Seeking to end the controversy surrounding Pokhran-II, former President and top missile scientist APJ Abdul Kalam said on Thursday that the 1998 nuclear tests were successful.
This comes after former DRDO scientist K Santhanam claimed that the 1998 Hydrogen bomb test had failed to
deliver the desired results.
Santhanam has made a strong case for India not signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) arguing that the yield in the thermonuclear device test (Hydrogen bomb), one of the five tests conducted in May 1998, was much lower than what was claimed.
He told HT, “India should not sign the CTBT in a hurry. We must take a relook at the data from the 1998 nuclear tests, particularly the thermonuclear device.”
Santhanam was the director for 1998 test site preparations. Kalam, however, has a different take.
Agency reports quoted Kalam as saying that detailed review of the test had proved that the thermo-nuclear test had yielded the desired results.
“There was a detailed review based on two experimental results — seismic measurement close to the site and radioactive measurement of the material… From this data, it has been established by the project team that the designed yield of the thermo-nuclear test has been obtained,” said Kalam, who spearheaded the 1998 nuclear tests as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra has also trashed former K Santhanam’s claim that the 1998 Pokhran Hydrogen bomb test had failed to deliver the desired result.