New Delhi: Brajesh Mishra, who was National Security Advisor to the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, has rejected a senior scientist’s claim that the country's second nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998 were only a partial success.
“Dr R Chidambaram, when he reported to me on the second day of the test, said we have done five (tests) and we have met all our parameters and we don’t need to do the sixth one. This is enough for us--it was clear to us that the thermonuclear tests as well as the nuclear tests were successful,” Mishra said.
He was speaking about Dr Chidambaram, Department of Atomic Energy chief during the nuclear tests.
Mishra was reacting to comments made by K Santhanam, a former official with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Santhanam, who was a DRDO representative and a director for the 1998 test site preparations, has told a newspaper that the thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb tests--the first and most powerful of the three tests conducted on May 11, 1998--did not produce the desired yield.
A leading English daily quoted K Santhanam as saying that the three tests were not such a big success as portrayed by the government then.
Santhanam was quoted as saying that the only thermonuclear device tested was a "fizzle." A test is described as a fizzle when it fails to meet the desired yield.
Santhanam stressed that his comment on the thermo-nuclear device meant that its “yield was lower than what was claimed and indicated a need to refine the designs in order that we have assured performance.”
First Published: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 15:46