Smiling Buddha: Things to know about India's first nuclear test at Pokhran

Pic courtesy: nuclearweaponarchive.org

Today (May 18) is a historic day for India as we are observing the 46th anniversary of our first nuclear test in Rajasthan’s Pokhran. The peaceful nuclear test codenamed the ‘Smiling Buddha’ was conducted on May 18, 1974 under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The test made India a nuclear power.

The test was named ‘Smiling Buddha’ because it was conducted on Budda Purnima that year, and after the successful conduct of the test, Raja Ramanna, the director of India’s premier nuclear research institute Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), called PM Gandhi and said, “The Budda has finally smiled.”

The test grabbed international attention because India had become the first non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to conduct a nuclear test.

The BARC never said anything about the yield of the device detonated at Pokhran, but experts maintained that the actual yield was around 8-12 Kilotons of TNT. The most significant achievement was that India succeeded in conducting the test without being detected by the US and other international intelligence agencies.

The device was of the implosion-type design and was pretty similar to the American nuclear bomb called the Fat Man. The implosion system was assembled at DRDO's Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory in Chandigarh, while the detonation system was developed at the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) of the DRDO in Pune. The plutonium used in the test came from the CIRUS reactor at BARC. The neutron initiator was of the polonium–beryllium type and code-named Flower. 

The US, however, imposed certain tough sanctions on India after the tests claiming that these tests can lead to nuclear proliferation. 

The plan was 'Smiling Buddha' was set in motion on September 7, 1972 when then PM Gandhi gave her permission to the BARC scientists to detonate an indigenously designed nuclear device.

After the 1974 tests, India conducted five tests - three on May 11 and two on May 13, 1998 - again at the Pokhran test range. The tests codenamed ‘Operation Shakti’ were carried out under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime.