismic and other data which reveal that the thermonuclear device under-performed, he said.

Santhanam claimed that towards the end of 1998,a report was submitted to the then NDA government on the nuclear tests. It was a classified document,he said.

Towards the end of 1998,a classified report was given to the government on the results of the tests and what should be the next course of action. So it is wrong to say that I had spoken up only after 11 years. Since this document is classified,I cannot share its details, he said.